Mother of: Amanda
Venue: Peconic Bay Yacht Club, Southold, New York
Vibe: Elegant Black Tie
Dress: Amsale
With Long Island’s Peconic Bay as their backdrop, Amanda and Matthew’s October, 2024 wedding was an elegant yacht club affair overlooking the water. Invitations called for black tie attire. The bridesmaids wore champagne, and mother of the bride Lisa decided that she would, as well.
She bought a beaded champagne cocktail dress several months before the wedding, but wasn’t quite feeling excited about wearing it. “It just wasn’t special enough,” she says.
Then she saw photos of Gayle King at her son’s June wedding (at Oprah’s house!). The “CBS Mornings” host wore a smokey blue Mikado silk draped gown with one shoulder bow, and Lisa fell in love—despite the color. She quickly did some research and found that the Amsale dress also comes in champagne. That’s the beauty of Amsale: its timeless silhouettes are often available in a wide range of colors and can be made to order in sizes 00 to 28. Lisa booked an appointment at Amsale’s SoHo flagship in New York (virtual appointments are also available!) and confirmed that the dress looked as beautiful on as it had in photos.
“I loved the structure. The fabric was so elegant, the color was perfect, and I felt that the one shoulder with bow was right on trend but somehow timeless,” Lisa says. “Oh, and it had a small train that made it so special!”
She placed a rush order, and received her perfect dress within six weeks. “Their customer service was wonderful,” Lisa says of the Amsale store experience.
She found a champagne satin open toe heel by Jeffrey Campbell to match, and wore simple dangling diamond earrings. “No necklace,” Lisa says. “The bow was enough.”
Nailing her mother of the bride look was just icing on the cake for Lisa, who also served as wedding planner while her daughter Amanda finished medical school and started her residency in Philadelphia. “She had very limited time to plan an elegant wedding in another state,” says Lisa, an interior designer who is accustomed to working with subcontractors and thinking about color and space and all the little details.
“When she got stressed out, especially as the day grew closer, I tried to remind Amanda that she had already won the prize: Matt is one in a million, and head over heels in love with her. That’s really what matters in the end.”
Amanda gifted her mom a diamond tennis bracelet as a thank you for all the planning. But she really surprised her mom at the reception. After dancing with her father, Amanda called her mom to the dance floor and they danced to “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Lisa says. “I was so honored.”
| Photography by Lisa Blanche Photography