It’s a big season for fashion exhibitions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” opens in New York next month. Louis Vuitton and its designer Marc Jacobs are currently being honored by Paris’ Les Arts Decoratifs. And a Balenciaga show – “Cristobal Balenciaga – Collector of Fashions” – opened across the Seine on Friday.

The exhibition, which features about 80 to 100 pieces, focuses on the first iteration of the Balenciaga brand: the decades until the house’s founder retired, in 1968. (After lying dormant for many years, the brand was revived by its current designer Nicolas Ghesquiere. It belongs to French luxury and sportswear group PPR SA.)

Mr. Balenciaga was a great gatherer of everything from daintily-embroidered shoes from the Renaissance to 19^th-century bolero jackets designed for Andalusian ballets. The exhibition places these pieces of inspiration alongside Mr. Balenciaga’s couture gowns, such as a brown velvet evening dress with a cropped jacket from 1943. Sketches and pieces of jewelry complete the exploration of Mr. Balenciaga’s stimuli.

“He was fascinated by the sumptuousness of the 19^th century, but only kept its form, giving the dresses a new lightness,” Olivier Saillard, director of the Musee Galliera, said during an inaugural visit. (The Galliera is closed for renovation until next year, so the exhibition is being shown at the Cite de la Mode et du Design, a design campus on the banks of the river, until October.) The exhibition is made up of items that Mr. Balenciaga’s family donated to the Galliera, especially the historical clothes that the designer collected during his life, and loans from Balenciaga’s own archives.

The highlights come at the end of the one-room show – a dress and a coat from late in Mr. Balenciaga’s career. The first is a black cocktail dress from 1967 made out of two large pieces of fabric, folded at the edge for volume, that come up over the collarbone and connect with jeweled straps over the shoulder. A pale silk evening coat that closes the exhibition takes its shape from priestly robes, and indeed Mr. Balenciaga was a devout Catholic who went to church nearly every day.

Even though the exhibition didn’t touch on Balenciaga’s 21^st-century revival, the roots of it are present in the show. There’s Balenciaga’s white bridal hat from 1967, which itself was inspired by eel fisherman’s hats that hung long over the shoulders to protect men from the sun – and which made an appearance in Balenciaga’s collection last September.

Heading out to the desert today for the beginning of the two-weekend Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival? Be sure to take a look at our Essentials for ideas on what to pack. A sandal like the Minnetonka Nicki shown here is just one good option. Think loose airy clothes for day, warm outerwear for cool nights and tons of sunscreen. (And maybe some raingear, given this morning’s weather in Southern California.) Then add whatever attitude suits you.  Famed British hat designer Philip Treacy has had quite a twelvemonth. From the much-debated fascinator he made for Princess Beatrice to wear to the royal wedding last year to the helmet headpiece Madonna wore to sing at the Super Bowl, his designs have been drawing even more than the usual global attention. His latest collection goes online Friday at harrods.com. Speaking of attention, singer Melody Thornton, formerly of the Pussycat Dolls, dressed to stun at the Third Annual Elle Women in Music event in Hollywood on Wednesday. Either that or she simply forgot to wear undergarments. In any event, once the spotlight hit her, her dress became transparent, leaving nothing  — nothing! — to the imagination. Some are calling it a wardrobe malfunction. But I find it hard to imagine that an experienced performer wouldn’t know what was going to happen. Malice aforethought, I bet.

Other things that made the Elle event memorable were the performances of “three of today’s most dynamic music talents,” says Ellen Olivier at Society News LA. She was referring to O Land, shown performing here, Jessie J. and Ellie Goulding. The event launched the magazine’s “Women in Music” May issue.

J. Crew’s Jenna Lyons hosted a party Wednesday night for the 2011 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award recipients, including winner Joseph Altuzarra and runners-up Shane Gabier and Chris Peters of Creatures of the Wind and Pamela Love. All the honorees have designed capsule collections for J. Crew, which will go on sale next week.

Among the items Daphne Guinness plans to auction off at Christie’s in June are ”a strapless bubble dress by French couturier Christian Lacroix; a white silk mini dress by London Fashion Week designer Christopher Kane; a silver minidress by her late friend Alexander McQueen; and a selection of the heel-less shoes … by Norita Tatehana,” according to the Telegraph, which got an early peek at the goods. The auction is expected to raise about $160,000 for the Isabella Blow Foundation.

