Our Mini Documentary!!

We recently filmed a mini-documentary in the Atelier. We asked some of our favorite wedding planners Loulie Walker and Michelle Rago, some of our consultants and some of our fabulous brides to talk about the Atelier and Mark. We think the final film accurately portrays the experience brides have here at Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier.

Let us know what you think!



Thank you to all who helped in this great project!!!!
Loulie Walker, Loulie Walker Events
Michelle Rago, Michell Rago Ltd.
Christian Oth Studio
Red Herring Design
Merry+Valenzuela

Oscar de la Renta Trunk Show December 17 - 19

Santa is coming early to the Bridal Atelier this year! We will be hosting an Oscar de la Renta Trunk Show December 17th - 19th. At the show we will be premiering our new New York exclusive bridal gown, as well as all of Oscar's newest gowns and accessories. At the latest New York Bridal Market, Oscar showed a small capsule collection of gowns and beautiful boleros to add to the extensive collection he had showed for 2010 in the Spring. We will be presenting the entire collection at the trunk show and these are gowns you do not want to miss. Oscar's attention to detail and use of fabrication to create texture is unparalleled and simply beautiful.

A few of our favorite looks from market below. To view the Spring 2010 fashion show, click here. The Trunk Show is by appointment only.

Our NYC exclusive gown:


A divine bolero:


Did we mention the shoes?

Martha Stewart Craft Show in NYC

On Friday, I had the pleasure of being the guest of Martha Stewart Weddings Publisher Amy Wilkins at the Martha Stewart Craft Show in NYC. Friday was a special preview of the show for invited guests and then the event was open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. The craft show was held at Martha's NYC offices and involved her whole team. My friend Anne Barge was in town for a trunk show at the Atelier and joined my for a fun night of shopping the crafts galore!

Here are some pics:

Darcy Miller with mom and 2 of three daughters in tow. Darcy's girls had a field day sorting through beautiful handmade head bands & hair accessories!


Every event should have a Sweet Shop!


Mac N'Cheese Bowls - One of the many fabulous bites that were passed around to guests to nibble on while they shopped. An open bar served rum toddy's, holiday inspired cocktails, wine & champagne!


These edible holiday ornaments will be featured on Martha in a few weeks.


Creative Martha employees who designed beautiful holiday cards for sale at this event. I purchased 2 designs to send as my 2009 holiday cards.

Anne Barge Boot Camp

Anne Barge and "Boot Camp" graduate Marah Melillo backstage at the Spring 2010 Anne Barge Fashion Show at the New York Bridal Market

Recently, Anne Barge hosted a "Boot Camp" at her headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. I was lucky enough to be chosen to attend and I'm so glad I was able to go! Anne and her staff went above and beyond to make me and about 20 other bridal consultants from across the country feel welcome.

Anne's objective was to have each salon send a representative to become an Anne Barge specialist. I've always loved her gowns and I've always connected to the traditional core of them, so being able to work with her personally and having her share her first hand knowledge was priceless.

For two days, we learned everything there is to know about Anne Barge gowns. Whether it's her use of Italian silks, French laces or intricate embroideries, Anne's gowns always have a timeless bridal feeling about them. Each one is special in its own way and each one is designed with a bride's happiness in mind.

Now that I'm back in New York, I feel like a true expert on our Anne Barge designs and I have a new found excitement to show them and match each one to the right bride!

- Consultant Marah Melillo

Anne Barge will be attending the Anne Barge Trunk Show at the Bridal Atelier this weekend. Call for an appointment and a personal consultation with Anne!

To watch the Spring 2010 Anne Barge fashion show on The Knot TV click here.

The Knot: Great Bridal Week Videos

The Knot TV covers the New York Bridal Market top to bottom. They have just released all the episodes of their latest fashion show reviews and trend reports from the past market on their site and they are fabulous! Mark worked with The Knot backstage at the shows to offer insight and analysis of his favorite designers and then headed down to their Soho studios to review the markets best trends with their editorial staff. You can watch Mark, The Knot's Carley Rooney and Heather Levine, and of course the best dresses of the next season.

