VUE

L ove and marriage, love and marriage. They go together like a horse and carriage. Those words mostly conjure up images of classic Frank Sinatra. Or, perhaps the iconic TV show "Married… with Children." The irony is that throughout history, love and marriage did not go together, in fact, the original goal of marriage was to act as an alliance between families. The people involved didn't have much to say about the decision then. Thankfully, much has changed. Sure, in today's modern age most men (at least the smart ones) seek to gain the consent of the bride's family. Although if that is the first time meeting them, perhaps that request should be saved for another day. One of the most fascinating things I recently learned was that the notion of love only became important in marriage about a century ago. Then Frank Sinatra wrote a song about it and well, the entire industry changed. Welcome to our annual VUE Bride issue. Here we celebrate the plethora of options available to you after you "say yes." We start with Kleinfeld Bridal which has become synonymous with the hit show TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress." Established in 1941, they have helped hundreds of thousands of brides find the perfect wedding dress. What started out as a single storefront in Brooklyn has evolved into 30,000 square feet in New York City, with the largest selection of wedding dresses in the world. Gracing our cover is the new collection by Pnina Tornai, exclusive designer for Kleinfeld. Tornai is an internationally renowned designer and we had a great time hearing her incredible story along with what inspires her and of course, taking a peek at her new collection. We also surveyed thousands of our readers to get their input on the top wedding venues, and the votes were extremely close. In the pages to follow, we'll showcase our reader's choice of the best wedding venues. Most of which are in New Jersey, but we also were surprised to have a winner in New York and in Pennsylvania. Our team works on this issue all year round since this special issue is only printed one time a year. We have a very special feature on what we consider to be the top wedding trends for 2022. We also know the challenge of finding the ultimate wedding gift, so we are excited to present to you our "Luxury Wedding Registry." Any of these can also serve as the perfect housewarming gift as well, as it seems more and more of our friends and family are moving into new homes. The landscape of wedding season has looked a bit different as a result of the pandemic, but we are certainly getting back to normal! Evolution and change can also be beautiful. This is the foundation for this year's Bridal Issue, marrying the ancient tradition of weddings with our "new normal." We couldn't be more pleased with how the finished product came together and we hope you enjoy reading it! A Note From the Co-Founder Brian Kovener Co-Founder Brian@vuenj.com V U E N J .C O M 24

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