An outpouring of love defines the wedding day – the couple’s love for one another; the joy of their respective families, and the friends who have come to celebrate this important occasion with them. But there is also another, very emotional connection that marks this special moment: the relation between the bride and her wedding dress.

It’s something Ashley-Brooke Sandall can tell you about. On June 11th, Sandall, CFDA’s Senior Director of Business Development and Partnerships, tied the knot with celebrity magician and New York Times crossword puzzle constructor David Kwong, in an elegant ceremony and celebration at the Genesee Valley Club in Rochester, New York. For her dress, the bride turned to CFDA member Reem Acra to add her special magic to the day.

Sandall and Acra had known each other for years, and to Ashley, Reem embodied elegance and femininity, two qualities she holds dear and looked for in a wedding dress.

“I’ve always loved Grace Kelly and although we weren’t getting married in a church, I liked the idea of a long sleeve and a high neck,” she says.

The process was a true collaboration from the first meeting, Sandall and Acra recall during a recent conversation.

“When you called to tell me you were getting married, I thought, ‘I know exactly how you should look,’” Acra remembers. “I went into my office, to a roll of fabric, and said, ‘that’s your fabric.’ It was your personality in the dress. It was inspired by you.

“Ashley has a classical and modern side, and I wanted something special for her,” Acra adds, “so we went and added buttons from the neckline all the way to the train. I love the mystique of a long veil with the bouquet underneath. The dress had to have a lace element and sheerness, blending the modern with the classical.”

Because of the pandemic times, the first fitting was virtual and fiancé David had to take the bride-to-be’s measurements over Zoom. Sandall, who had relocated to Los Angeles during the pandemic, flew to New York for two in-person fittings. The first IRL fitting was pretty close – David did well – and the magician even performed a little impromptu magic show for Reem and her husband.

After two more in-person fittings, Acra delivered the perfect dress. Ashley’s maid of honor and CFDA colleague Sacha Brown, attended fittings, and when the big day arrive, she drove the dress from New York to Rochester and helped the bride as she prepared to make her way down the aisle for a ceremony that included many traditional elements.

It was all exactly how Ashley had envisioned this special moment—and the Reem Acra dress played a defining factor in this.

“As a bride, you still need to feel like yourself in a dress,” Ashley says. “And the more comfortable you are, the more effortlessly you can move around, greet people, dance and have the best time. I really felt like a princess in the dress.”

And what’s more special than that?