Celebrity scents of the day: Kate Walsh of “Private Practice” launched her “Boyfriend” fragrance. And Madonna officially launched her first scent, “Truth or Dare,” with an event in Macy’s at Herald Square in NYC Thursday night.

Fashionista has put together a list of its top 10 schools for aspiring fashion journalists, marketers and public relations representatives.

WHEN Edwina McCann married her husband, Toby Smith, in the south-west of France 10 years ago, there was little available in the way of Australian bridal magazines to pore over for inspiration before she left Sydney.

”There was nothing at all I would have looked at and taken seriously,” McCann says.

”There wasn’t even a website you could go on.”

Today the bridal sector is brimming with magazines, reflecting the buoyancy of the market for a ”once-in-a-lifetime event”, which is seen as recession-proof.

But despite the plentiful publications dealing with veils, Vera Wang and velvet cupcakes, McCann, who is the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, is convinced there is room for one more. McCann says Bazaar Brides, which hit the streets on Monday as a stand-alone style guide for fashion-forward brides, will fill a gap in the market.

”Fashionable brides are a really big market that was crying out for a brand like Bazaar to get involved,” she says.

With the average bride in Australia spending $50,000 on her wedding, McCann says her demographic of reasonably wealthy readers was forking out quite a bit more than that, making a bridal magazine a no-brainer for Bazaar and its advertisers.

”When we spoke to our luxury [advertising] partners, they said there were few places in the media to communicate directly about their bridal business,” she says.

”How do you communicate that to the fashionable girl who perhaps turns her nose up a bit at the majority of bridal magazines?”

In Bazaar Brides, you do it with inspirational backstage shots from the couture collections, guides to bridal trends and coverage of the weddings of high-profile fashion identities including buyer Amelia Coote, consultant Yasmin Sewell and editor Justine Cullen.

The 158-page magazine came free with the main issue of Harper’s Bazaar on Monday, then in two weeks it will be sold for $9.95 in the bridal section of newsagents.

Advertiser interest has been so high that Bazaar will publish another issue later this year of the magazine that will come out twice yearly, timed around the international fashion collections.

”We had to close the books because we couldn’t take any more advertising at the correct ratio for our readers, so we are doing another one in November,” McCann says.

”The smart thing to do in tough economic times is to find ways to expand your business rather than just fighting over market share in a decreasing ad-revenue pool.”

Vogue Australia covers bridal fashions within its main magazine and runs the highly popular Vogue Brides forum on its website.

”We have had a bridal section in the magazine for a long time and the bridal business is huge so it made sense to extend it on to the website,” says the editor of Vogue Australia, Kirstie Clements. ”A target audience for Vogue Brides is potentially much wider than it is for Vogue itself, because the amount of money some women will spend on a bridal dress they would never spend on another piece of clothing. It’s their version of couture for a day.”

Sydney bridal and fashion designer Johanna Johnson says it was the fashion focus of Bazaar Brides that convinced her to advertise in the inaugural issue.

”I was encouraged by the fact somebody was going to do a bridal magazine focusing on couture and quality,” Johnson says.

A look at online wedding forums reveals many brides hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and seeking advice for depression following the wedding, from the let down of no longer having the big wedding to focus on to feelings of loneliness after moving to be close to a new husband’s family. On Wedding Central’s forum, one bride writes “for a couple of months after my wedding I suffered post wedding depression. It sounds ridiculous to say out loud, so you keep it to yourself and just feel sad inside and don’t understand why. I had the wedding of my dreams. But after reality sunk in of the fact that I was never going to be a bride again. I have been with my now hubby for ten years so I’d been thinking about my dream wedding with him for a decade.”

In Australia, statistics show that marriage continues to be the most common form of union, indeed the number of people tying the knot has been steadily increasing since 2001. Coupled with the high cost of the big day itself — the average cost of a wedding is $36,000 — the stakes could hardly be higher.

“It is not uncommon for newlyweds to experience emotional distress following the wedding,” says Jacqueline Saad, principal psychologist at Jacqueline Saad & Associates in Sydney and “it may be that we are hearing about it more as people feel more comfortable discussing their emotional struggle,” she adds. Of those brides who feel distress Saad estimates that less than ten per cent truly understand their unhappiness, how this unhappiness might impact their relationship and then go on to seek therapy. She believes this is because “they may not recognise the reasons behind the distress or may feel stigma attached to discussing the feelings of sadness, disappointment or depression following an event like a marriage.”

