Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Brooklyn travel guide for wedding sh!t?


Hi there,

I've loved the travel guides you've been posting recently. As a new reader, please forgive me if I missed the Brooklyn wedding version. (I promise I did look through the archives.)  

Where besides Catbird should I go to find interesting/artisan/unusual/finely designed/ohpleasegodnotthis rings, and to browse wedding dresses that don't make me feel like the dress is wearing me? The honest truth is I used to live in Brooklyn, but at that time I was 100% never ever ever going to get married, so now that I'm eating my words I need someone to remind me where all those awesome places I saw out of the corner of my eye but insisted on ignoring can be found!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou

*****

Brooklyn is the jewelry-that-I-love capital of the world. Catbird, Scosha, Macha, and Erie Basin are all worth visiting, and if you don't find SEVERAL rings you love, there is something wrong with you.

Brooklyn is not, however, a good place to shop for a wedding dress. I am sorry to say. (Or maybe not that sorry actually. Go to Soho? Or make an appointment at Stone Fox Bride. While you're in the neighborhood, you should probs make an appointment with Anna Sheffield, too.)


Miranda Kerr by Terry Richardson for Harper's Bazaar

25 comments:

  1. And don't forget Mociun. Not that I'm planning a 7,000-mile round trip just to buy this ring, or anything. Nope.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sorry, but I was not a fan of Stone Fox. there's Lovely Bride in West Village, Gabriella NY (high-end on W14th). i loved some dresses at Nicole Miller in SoHo. And I've heard the wedding shop at Saks is a great place to start. maybe Opening Ceremony at 35 Howard?
    rings, not much help here - im going traditional, and getting from John Mingione at 70 Bowery near Canal. he does custom work too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And if you're in Soho checking out dresses, Love Adorned is worth a visit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes to Clay Pot. A hell yes to Clay Pot, in fact. I liked the White Dress in Dumbo, too, for dresses, and Lovely is a must. As is, of course, Saja. I also had a good experience at Gabriella's, though I was in the bottom of their price range.

    ReplyDelete
  5. amen to my dear friend Caitlin Mociun for jewelry - her work is amazing, intricate, unique, and I love working with her for custom pieces. Re dresses, I agree that Stone Fox is underwhelming, though the lovely space is nice to hang out in if nothing else. There are also several wedding boutiques on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill that look a little froufy to me, does anyone know if they are good?: Kimera
    Michelle New York Veka

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DAMMIT i keep wanting stone fox to be good.

      Delete
    2. yeah, so did I. their (very small) stock changes frequently so it's still worth checking out. When i went, all the samples were in size 6 (too big); none of them had the interior corset/bra structure that the staff dude assured me would be in the finished product; and sweet dude is sweet but not the best at clamping in a way that accurately shows you what your size dress would look/feel like ... so I was just kind of standing there in front of a giant mirror, swimming in silk, trying to use my imagination but failing ... x5.

      it was really cute though when my friend and I went to Lovely later and the sweet saleswoman there was like "have you heard of this place Stone Fox Bride? Can you believe they have a picture on their website where they're wearing shirts that say 'fuck this wedding'? Isn't that awful?" it was so earnest and sweet.

      Delete
    3. the stone fox dresses are also SUPER pricey for cheap-feeling silk.

      but that space is.... ahhhhh.

      Delete
    4. I have to disagree with all of you regarding Stone Fox Bride. Beautiful things, great service, I am so happy I found them for my wedding. And I encourage people to check it out.

      But maybe the dresses are not for everyone. It is the antithesis of Lovely, for example, but in the best way possible. I hated Lovely. East Side Bride, GO TO STONE FOX BRIDE next time you are there. You will like it.

      Delete
    5. I also hated Gabriella. The space felt about as special as a Starbucks and the customer service was blah. The dresses were the same batch you see all over NY. You might as well go to a proper bridal salon for those dresses and be treated like a princess.

      Delete
    6. ok good, i'll check out stone fox.

      i did sort of figure..... if the OP is looking for *Brooklyn* dresses, she's not looking for Lovely.

      Delete
    7. yeah, to be fair, I hated lovely and threw an i-hate-tulle-and-saccharine-staff tantrum afterwards. Stone Fox is a lot more interesting than Lovely, and the quality was fine when I was there - no cheap silk in sight. and no tantrums.

      Another place to check out might be Geminola - most of their stuff is not bridal but they do have a few gowns reconstructed from vintage veils/dresses/etc, and they do great custom work, which they could probably do even for someone not based in nyc.

      Delete
    8. Have you seen the new dresses on the Stone Fox Bride website?! The Katie is beautiful and I want to look at Jemima Kirke's face all day.

      Geminola great idea!

      Delete
  6. Going to New York in the summer, planning a trip out to Brooklyn purely for the amazing jewellery stores.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You should definitely visit Mociun - we ordered my engagement ring and a pair of earrings from Caitlin so that we could collect them when we arrived in NY a few days before our City Hall wedding. She's lovely, her jewellery is beautiful and I wanted almost everything in her shop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, and thank you for your blog. I read and reread A LOT of your posts to stay sane when we had decided to elope - there were a lot of guilt laden conversations and tears on the way to what ended up being the happiest of days.

      Delete
  8. href="http://doyledoyle.com">Doyle & Doyle most definitely for rings. They have amazing vintage rings and make a few themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. i just ruined the internet.

      Delete
  9. My only advice if she goes to Soho. DON'T GO TO BLUE on Mott Street. Great designs, terrible seamstress work/people skills. Your dress will be late. Your dress will have crooked seams, buttons falling off, boning showing where boning shouldn't and hair caught in the tulle.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I would recommend shopping in Fort Greene, the Brooklyn Flea market for beautiful pieces that can be worn as bridal. Also, around the corner is Gabriela de la Vega, amazing clothes, shoes, jew'ry. You'll fall in love with this place... :)
    http://www.brooklynflea.com/
    http://www.gabrieladelavega.com/

    ReplyDelete