Click here to see all the best of the New York Bridal market on The Knot TV!

We Are Thankful For...

We have so much to be thankful for here at the Bridal Atelier, namely our wonderful brides and great friends in the industry. We asked around the salon and to some of our friends in the bridal industry to see what everyone is thankful for this year. Please add your own "thanksgivings" in the comments!

"I am thankful that love is exempt from the stock market and that couples are still making that walk down the aisle - even though that aisle may be shorter these days and adorned with less flowers!"
- Colin Cowie, Colin Cowie Lifestyle


"I am thankful for so many things not the first of which was being asked my Mark to share my thoughts with you on Thanksgiving.....

I am grateful for the sanctuary of my home
That every time I need to know something I can find it out in a nanno second
I am thankful that I have running water
That whenever I need my mom-she is there
That my team has stuck with me thru thick and thin
That I only cry every so often about missing my dad and not every day
That my grandmother thinks I am the bees knees
That my nephew still calls me Aunt Shelly
That I have learned I can take something completely apart and put it back together again"
- Michelle Rago, Michelle Rago Ltd, Flowers, Events and Planning

"I am thankful for working in an environment that fosters creativity and individuality. I am also thankful for Mark's willingness to be open to fresh new ideas regarding 'out of the box' dresses. I think I can speak for all the consultants when I say that we appreciate it when he steps outside his confront zone, and allows us to get something that speaks to our more avant-garde brides. That willingness shows us that our opinions are extremely valuable to him and to our brides."
- Sandra, consultant at the Bridal Atelier

"We are thankful and excited for the upcoming season of engaged brides!"
- Rachel Leonard, Fashion Editor, Bride's Magazine

"I am thankful for being part of the most creative, intelligent, and thoughtful team in the bridal industry."
- Anju, consultant at the Bridal Atelier

"I am thankful first for my family and second for my career as I love what I do - working with so many talented vendors who inspire me daily and with my clients who challenge me to deliver the best service possible. It is an honour to play a role in a couple's wedding day, one of the most special and personal days in their lives. It is a unique position to be in, telling a couple's love story, and for that I am grateful."
- Loulie Walker, Loulie Walker Events


"I am thankful for having an occupation that I love and that challenges me creatively and emotionally. I am also thankful that I work with people who are sensitive, creative, well-intentioned,and have a sense of humor (most of the time). In short order it's a hoot working at Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier. I am also grateful to Mark for creating a salon that is respected throughout the industry because it matters to me that I work somewhere that has a great reputation."
- Alene, consultant at the Bridal Atelier


"I am grateful that at this time of my life, career-wise, to be doing what I love and exactly what I want to do! Thank you all for sharing and have a very Happy Thanksgiving."
- Mark Ingram

Martha Stewart Online Luxury Weddings Expo Recap

This past weekend we participated in the first Martha Stewart Online Luxury Weddings Expo. We were able to have live "chats" in our booth with bride and MOB/MOG's from around the country. It was so exciting! Thank you all for your great fashion questions. Mark and our consultants gave advice on accessories, sizing, trunk shows and our special occasion collection. If you were at the Expo and are now planning on coming into the salon, please make sure you mention it at your appointment. We would love to hear your thoughts!

The live portion of the expo is over, but you can still visit the great vendor booths and those from the Martha team. Check out our great mini-documentary, video fashion lookbooks for bridal and special occasion and download a brochure on our salon while in the Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier booth. Also, stop by the Wedding 101 area and view a great video of Darcy Miller and Mark discussing great Tips on Finding the Perfect Wedding Gown.

To visit the Martha Stewart Online Luxury Weddings Expo, please click here.

The Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Gala

This week I had the pleasure of attending the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Gala as a guest of my dear friend Darcy Miller, Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Weddings. The Gala was held at Starrett Lehigh bulding in Manhattan, which houses the offices of Martha Stewart Omnimedia. According to Martha, "The Center for Living is designed to provide out patients with whole patient care, including medical examinations, advice about diet and exercise, and the all important need for care giving. Simply stated, the main focus of the center is to teach how to grow old gracefully, something we should all start focusing on around the age of fifty."