Saad says there are many factors that may influence the onset of depression like symptoms following marriage. “For many individuals it may be due to the mismatch in expectations that they have of married life, where the reality of marriage does not fit in with their preconceived ideas on the union,” as well as the lead-up to the wedding being an emotional draining time.

Pam Lewis, the director of clinical services for Relationships Australia, New South Wales, says it is normal to feel flat, sad or have feelings of loss after any event that has been highly exciting such as a holiday but “weddings are just a little more exaggerated because it has been such a big event”. However, says Lewis, “some people who are actually clinically depressed might feel bad enough to think they might need to talk to someone about it. They’ve been in a state of excitement often for several months with the building crescendo leading up to the wedding and then they come back from their honeymoon and sometimes they look at each other and wonder what do we do now? How are we going to go on with the rest of our lives now that the spotlight is off us?”

US bridal counselor Sheryl Paul, an expert on the wedding transition, says brides often feel they have made a mistake but “in the absence of accurate information that can guide someone through the difficult feelings, this is the only logical conclusion. Sadly, the thought itself compounds the anxiety, and often leads to affairs and divorce”.

And it’s not just postnuptial depression affecting women, prenuptial stresses are also taking their toll. After the initial euphoria following her engagement, reality set in for Kara Rosenlund an interiors stylist from Brisbane when she felt her wedding plans had become hijacked by family members. “What was previously an exclusive independent union of two people for some years, across many continents had overnight become a union of many people with a lot of very different opinions, and for some reason our opinions were being deafened. I was left feeling particularly wounded and deflated. I just never saw this divide coming.”

Paul believes the engagement period is the time a bride needs to focus on her emotional needs instead of the wedding planning. “The engagement is the time to grieve the old identity and lifestyle of being single in order to make room for the new identity and lifestyle of being married. It’s the time to loosen ties with family of origin and grieve the change in allegiance from parents to partner. It’s the time to grieve the shattering of the fantasy of perfect love and infatuation and learn what real love is all about. That’s a lot of emotional work and if someone pushes all of those difficult feelings aside and attempts to find control by planning a ‘perfect’ wedding, everything that she ignored during her engagement will come crashing down on her after the wedding when there’s nothing left to do and no way to distract any longer.”

There are other preventative measures worth taking before the wedding such as investing in pre-marital counseling with an accredited professional says Saad. She also recommends having open conversations with your partner prior to the marriage. Exchanging values, ideas and beliefs can help to reduce conflict post-union. After the wedding she suggests taking time to reflect on what may be going on for you and talking to someone close that you trust about the feelings and experiences you are having.

“It’s never too late to do the emotional work, so if post-bridal depression hits it means she needs to grieve the losses, feel her fears, and hunker down to do the hard work of transitioning from one way of life to another,” says Paul. “As long as they can talk it through and they know each other well enough to trust each other I think that is a good basis for getting through this low after a wedding,” agrees Lewis.

However, Saad recommends newlyweds who experience symptoms of depression such as a sense of hopelessness, feelings of sadness, changes in sleep patterns, a loss of pleasure in activities or interests or changes in mood, for example, feelings of irritability, should seek professional help.

Fortunately for Kara Rosenlund she is back on track with her wedding through her fiance’s “strength, confidence and love”. She is getting married on the 20th of July 2012 and, she adds, “we are doing it our way”.

To get a glimpse at the Pinterest phenomenon, look no further than Trish Smith. Her childhood pal Tiffany Loken was so sure she’d join the ranks of the addicted that she created a 50-pin “my best friend’s wedding” board for Smith — even though the IT education adviser from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., wasn’t engaged.

“Yeah,” says Smith, 29, laughing. Posted to the wildly popular, photo-driven social media platform were “all the ideas we had talked about since I was a little girl” in pretty, pictorial form.

Six months later, in December, with a proposal in hand, Smith seized the wedding planning reins and cemented her Pinterest obsession, creating seven boards over one to three hours every night related to her Nov. 10 nuptials. One showcases two dozen potential hairstyles; another displays 29 possible bouquets. But the topper on the cake? The 366-pin catch-all “my countrytale wedding” board, with its photo patchwork of gowns, favors, boutonnieres and, yes, a baker’s dozen cake toppers.

