6 Things every Bride should Know About New York Bridal Fashion Week
by Tali Gallo, Co-Owner & Bridal Stylist. Photos by Kristen Weaver Photography
What is New York Bridal Fashion Week?
It’s that time of year again! We are heading up to New York for Bridal Fashion Week! We go up every April and October like clockwork. Instead of the time change, it’s like my body knows the change of season based on the biannual trip to New York. I’m packing my bags and flying up early Monday to shop for new wedding dresses and accessories! I even loaned a special vintage piece from Maria Elena Headpieces and Accessories to wear with one of my looks! Can’t wait!
New York Bridal Fashion Week is the bridal industry’s version of Fashion Week. While there are plenty of other cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Barcelona, and Paris that host a similar Bridal Fashion Week, NY is the only one we attend. Well for now, we are eying Barcelona as a fun business/pleasure experience! The reason why New York is the chosen destination is due to the quality of designers represented. Our bridal shop focuses on quality of fabric and fit. Also, we love the option of offering custom changes and that’s not something you can find with every designer. Simply put, New York Bridal Fashion Week is the place where we hand select every single piece that comes into our bridal shop. We believe in touching the fabric first hand and studying all the offerings to go back and make the decision on what we should buy for the store.
If you are interested in the business side, here is a more detailed insider scoop. We have an annual budget of how much we can spend on our inventory. Bridal buyers such as us, will spend $40,000 - $100,000 per trip! Crazy, I know, that’s why we take all this fashionable, girly stuff seriously. While we do consider what our brides are loving, we are getting to a place in our career (20 years later), where it’s more intuitive. You know it when you see it. Very similar to bridal dress shopping. You just know thats the dress that will be worn down the aisle! We can start to picture our brides in it! Our bride is someone seeking out something timeless, but has that fashionable element to it. That is what we hunt for.
Vintage is Voguish. - Now a days vintage is being considered in the bridal wardrobe. No one has higher appreciation for vintage, than a bridal designer. To see the art come back time and time again is a nod to the original artist who created it. Designers will be taking their own approach to create pieces that allow the bride feel like she is telling her present story living in 2026/2027 and have special nods that remind them of something their grandmother has worn. The dream, a way to have both. Something that feels like yours, but reminds you of a family member’s dress.
When will these wedding dresses be available to try on locally in Florida?
Is the wedding dress I purchased off season or dated?
No, way no. If you are that bride who already bought your wedding dress and now you can’t go on social media without seeing the Fall 2026 dresses, seriously don’t spiral. There is a reason you bought your dress, and it’s not considered past season or dated! Actually, my wedding dress came out 5 years before my wedding. I loved the shape, the fabric, the designer (Ines Di Santo), and it fit me perfectly. No regrets here! You should be so obsessed with your dress that it’s fun to look at what’s new from your designer, but not have the fomo. If you are spiraling though maybe consider a second look. Most of our wedding dresses are actually available without a train or as a mini!
Here is the real reason your wedding dress isn’t out of season… With wedding dresses, you have to think of them as a designers bag. Some of the most sought after Hermes bags were designed years ago. It’s the same thing with a wedding dress. Sure there are some styles more trendy than others, but they all come back around. Also, the most important thing is that you feel amazing when it’s on. If the fit is good, it will always be in style!
Are the runway dresses from New York Bridal Fashion Week different from what is ordered for a bridal shop?
Bridal buyers pick and choose what they would like represented at their boutique. We attend runway shows and private buying appointment to hand select which pieces we would like to have in our bridal shop. Let’s use Ines Di Santo for the example. Ines Di Santo makes three bridal collections: Jewel Box, Couture, and Ines by Ines. The Jewel Box line is mainly for celebrity, red-carpet, and editorial. For The Bridal Finery, we will purchase 1-2 dresses from the Jewel Box collection to have more extravagant, specialty dresses for our boutique. Those dresses tend to range from $12,000 - $20,000. We try to keep an average price point of $8,000 in our boutique so we don’t buying a ton of options from Jewel Box. On the other hand, The Couture line we buy the most from. Those dresses are made in Toronto with Ines Di Santo overseeing production. We have the ability to make custom changes like raise the neckline, make strapless, add sleeves, etc… Those custom changes allow us to create something unique for our bride. Then, there is the Ines by Ines line where the dresses are made all over the world and some changes are possible, but more limited. Those start at around $3,500 and up. So when we go into the buying process we are considered the best quality, custom change options, and price point for our brides.
When we decide to invest in a particular dress, sometimes we modify it for style preference or modesty. Oftentimes we will remove a big floral that we don’t love or adjust the neckline to make it more modest. We love having the option of wearing the dress multiple different ways so we tend to lean into the matching sleeves and veils that the designer makes to go with the dresses. Not every wedding dress has matching pieces, but when they are paired nicely on the runway, we love going with the whole look! An example of this is the Chiara dress from Ines Di Santo. From our point of view, Chiara is best worn with sleeves and a matching veil.
How are the bridal designers selected for each store?
Every bridal shop operates independently unless they are part of one of the few chains around. For the independent bridal shop, you may see the owners carry 10 different bridal designers or there are shops like us that only carry three designers. Currently we carry Kyha Studios, Lihi Hod, and Ines Di Santo. From the day we opened, we made the decision to only carry 2-4 designers max. Throughout our time in bridal, we learned how hard it is to have true partners when you are trying to spread your inventory budget. From the shopping perspective, it’s not fun for a bride thinking they are going to arrive at a shop that says they carry Danielle Frankel and realize when you get there they only have three dresses from Danielle. Also, from the back end of things, training our team on 10 different designers with their ever changing guidelines and fabrications, is impossible. We love investing deep into a line and creating strong partnerships with our designers where they help support our brides with whatever they may need.
Selecting the designers we carry at our boutique falls in probably one of the top five decisions we make as a bridal shop. We receive over 100 phone calls and emails from designers wanting us to carry the line. The market is saturated with designers and options! We consider how quick the dresses can be made if it's a shorter engagement, where are the dresses made, reputation in the industry, how the style aligns with what our brides are looking for, and how quickly they respond to our questions. We are always on the lookout for someone up and coming in the industry that has the customer service part figured out. It has to be the perfect marriage of style, quality, and customer service. That’s not always easy to find! We want the best for our brides so we are always willing to do the legwork and build those relationships.
There’s your insider scoop into the world of NY Bridal Fashion Week. Tomorrow I’ll spend the day with my family and then packing up for the trip! I’ll be meeting the other Co-Owner, Roberta, and photographer Kristen Weaver.
Here is a little sneak peek of day two at Bridal Fashion Week:
Hotel to Bridal Market
9 AM - Blanc Show -
10:30 AM - Netta Benshabu private appointment
Noon - Maria Elena Headpieces & Accessories
2 PM - Kyha Studios buying appt
5 PM - Ines Di Santo Fashion Show & Reception
7 PM - Dinner with a Designer
Follow along on our Tiktok and Instagram as we post from our private appointments with the designer, foodie finds in between, and our market outfits! Cannot wait to share all of it with you!