When I was in the process of planning my wedding, I could not find a single cool place to shop for a wedding dress. A few days after my boyfriend proposed, I put on my Converse and hit New York City’s streets in search of a mellow, high-fashion shop that carried chic, bohemian frocks. There were none in sight. Instead I encountered old-fashioned, uptown boutiques with chaise lounges and floral wallpaper and crinoline gowns splattered with rhinestones. The whole thing was confusing and totally out of my comfort zone. I’d never been the girl obsessed with Barbies and princesses—when I was a kid, I spent much of my free time writing fan letters to V.C. Andrews and preparing what I would say if I met Axl Rose in person. (Random fact: In sixth grade, I did.) Pretty soon, a vision came to me: a bridal salon that felt more like my living room, a groovy, enchanted oasis full of plants, Moroccan rugs, and, more importantly, loose, sexy dresses that conspicuously lacked ruffles, mermaid skirts, starchy lace, and bedazzled bustiers.
A few weeks after my wedding, I patched together a business plan, and six months later, Stone Fox Bride was born. Having no background in business or fashion did not make for a seamless career transition. Put bluntly, the first months were hell. I didn’t know the difference between a pattern and a muslin, couture or made-to-measure, an atelier versus a sewing room. I learned it all right there on the fly, and it was amazing and insane. There was the time I walked over the Williamsburg Bridge the day after Hurricane Sandy to hand-deliver a raw-gem headpiece to a bride getting married that afternoon; the time I stayed up until dawn to make sure there were eighteen freshwater pearls hand sewn to an eighteen foot veil; the afternoon I sold a raw-diamond engagement ring by phone to a man in Dubai, from the maternity ward at Methodist Hospital, two hours after giving birth.
The wedding world is a wild industry, which is one reason I love it so much. Seeing to it that all of our brides walk down the aisle authentically and in style is a crazy challenge, but I live to make lovely ladies feel foxy. Meet some of my favorites.
Susannah Sullivan
Susannah Sullivan, a native New Yorker who works on the Integrity Team at Etsy, says her nightmares include: “French manicures, elaborate updos, and corseted beaded bodices.” For her Hudson Valley, tiki-torch-and-tent wedding to a photographer named Johnny Sullivan, her criteria was simple: “I wanted to wear flats and my hair down to feel like myself.” She landed on our Frederika: an empire-waist dress with a hand-tacked cumberbund and lace-cap sleeves that showed off her tattooed arms. Random fact? After the ceremony, the guests feasted on a pig from a local farm that the groom butchered and cooked himself.
Catherine Lucchesi
“I am not a dress person,” says Catherine Lucchesi, who married lawyer Tucker Groendyke at Academy Mansion on the Upper East Side in a custom Katharine Hepburn–inspired champagne jumpsuit that required more than six fittings to make. “For inspiration,” she says, “I looked at a lot of Helmut Newton photographs from the seventies, The Philadelphia Story, and vintage Schiaparelli pieces from the Met collection.” She walked down the aisle in heirloom family emeralds, holding a bouquet with dahlias, roses, and jasmine tied in double black satin ribbon. “The reception was basically a grand house party ball vibe.”
Cyd Mullen
Vintage store owner Cyd Mullen’s daily uniform involves vintage Levi’s and a vintage tee. “The more ripped up, the better,” she says. “Then I just throw on my Schott Perfecto leather jacket.” For her beach wedding at her grandparents’ house in Cape Cod, she chose our Cortana Cristal silk wrap dress and paired it with a bouquet of blood-red dahlias she had picked at a farm earlier that day. “Instead of an aisle, I walked down a flight of eighty-eight wooden steps,” she says. “After we said ‘I do,’ we cracked open cans of Francis Ford Coppola’s Sofia champagne and drove away in our 1971 Volkswagen Westfalia.”
Jessica Thompson
“I love denim and linen and sunglasses and statement jewelry,” says Velvet Dust magazine founder Jessica Thompson. “My style icon is Tilda Swinton.” For her Texas winter wedding at the boutique Hotel Havana, she chose our bell-sleeved textured lace Glenda dress and paired it with our silk tulle Ruby Grace veil adorned with a halo of hand-dyed red silk roses. Her florals, including a drooping amaranthus chandelier, were shades of crimson and purple. “There were lots of jewel tones,” she says. “It felt like a nod to the seventies with a little bit of true San Antonio flair thrown in.”