Meet the Pinterest bride. For her, planning a fairy-tale wedding without the tool is, well, inconceivable. Indeed, Smith estimates that 90% of her rustic mountain event will be inspired by or pulled directly from Pinterest, as she wishes.

With its heavily female demographic and emphasis on DIY derring-do, Pinterest and brides go together like love and marriage. But it’s not just the women in white who are touchscreen-tapping into the power of the 2-year-old site.

“It’s changing the industry” for vendors, planners and magazines, says Anne Fulenwider, editor in chief of Brides. Since she took over the title in November, Pinterest has “exploded and really changed the conversation.” A majority of her readers are pinners — repinning other users’ favorites, culling the Web for new stock and uploading their own pictures. She estimates that Brides‘ 55 boards, supplied with fresh images every day, are gaining about 500 followers a week. A favorite? “Couture-inspired wedding gowns,” with more than 10,000 followers.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Pinterest estimates that tens of thousands of wedding-related boards cram the site. “It is really inspiring to see people using the product in ways we never expected,” the press-quiet company said in a statement. Pinterest has emerged as the third most trafficked social networking site, behind Facebook and Twitter and ahead of LinkedIn, according to Experian market research. Visitors shot up 50% between January and February.

So forget the era of brides schlepping binders thick with magazine tear sheets. With Pinterest, sharing ideas for, say, sunken flower centerpieces is just an iPhone or tablet away.

But equally welcome, brides say, is the ability to visually map out the big day in a way that doesn’t require flipping pages of printouts or clicking through a list of bookmarked links. On Pinterest, “when I open up that photo and see it next to earrings and flowers and centerpieces, it just makes more sense to me,” says Katie Smith (no relation to Trish), who overhauled her color scheme thanks to a single image she found on Pinterest four months ago. She’d always dreamed of a fuchsia fantasy for her affair June 22, 2013, in Marco Island, Fla. — until she stumbled upon a shot of a wedding party in coral dresses and mint ties. “I saw that photo and said, ‘Done. That’s exactly what I like,’ ” says Smith, 27, who works in marketing.

Not all brides are so decisive, of course. Some find themselves overwhelmed by Pinterest’s plethora of pink peonies, mimosa bars and lace-trimmed Mason jars. Kristin van Westervelt, 24, a nurse from Northvale, N.J., who has been adding 20 or 30 images a day to her three wedding pinboards, jokes that “I’m going to have to have a second wedding because I’m finding so many ideas.”

There are two types of brides for whom Pinterest isn’t ideal, says Jennifer Rose, an event designer in Wilmington, N.C.: the client who “up to a week before the wedding is still pinning things she wants,” and the kind who insists on a look that’s absolutely original. “It creates this intense pressure to find something no one has seen on Pinterest before.”

Rose’s friend and frequent collaborator Millie Holloman, a photographer, says the swath of “good stuff” means those working behind the veil “have to constantly re-create and challenge” themselves.

The Knot put a playful pin in the Pinterest bridal bubble in January with its “(expletive) brides say” video. In it, a newly engaged “bride” (a guy in drag) is shown in front of screens at home and work chirping “pin, pin, pinning, pinned.” There is still treasure to be trawled, Roney says. “You just have to work a little harder to find it.”

Some brides fear that Pinterest’s ubiquity could translate into cookie-cutter receptions. “Or people are going to show up at your wedding and go, ‘You got all of this from Pinterest, didn’t you?’ ” says Melissa Jones, 28, who works in human resources and is getting married April 27, 2013, in Charlotte.

Kari Levine isn’t worried that her two other engaged friends will steal her Pinterest-procured idea of pinking-sheared napkins cut from vintage fabrics, even though they follow one another on the site and swap finds. Levine, a customer care manager, is getting hitched on a farm in Glen Oaks, N.Y.; her friends are going the more traditional, catering hall route.

Still, every morning before she even gets in the shower, she hops on her iPhone app to peek at “what all friends have pinned while I’m sleeping,” says Levine, 27. “It’s a little sad.” She sneaks the stalking in at work and then again at night. “My fiancé does not understand why I’m obsessed with it. I’ll be lying in bed on my phone, and he’ll go, ‘Are you pinning?’ ‘Maybe … “

Cris Stone, a bride and San Antonio-based budget bride blogger, says that in fact, Pinterest is invaluable for grooms. “Guys, you have to show them,” says Stone, 34. “I don’t know a nice way to say it.”