The event was emceed by Liz Smith and honored legendary editor and journalist Sir Harold Evans. More than one million dollars was raised. There is still time to bid on some great items to contribute to the Center for Living by visiting Charitybuzz.com, including an ULTIMATE wedding package provided by Darcy Miller valued at almost $10,000.

To bid on the Ultimate Wedding Package or other items to benefit the Martha Stewart Center for Living, click here.

To read more about the event on Martha's blog, click here.

photo by Patrick McMullan

Martha Stewart Luxury Weddings Expo

We are preparing for our first online Weddings Expo with Martha Stewart on November 14th & 15th. The online experience recreates an actual upscale weddings expo that you can attend from the comfort of home (or work, or starbucks, or where ever you are with your computer). The Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier "booth" will be premiering a mini-documentary on the Bridal Atelier experience that features some of our favorite brides as well as top event planners Loulie Walker and Michele Rago. The booth will also feature videos showcasing our bridal and evening collections and downloadable lookbooks. Our consultants will be live at the online Expo answering questions on November 14th & 15th, although access is open to the booth through February 28, 2010.

Additionally, Mark was chosen by the editors of Martha Stewart Weddings to be a featured expert on their Weddings 101 booth at the expo. The Weddings 101 booth presents informative videos featuring experts from Martha Stewart Weddings like Editorial Director Darcy Miller and other top wedding professionals. In Mark's video, he discusses the best practices for wedding dress shopping with Darcy Miller. Mark had such a great time filming with Darcy and her team. We can't wait to see the finished video on the expo this weekend!



To register for the Martha Stewart Luxury Weddings Expo click here.

Rose Taft at Madame Tussads Hollywood

Congratulations to our friends at Rose Taft! Not only did we have a fabulous trunk show with them this week, they are being immortalized at Madame Tussads Hollywood. Mary Hart, anchor of Entertainment Tonight, is being replicated in wax at Madame Tussads and has chosen the red silk taffeta Rose Taft gown she wore to the 2009 Golden Globes for her wax self to wear. What a great choice Mary, you look divine in red!

Our first trunk show with the Rose Taft collection was a tremendous success. We loved having Marcia and Melanie, the daughter and grand-daughter of the late Rose Taft, in the store working with our mothers of the occasion. They were so wonderful with our clientele, making sure every last concern was properly addressed. We are already booking for our next trunk show with them in February. In the mean time, our in-house collection of beautiful Rose Taft evening wear has arrived!

For more information on Rose Taft click here.

Melanie, Mark and Marcia


Mark and Melanie

Mark's Q&A: Loulie Walker of Loulie Walker Events

headshot by Tanya Tribble

My dear friend Loulie Walker heads up LWE, a boutique event planning firm specializing in sophisticated and customized weddings. Loulie works one-on-one with each bride offering a tailored menu of planning services reflective of the client’s style, sensibilities and specific needs.

1. What do you love most about weddings?
Weddings speak to the two sides of my personality – first the organized, detail oriented, military precision (!) side and second the creative, romantic, dreamer side. Each wedding is an opportunity to capture the personality of a couple and inject their relationship and story into the evening. Nothing is more gratifying than the moment at the end of the evening when the bride and groom, as well as their guests, declare the wedding magical and unforgettable.

