i &#9829 new york part 2

On Tuesday of this week we were invited by our friends over at Brides.com for an amazing {as in pinch us we have to be dreaming} field trip of a behind-the-scenes look at some of New York's wedding industry institutions. Among the other wedding bloggers part of the fun day were Bee from Wedding Bee, Vané from Brooklyn Bride, Courtney from Little White Book, Anne Marie from Perfect Bound, Gillian from 100 Layer Cake and Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper.

{stop 1} Reem Acra

Housed on 5th Ave., the Reem Acra showroom is like stepping into a fairy tale! Gorgeous couture gowns from her new collection hang like ethereal pieces of fabric one could only dream up. Reem Acra's new collection for Spring 2010 is absolutely breathtaking {more on her new collection soon!}. We chatted with Reem over Skype since she was out of the country. Her staff was so gracious and sweet...and so was her dog Lou Lou {pictured above} that "guards" the showroom.

{The wedding bloggers featured with Reem and Michelle Preli, Editor in Chief of Brides.com}

{stop 2} Colin Cowie

As a wedding + event planner it was pure thrill to be able to meet Colin at his office and hear some amazing stories on how he puts his million dollar events together...from surveying the land for an event...to hand sewing fabric petals on a table after it has been perfectly set with silverware. He shared with us pictures from a recent wedding that took 1,000 staff and 45 days to set-up because they built a custom church + reception venue...truly unbelievable! Colin was just back from planning Alyssa Milano's wedding {in People today} and was leaving for Casablanca the next day...what a life!

{stop 3} The Plaza

With all of the times we have traveled to NYC we had never even been inside The Plaza so it was such a treat to get a look at what this amazing NY icon has to offer couples getting married. We were given a tour of the magnificent rooms and saw a gorgeous tablescape by David Beahm Design {another amazing event designer}. We were then whisked into the kitchen of The Plaza for an amazing culinary experience with the staff from Great Preformances who had an organic tasting style lunch waiting for us. Chef Mark Spencer {who recently won Chopped on the Food Network} showed us how he plates dishes and explained to us where their food sources come from. Such a fun exprience!

{stop 4} Cartier

After lunch we headed over to the Cartier mansion for such an incredible exprience. The staff showed us their engagement + wedding ring collection as well as all kinds of other amazing pieces. Cartier is celebrating it's 100th birthday this year and has all kinds of fun events happening. We loved the story of how the mansion came to be - back in 1917 Cartier traded a strand of pearls for the building...so neat! Some of us even tried on gorgeous rings and had so much fun on the 2nd floor looking at their invitation collection and bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts.

{stop 5} Ron Ben-Isreal Cakes

We met Ron awhile back at another event and could not wait to see him again! He's one of the nicest and funniest people...and uber-talented to boot. Ron shared with us lots of stories about some of the cakes and we toured his kitchen and design space...and we got to see where all of the magic happens. It was incredible to see hundreds of sugar flowers that look so real it's almost impossible to tell they aren't the real thing. We of course tasted cake too...a pink lemonade flavor icing that was so yum!

A very, very special thanks to the Brides.com staff for the inviation and all of their work planning! We had so much fun with all of you too and wish we could spend everyday drinking champagne with the best of the New York wedding world!

{Photo credits: Amanda Schwab for Brides.com}