An early fan of the platform, Stone says her Pinterest boards “absolutely” feed traffic to her blog, Kiss My Tulle, and vice versa. On Pinterest she snags up to a dozen new follows a day, while 50 or 60 people click over to her blog each day via her 17 wedding-related boards.

At first, Trish Smith’s groom, Michael Detjen, “thought I was crazy,” Smith says. But then, scrolling through cake toppers one night, he saw “why I utilize (Pinterest) to the extremes I do.” The couple homed in on their cake crown of choice: a bride and a groom cradling each other’s backsides. “We’re big goofballs,” Smith says.

But even after they say “I do,” there are more plans being hatched on Pinterest: Tucked among Smith’s boards is one titled “makin babies.”

Virtuoso Advisors’ In-Depth Knowledge Provides ‘BRIDES Magazine’s Best Honeymoons 2012′.

When it comes to planning a honeymoon or romantic getaway, the travel possibilities can be endless. Choices may include a secluded beach vacation, European tours, intrepid safaris, as well as adventures in new and exotic lands, often leaving couples in a destination decision quandary. The good news for discerning couples: high-end travel agency network, Virtuoso®, has teamed up with the renowned BRIDES magazine to provide insight on the hottest honeymoon destinations now!

Collaborating with the revered travel network, Virtuoso, BRIDES magazine gained access to an army of 7,200 elite travel specialists, questioning each on what they consider the very best destinations for newlywed couples. Taking advantage of Virtuoso’s more than 60 years of travel expertise, the survey determines Italy, French Polynesia and Maui as the top three honeymoon destinations from a full list of 20 locales in total. Additional destinations in this category cited Greece, Mexico, Bali, Thailand, Costa Rica and Australia as favorites amongst the newlywed set.

“Virtuoso’s reputation as the premiere network of travel agencies and advisors made them a perfect partner for this year’s Honeymoon Awards,” said Jacqueline Gifford, Travel Editor for BRIDES magazine. “Their level of travel knowledge is unsurpassed and their insight led to an impressive and comprehensive list of world’s-best destinations, hotels, resorts and cruise lines – everything couples need to get started on their own honeymoon.”

“A couple’s honeymoon should be the perfect antidote to the stress of wedding planning. Virtuoso advisors provide the best possible experience for both the bride and groom, from the dream to the reality,” says Kristi Jones, CTC, President and COO of Virtuoso. “In fact, many couples first use a travel advisor to plan their honeymoon and after they realize how they could be traveling, it turns into a lifelong relationship between the advisor and the couple. Knowing how much we value honeymooners, we were very excited to team up with BRIDES magazine to offer insight into planning what is a trip-of-a-lifetime for many.”

From the survey results, the top five city hotels in US & Canada were listed as: The Setai, Miami; Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City; Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, Santa Fe; Encantado, Santa Fe; and Four Seasons, San Francisco. Similarly, the top five hotels and resorts in Europe were named: Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy; Villa D’Este, Lake Como, Italy; Mystique, Santorini, Greece; Hotel Cipriani, Venice, Italy; and Hotel Splendido, Portofino, Italy.

Currently available in the April issue of BRIDES magazine, would-be honeymooners can check out results from the recent survey and find the inspiration needed to begin planning their own romantic getaway. Feeling lucky? The future Mr. & Mrs. can enter to win a dream Italian honeymoon courtesy of BRIDES magazine and Virtuoso, including a four-night stay at The St Regis Rome, a three-night stay at The St Regis Florence, airfare for two courtesy of Lufthansa, a consultation with a Virtuoso honeymoon specialist, plus $3,000 in cash to spend along the way. Visit www.brides.com/win to enter and visit www.virtuoso.com/brides for complete trip details and to find a Virtuoso Honeymoon Specialist.

Something old, something new, something half-price that won’t make you blue.It’s no secret that the cost of many weddings can equal a down payment on a house.Gown, veil, shoes, flowers and decorations — they all add up.But what if you were a bride-to-be on a limited budget? And what if you were a recent bride with boxes of items sitting in the garage collecting dust?You might be able to help each other out.That’s the idea behind the Hitching Post Roundup Sale, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at The Barn at Springfield Farm.

One woman’s trash could be a bride-to-be’s treasure.