2. What makes a Loulie Walker event different? How does your incredible attention to detail affect the overall event?
I think our weddings are different because of the degree of personalization coupled with our attention to detail and orchestration. No two weddings are the same. Part of why I love my job is that each couple presents a new challenge – to get to know the bride and groom and together create a wedding reflective of them. Whether thru the menu, the cocktails, the music, or the event design, each wedding bears the stamp of the couple.
We encourage our clients to envision their wedding from the point of view of both host and guest as we believe a wedding is a statement of hospitality. It is the smallest touches and gestures that make an evening memorable – a handwritten note card from the couple on each chair back, a little goodnight treat on a pillow each night of a destination affair, framed photographs of a couple’s family thru the generations as cocktail hour décor. It is not about price but about personalization.
Our attention to detail is also what sets us apart. A wedding involves so many different aspects – the venue, the vendors (caterer, rentals, florist, musicians, photographer, videographer) - in order for everything to flow seamlessly every detail must be thought out in advanced with a Plan A and multiple contingency plans. Our job is to anticipate and accommodate. And yet while the rhythm of a wedding is finely tuned, it should look completely unscripted to guests.
And finally there is the orchestration of the event – we are on-site the day of the wedding – first at the reception venue to oversee vendor load in and installation which typically begins at dawn if not the day before. I am with the bride at the ceremony to send her down the aisle and at the reception to subtly cue toasts and dances. I have an amazing team and could not execute each wedding without them. We love what we do and that shows through in our weddings.

3. Describe your relationship with a bride while planning her wedding.
It is certainly a close relationship as we are usually working together over several months. That being said, certain brides wish to be more involved than others, it is up to them and what their schedule allows. Some clients require more hand holding than others. While some, though the exception, say run with it and they give us creative license to create a wedding based simply on initial meetings. After just 90 days of planning, one bride saw her event design for the first time walking into her reception with her new husband by her side – their reaction that moment is why I do what I do.

4. You bring in the most fabulous brides to the Atelier! Tell us a little about your brides and why they chose you as their planner.
I have been so blessed with my brides over the past nine years. The majority of our brides are professional, sophisticated women with careers and limited time. They are looking for someone who can streamline and communicate their ideas, handle the legwork, and allow them to be in the role of decision maker.
So much of wedding planning is personality, and I think the brides who select me as their planner do so because there is a personality fit from the first meeting. They are immediately at ease, feel comfortable on all levels and know that they are going to enjoy the planning process. Brides also love that the get to work hand in hand with myself, there is no junior planner. I pride myself on service and I think that is sensed immediately by potential clients. Our weddings and former brides speak for us – there is very little ‘sell’ necessary on my part.
I remain friends with my brides long after their wedding and often times end up planning baby showers and other events for them as well.

5. Besides wanting to visit me, why do you bring your brides into the Atelier?
Well besides your fabulous self, I bring our brides to the Atelier because not only is your selection of dresses the best the city has to offer (Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Monique Lhuillier, Lela Rose, Elizabeth Fillmore, Angel Sanchez to name just a few!), but also because of the Atelier’s unparalleled service. Shopping for and selecting a wedding dress is such a personal experience and brides are met with an inviting and intimate atmosphere at The Atelier. A bride is attended to every step of the way by your staff.
I love the process at the Atelier - a bride is paired with a consultant and they work together from beginning to end. Your consultants are in effect stylists – they take the entire look into consideration – from the dress to the veil, jewels, shoes, and even undergarments. The consultants’ ability to zero in on what is important to a bride and to put a bride at ease is why I bring my clients to you. No detail is overlooked at your Atelier.

6. What is currently your favorite gown in the Atelier?
A strapless Giambattista Valli gown perfect for a destination beach wedding! It is romantic and soft yet still playful and dramatic.








Wedding photography by Christian Oth Studio
For more information on LWE click here.

Bridal Designers Show Agility in Trying Times - WWD

Great WWD article by Rosemary Feitelberg on how designers are dealing with the current economy. Includes some very insightful comments by Mark.

Bridal Designers Show Agility in Trying Times - WWD.com

Who What Weddings Market Interview with Mark

The Knot Live Market Recap

Check out Mark's call-in interview on The Knot's Bridal Market Recap show. We were busy running around market so Mark couldn't stop by The Knot's offices so they kindly allowed him to call in instead. Take a look to hear about some of his favorite new looks.

The Knot Live Episode 17

Video Blog on Anne Barge

Marah, our resident Anne Barge "specialist" offers her thoughts on the new Anne Barge collection. Marah recently traveled to the Anne Barge offices in Atlanta and has promised to write a blog post on her amazing experience there.

