Victoria's Secret Bridal Event with Mindy Weiss!

Adorable display on a dress form was showcased at the bottom of the escalator.

Jeff Leatham created a beautiful table display incorporating Victoria's Secret bridal lingerie.

Oh la la, Sunday my fellow bride (and client) Paige and I went to Victoria's Secret's flag ship store ("their most luxurious location ever") in NYC for a private bridal event. Cocktails and breakfast hors d'oeuvres were served by Creative Edge Parties. Beautiful black dress-clad sales associates were everywhere, ready to provide bra fittings, personal shopper services and anything else we could have possibly needed.

The entire store was closed save for about 50 lucky brides and their special guests. The bra salon on the second floor became a stage for Mindy Weiss who discussed her experiences (she loves Heidi and Seal - who renew their vows every year with a fantastic theme party! This year's theme is TPT: Trailer Park Trash). My favorite take away: Mindy hates favors! I totally agree. Unless there is something inherent to you as a couple, I hate when money is wasted on meaningless somethings that people leave on the table anyway. Other trends:

• Florals are leaning towards more low centerpieces - no more high fluted vases. And clusters of smaller vessels on one table.
• Food is still mostly comfort foods. People want formal sit down dinners, but they don't want something fancy that their guests won't recognize on the plate.
• She is seeing a lot of DJs for weddings now (which probably has something to do with the economy) but cautions brides to make sure they interview them well. The WORST thing you can have at your wedding (aside from a beligerent great aunt) is a bad DJ!
• Trends in colors include purple (aubergine and lavendar), navy blue is the new black, and bringing color into your reception with just the flowers.
• Pack for your honeymoon early - start thinking about it now - Mindy sees a lot of stress in her brides the week of the wedding over what to pack for the honeymoon

Bride cotton panties that I can't find anywhere else: "Bride", "Hitched"

"Newleywed" (They also have pink and white binkins with a variety of crystal emblems - just married, newleyweds, an engagement ring icon, kissing lips, bride - Paige loved them!)

In addition to Mindy's fantastic advice (she really is wonderfully sweet and seems easy to talk to), Jeff Leatham provided gorgeous floral displays around the store. Apparently Jeff will have his own reality TV show on TLC airing sometime in the next few months (and yours truly was interviewed along with my beautiful bride sidekick Paige - look for us!).

The Victoria's Secret store on 58th & Lexington in NYC is gorgeous. They offer personal shopping parties. Bring in your bridesmaids and all of your dresses and they will help you find the best undergarments. Something that was said (and I really don't think it is a good point, even though clearly we were in a lingerie store where they were trying to sell us merchandise) is that so often we think about everything on the outside: dress, shoes, veil, jewelry. We need to make sure that we feel like just as much of a woman underneath of our wedding day.

And I will tell you, Paige and I made several trips to the dressing room and loved the merchandise at the 58th & Lex store! They have some signature pieces that you can't get anywhere else. We've decided that we need to start doing honeymoon layaway if you will. Buying a piece or two every few months, hiding it and banking everything for the honeymoon! What an easy way to spread the cost out across the year. Happy lingerie shopping!

Beautiful purple hydrangea and mokara orchids highlighted the color trend of the season: aubergine and lavendar.

Even the shapewear was gorgeous!