In addition to individuals who pre-registered to sell their wedding items, there also will be vendors, plus tours of the historic barn, which is available for wedding celebrations. A highlight of the day will be a marriage recommitment ceremony.

The event is being organized by Williamsport Councilwoman Joan Knode, who came up with the idea after talking to a number of recently married women who were interested in selling wedding decorations and other nuptial necessities they no longer needed.

Knode knew there were women currently planning weddings who would be interested in purchasing those items at a reduced cost.

It was a matter of bringing everybody together.

While attending a wedding that was held at the barn, Knode said she met Cindy Myers, a wedding/event planner, and discussed the possibility of the sale.

Myers liked the idea and agreed to lend a hand, “so I thought, we’ll do it and see how it goes.”

Knode said she didn’t want to call the event a yard sale “for fear we would not get the right items. So we called it the Hitching Post Sale — which reminds me of getting hitched or married.”

Visitors to the sale will be able to find artificial flowers, vases, battery-operated candles, table runners, vintage clothes for weddings, a bridesmaid dress and one wedding gown that has never been worn.

Knode said an individual won a gown at a bridal expo, liked it better than the one she had purchased, so she’ll be selling it at the Saturday event.

“Someone suggested maybe a minister could be part of the Saturday event,” Knode said, “so when I sent out an announcement to the local churches to post in their newsletters, Rev. Weatherholt responded and volunteered to do the ceremony.”

“I was amazed at how the event was taking on a personality of its own,” she added.

Activities also will include a meet and greet, beginning at 1 p.m. on the barn’s main stage, during which brides can share ideas and concerns

“This will be an opportunity for brides and brides-to-be to share ideas, concerns and more,” Knode said.

While getting the word out about the sale, Knode said she was contacted by several wedding vendors who wanted to a part of the event “so we decided that, too, would be a good service to provide brides.”

A wide range of vendors will be represented, she noted, including caterers, bakers, florists, photographers, clothing and accessory specialists and wedding carriage and limousine companies.Knode said visitors will be able to take a guided tour of the grounds, and the Town Museum also will be open during the event.While this is the first year for the Hitching Post Roundup Sale, judging from the response Knode, hopes it might not be the last.

“We were planning on setting up 25 tables and we have 22 reservations,” she noted. “Of those, about 12 will be selling items and the others will be presenting their wedding services. It’s been a really good response.”

A few weeks ago a study on the most stressful jobs in America was released and, surprise surprise, one of the jobs topping the list — filled with positions such as EMT and fireman — was “Event Coordinator”. As the co-owner of not one, but two, wedding-related businesses in New York City, I can attest to the truth of this statement.

You see, a wedding planner or designer works with couples for months in advance, pre-planning each detail, while the event coordinator is actually the person there on the day itself, wrangling people, organizing seating cards and generally being asked to do some outrageous and ridiculous things. I can only assume that it’s the pressure of the wedding day that leads couples to think it’s ok to make some of these requests. I KNOW, from personal experience, that it’s often the shock of hearing the request that has led to us, and our staff, to saying yes to these things.

While these requests make for entertaining conversation at dinner parties, they actually aren’t really appropriate. If you are considering hiring a day-of coordinator, here in no particular order are 10 things you shouldn’t ask him or her to do. And I promise you, these are actual things that us/our team have been asked to do and have actually done.

2. Lighting Your Smoke. Smoking is gross, asking a relative stranger to light your cig for you so that you don’t muss your make-up is grosser. Especially if that person is a non-smoker.

3. Feeding your Baby, or any of your children for that matter. Of COURSE your wedding planner/coordinator wants your day to be perfect, and YES, we acknowledge that your child’s crying or a hunger tantrum might detract from the perfection of the day. That said, it is uncomfortable for the planner to be handed a baby and a bottle and asked to “take care of feeding her, OK?” It’s equally uncomfortable to be handed a toddler demanding a Happy Meal.

5. Dance with groomsmen, or friends, or Dads. We enjoy our jobs, and it is FUN to be at a party all the time. And, granted, we usually do look nice at the weddings, because we take pride in our appearance. All that said, we aren’t there to dance with the lonely groomsman, or your Dad or to get on the floor to “liven things up”. I’m sure that there are people who can be hired for those services, but it isn’t included in the “coordination” role.

