Several weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking at Toss The Bouquet, a conference for the luxury wedding professionals of Chicago.  The event was organized by my friend, Beth Bernstein, event director and founder of SQN Events. Beth and I met several years ago at the Engage Luxury Wedding Summit and bonded instantly over our mutual love of fashion and the wedding industry!
Beth created this conference to take a 'taste' of what we had experienced at Engage to the incredible vendors in Chicago. Her mission was to "Educate. Exchange. Elevate." She was able to achieve that, and then some. In opening the conference she said, "Each person you will hear from today will give you nuggets of information that CAN change your business. I promise you. It has happened to me when I have heard some of them speak before. They are the best of the best, and yes, while many of them are getting paid to be here, they are also here because they are âhonoraryâ Chicagoans. They want you to learn. They want to educate you, they want us to exchange ideas, and they want you to elevate your business."
In speaking about her fellow Chicagoians, she said, "Thatâs what I love about Chicago. Weâre open. Weâre honest. Weâre approachable. And we care."   I could not agree more!! I adore the "Windy City" and the people in it! I had the honor of meeting and bonding with several Chicago natives though Engage- the incredibly talented photographer, Kevin Weinstein, Andrea Liss, founder of Hannah Handmade, the most divine resource for custom invitations and accessories, event planners extraordinaire, Cindy Shanholtz and Hope Weiss, and my all - time favorite fashionista and jack-of-all-trades, Elan Villamor. I also made countless new friends and business contacts through this amazing experience (in fact, far too many to list)!
Below is a graphic of the incredibly talented speakers that I had the honor of being included amongst. I spoke about the current trends in bridal- you can see the trends on my blog post, here. Â
My co-authors of The White Dress in Color and I also had a panel discussion about the art of collaboration and how our book came to fruition.
Scroll down to see the beautiful faces and beautiful decor that made up this fabulous conference. I was honored to be surrounded by such talent- not only in the speakers, but in the amazing attendees!
I can't wait for my next visit to Chicago-land!
graphic courtesy of Calder Clark


























xoxo, TWD
Event Sponsors: The Brain Behind the Operation - Beth Bernstein (SQN Events) Venue- W City Center Event Production- Art of Imagination Photography- Carasco Photography Paper- Courtney Callahan Flowers- Hello Darling Linens - Private Label Linens