Tatia Pilieva
Director Tatia Pilieva is a self-described minimalist. “But I appreciate expressive touches,” she says. “Like my old pink suede Agnès B. jacket.” For her summer wedding, she reached out to Awaveawake designer Jaclyn Hodes, who made her a custom lace and silk bias slip that she paired with a Stone Fox Bride hand-beaded halo attached to a floor-length greige tulle veil. “Our wedding took place in a small seaside fishing village in the north of Greece called Mitzela,” she says. “The day before we got married, we organized a Pentathlon that 80 of our friends and family members participated in called ‘The Apocalypse at the Acropolis.’ It was epic.”
Francesca Choy-Kee
“I got married on the summer solstice,” says actress Francesca Choy-Kee, “so I knew I wanted to wear a dress inspired by nature.” For her Sunday afternoon garden wedding to Matt Damico in the stable at Frankies Spuntino in Brooklyn, she gathered inspiration by collecting images of soft Edwardian lawn dresses, vintage lace gowns, and crocheted Mexican wedding dresses. Then she worked with a New Zealand designer she met on Etsy namedKelsey Genna to make her vision come to life. She accessorized the dress with a Stone Fox Bride floral crown and raw-edged silk chiffon veil. “It elevated my look to an astral level of bohemian poetry,” she says.
Mandy Brooks
“Most days,” says former DJ Mandy Brooks, who now lives on a ranch in Big Sur, “you’ll find me in jeans, a flannel, and black boots. I would describe my style as tomboy chic.” For her outdoor Northern California wedding on her lawn overlooking the Pacific, she wore a lace belted shift dress handmade by her best friend Mandy Coon, and paired it with an Stone Fox Bride beaded halo and raw-edge veil. “Our reception was in the redwoods at the Henry Miller Memorial Library,” she says. “There was the tiniest bit of silver in the lace, and it sparkled in the sunshine.”
Elizabeth Weinberg
Photographer Elizabeth Weinberg’s style icon is Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes. “She did menswear before menswear was a thing,” she says. “Denim, Pendleton bomber jackets, and flannels.” After wandering into Stone Fox Bride during a blizzard and purchasing our lace Luisa dress, she found herself, a few weeks later, in a situation she hadn’t anticipated—expecting! “Getting married at four months pregnant was not the plan,” she says. “I overestimated how large I would be.” After making some adjustments to the waistline of the dress, she walked down the aisle at the Dumbo Spot in brown loafers and a fresh daisy halo. “The whole thing was pretty DIY,”. “We got married in Dumbo, and the whole thing was pretty DIY,” she says. “I did all the decorations, menus, flowers. And since I couldn’t drink, I remember it all! The party basically became a huge mosh pit toward the end.”
Brianna Chi
Brianna Chi, a client advocate at a software company, channeled a Stone Fox icon, Stevie Nicks on her wedding day. “She is the lacy, drapey, fringy, gypsy queen of my dreams,” she says. For her outdoor Connecticut wedding, she chose a pink Sarah Seven dress and paired it with our hand-dyed ombré silk chiffon Sunset veil. The ceremony took place under a tree. “Bare feet were encouraged,” she says. “Our friends and family know us as a couple of hippies, so we ran with that.” The decor was minimalist—tea lights and hydrangea-stuffed jars—and instead of a ring-bearer and flower girl, the couple sent their beloved dogs down the aisle. “We had our guests sign my husband’s guitar,” she says. “Now we have the signatures of everyone we love hanging right in our living room.”
Kristin Burns
Photographer Kristin Burns describes her style as “Los Angeles rock chic casual.” “I wear what I feel like,” she explains, “and since I’m a working photographer, form follows function. Debbie Harry in a tank top with messy hair is my inspiration.” For her impromptu East Hampton shotgun wedding—she was seven months pregnant—she chose a custom Daryl K for Stone Fox Bride chiffon sparkly shift off the rack and paired it with a silk flower crown. “We said our vows on a long dock that we trespassed onto,” she says. “My dad offered me his steady arm, and we walked together down a long, windy pier, past our teary, smiley family.”
By Vogue.
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