6. Breaking awkward news to family members. Weddings can bring up family strains that you might not anticipate. A parent may assume they are going to speak, or a sibling may assume that he or she is walking down the aisle or standing under the Chuppah. Correcting these assumptions can be difficult and awkward. But, you know what? You’re an adult, you are getting married and it’s important that you NOT ask your wedding coordinator to explain to your estranged Dad that he isn’t walking you down the aisle. That’s something you should do yourself. You hired a day-of coordinator to run your wedding, not to manage your family squabbles.

8. Not let you see anything “ugly” all day. This sounds crazy, but we’ve had more than one bride ask us, or our team, to please “keep ugly things out of sight”. The issue with this is that “ugly” is so subjective. For one bride the tray with water pitchers on it seemed simply unsightly, for another the paper the bandleader wrote his notes on didn’t match her color scheme. It’s a tough request to stay ahead of.

9. Tell you you’re pretty every 15 minutes. All brides are beautiful; there really is something to be said for that wedding glow. However, asking your wedding planner every 10-15 minutes “Do I look beautiful? Do I look beautiful?” can get a bit exhausting. Not to mention distracting from actually taking care of running the wedding.

10. Stand in for someone who is late. I like symmetry as much as the next person, but even if someone is terribly late, it’s NOT ok to ask the wedding coordinator to sub in for a missing bridesmaid or groomsman. This also holds true for a wedding officiant. It’s a bummer if the officiant is late or doesn’t show up, but if your wedding coordinator isn’t licensed to perform ceremonies, they can’t fill in for someone who is.

New York Bridal Fashion Show Introduces New Faces and Brings Together Thousands of Designers, Retailers and Editors.

COUTURE: New York Bridal Fashion Week ( www.coutureshow.com ), formerly the WeddingChannel Couture Show, the number-one wedding fashion trade show for New York Bridal Fashion Week, today unveiled exciting new features, including the launch of four new bridal lines: AUSTIN SCARLETT, Victor Harper, McCaffrey Haute Couture by David McCaffrey and Butter by Nadia. COUTURE continues to provide an unparalleled luxury experience for the best names in bridal that combines the passion of designers, the intimacy of a boutique retailer and the beauty of bridal fashion in the ultimate, one-stop destination.

In addition, COUTURE has announced it will be moving to the Hilton New York in October for Spring 2013 New York Bridal Fashion Week. Exhibitors and attendees will receive the same luxury experience they’ve always known and loved, plus great new features such as an open floor plan, runway exhibitions, fashion shows and more.

“On our 17th anniversary as New York’s premier international bridal market venue, COUTURE is proud to be the leader over the years in connecting nearly 400 new and established bridal designers with retailers and our coveted brides,” said Carley Roney, cofounder of XO Group Inc., the parent company of COUTURE. “We’re thrilled to offer maximum luxury and glamour with attendee promotions, rewards and complimentary amenities for a luxe bridal fashion experience in a space that combines the passion of designers, the intimacy of a boutique retailer and the beauty of bridal fashion.”

LUXURY FEATURES AT COUTURE: New York Bridal Fashion Week

– Luxury Event Design: Renowned event designer Danielle Bobish from Curtain Up Events will be partnering with COUTURE to create a uniquely designed reception space, as well as an amazing wedding dress exhibition in the heart of the show, featuring more than 30 designer gowns and accessories as inspiration.

– Ultimate Buyers Lounge: Exhibitors and attendees can relax and regroup between shows in the Ultimate Buyers Lounge, where they can enjoy food and refreshments, and enter for a chance to win special prizes.

– Exclusive Look at New Bridal Lines: Attendees will receive an insider’s look at four new lines launching at COUTURE this year. Project Runway alum Austin Scarlett will give a sneak preview of his new line, AUSTIN SCARLETT, that’s set to debut in full at Spring 2013 New York Bridal Fashion Week. Additional lines debuting at COUTURE include Victor Harper (by a renowned designer announced at the show site), McCaffrey Haute Couture by David McCaffrey and Butter by Nadia.

– Makeup and Hair Services: Free makeovers from beauty stylist MG Hair & Makeup will be offered to exhibitors and attendees on the 14th floor for those who would like a quick touch-up.

– Promotions and Rewards: Attendees can pick up a “Passport to Fashion” game card, so each exhibitor they visit will bring them one stamp closer to winning amazing prizes from celebrity accessory designers Judith Leiber and Erin Cole, gown preservation from the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists and a two-night stay at the InterContinental New York Barclay hotel, all valued at over $6,000.