Marah, Anne Barge, Mark, The Queen of Cakes Sylvia Weinstock and Ellen Weldon of Ellen Weldon Stationary backstage after the Anne Barge show


a look from the show

Happy 15th Anniversary Martha Stewart Weddings!!!

A highlight every October during market is the annual Martha Stewart Weddings market party. This year in celebration of 15 years publishing, they threw their best party ever -- and that is saying alot coming from that creative team! We saw all of our favorite designers, retailers, event planners, photographers, bloggers, editors and everyone in between who loves our fabulous industry. Thank you Amy Wilkins, Darcy Miller and the entire team at MSW for a truly wonderful celebration!

A few pictures below. Look for us on Martha Stewart Weddings Online Wedding Showcase coming in November.

Mark with Founding Publisher of Martha Stewart Weddings Marcia Miller






Marcia Miller, Mark, Robert Verdi, Amy Wilkins





Super chic event planners Loulie Walker and Molly Middleton





Designer Anne Bowen, Mark, and James Brown of Roma Sposa

Video Blog on Rivini

Our consultant Kelsey recaps her favorites from the Rivini show.

Video blog on Marchesa

In a cab on our way to our Monique Lhuillier appointment, consultants Sandra and Tammy offer their take on the to-die-for Marchesa collection.

Some pictures as well.

Behind the Scenes at NYC Bridal Market

Some photos from behind the scenes at our favorite shows yesterday.

Mark with Event Planner Marcy Blum at the Douglas Hannant show




Amy Wilkins, Darcy Miller, Anne Barge and Jackie Polce



Mark being interviewed by the knot at the Monique Lhuillier show

The Bridal Atelier Team in NYC Bridal Market

Twice a year, Mark and the entire team here at The Bridal Atelier have the opportunity to attend the fashion shows and visit our designers to view the new collections during the NYC bridal market. Mark understands the importance of hearing the opinions of each and every member of his team. The consultants are the eyes and ears of the salon and know exactly what our sophisticated clientele are looking for. While the final say always belongs to Mark, all of the consultants make sure he knows what their favorites are. This is why we have the best edited selection of couture bridal gowns anywhere!

Here are a few pictures of the team taking a lunch break at The Landmark in the Time Warner Center. Look for more video blogs from Mark and all of the consultants reviewing market.
Sandra, Alene, Lydia, Kristin & Eva



Kelsey, Anju, Tammy, Marah & Mark

Anne Bowen

We loved the Anne Bowen bridal show! Some adorable mini dresses and some truly elegant gowns. A very strong showing for her second season. More pictures to come.

Welcome to Bridal Market!

Our first NYC Bridal Market since we began blogging is upon us! Yesterday was our first day in market and we saw some beautiful gowns to add to our collection here at The Bridal Atelier. Other than the fantastic fashion, the best part about bridal market is seeing all of our industry friends from around the world. It's four days of fashion and celebration. We will be video blogging all day from the shows today as well as sending updates on twitter. Follow our tweets at @markingrambride and @lindsaymann. Let us know what gowns are your favorites!

Video blog from Monique Lhuillier

Our consultant Alene reviews the beautiful Monique Lhuillier show.

Atelier 2 Welcomes Rose Taft

We are thrilled to announce we have added Rose Taft Couture to our Atelier 2 collection of special occasion gowns. Beginning this Fall, Rose Taft Couture will be exclusively available in New York City at Mark Ingram. We will be celebrating our newest line for "mothers of the occasion" with an appointment only trunk show on Wednesday, November 4th. Marcia Taft, daughter of the late Rose Taft and President of Rose Taft Couture, will be making her only New York City appearance for the season at our trunk show. Marcia and her daughter Melanie, create luxurious evening wear in the tradition started by founder Rose Taft over 40 years ago.

We are honored to welcome the fabulous Marcia Taft and her elegant collection for Rose Taft to our Atelier! Below is a sneak peak of some of the gowns we will be featuring at the trunk show. To see more of the Rose Taft Couture collection click here.