WHAT TO ALWAYS EXPECT AT COUTURE: New York Bridal Fashion Week

– Top Bridal Collections: The top designers and retailers connect at COUTURE, including Rosa Clara, Paloma Blanca, Simone Carvalli, Yumi Katsura, Jasmine, Maggie Sottero, Justin Alexander, Tony Bowls and more.

– More Than 1,500 Attendees: National and international designers in the bridal fashion world come to COUTURE. Plus, this season, more than 150 press members will attend the event to seek out the latest bridal designs and trends.

– Exclusive Editorial Coverage: Exhibitors can showcase their designs to 2 million brides by receiving exclusive editorial coverage on the top two wedding planning websites, TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com.

The premier luxury Fall 2012 COUTURE will run from April 14 to 16, 2012, at the legendary InterContinental New York Barclay.

About COUTURE: New York Bridal Fashion Week

Founded in 1995, COUTURE: New York Bridal Fashion Week (formerly WeddingChannel Couture Show) is the most established, premier bridal industry trade show in New York and has been the launching pad for legendary wedding dress designers such as Monique Lhuillier, Reem Acra and Lela Rose. Held twice a year, thousands of national and international designers, retailers and press attend COUTURE to introduce, buy and announce the latest fashion trends of the bridal world. COUTURE is part of XO Group Inc. XOXO -0.43% , a global media and technology leader devoted to weddings, pregnancy and everything in between, providing young women with the trusted information, products and advice they need to guide them through the most transformative events of their lives.

To get a glimpse at the Pinterest phenomenon, look no further than Trish Smith. Her childhood pal Tiffany Loken was so sure she’d join the ranks of the addicted that she created a 50-pin “my best friend’s wedding” board for Smith — even though the IT education adviser from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., wasn’t engaged.

“Yeah,” says Smith, 29, laughing. Posted to the wildly popular, photo-driven social media platform were “all the ideas we had talked about since I was a little girl” in pretty, pictorial form.

Six months later, in December, with a proposal in hand, Smith seized the wedding planning reins and cemented her Pinterest obsession, creating seven boards over one to three hours every night related to her Nov. 10 nuptials. One showcases two dozen potential hairstyles; another displays 29 possible bouquets. But the topper on the cake? The 366-pin catch-all “my countrytale wedding” board, with its photo patchwork of gowns, favors, boutonnieres and, yes, a baker’s dozen cake toppers.

Meet the Pinterest bride. For her, planning a fairy-tale wedding without the tool is, well, inconceivable. Indeed, Smith estimates that 90% of her rustic mountain event will be inspired by or pulled directly from Pinterest, as she wishes.

With its heavily female demographic and emphasis on DIY derring-do, Pinterest and brides go together like love and marriage. But it’s not just the women in white who are touchscreen-tapping into the power of the 2-year-old site.

“It’s changing the industry” for vendors, planners and magazines, says Anne Fulenwider, editor in chief of Brides. Since she took over the title in November, Pinterest has “exploded and really changed the conversation.” A majority of her readers are pinners — repinning other users’ favorites, culling the Web for new stock and uploading their own pictures. She estimates that Brides’ 55 boards, supplied with fresh images every day, are gaining about 500 followers a week. A favorite? “Couture-inspired wedding gowns,” with more than 10,000 followers.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Pinterest estimates that tens of thousands of wedding-related boards cram the site. “It is really inspiring to see people using the product in ways we never expected,” the press-quiet company said in a statement. Pinterest has emerged as the third most trafficked social networking site, behind Facebook and Twitter and ahead of LinkedIn, according to Experian market research. Visitors shot up 50% between January and February.

So forget the era of brides schlepping binders thick with magazine tear sheets. With Pinterest, sharing ideas for, say, sunken flower centerpieces is just an iPhone or tablet away.

But equally welcome, brides say, is the ability to visually map out the big day in a way that doesn’t require flipping pages of printouts or clicking through a list of bookmarked links. On Pinterest, “when I open up that photo and see it next to earrings and flowers and centerpieces, it just makes more sense to me,” says Katie Smith (no relation to Trish), who overhauled her color scheme thanks to a single image she found on Pinterest four months ago. She’d always dreamed of a fuchsia fantasy for her affair June 22, 2013, in Marco Island, Fla. — until she stumbled upon a shot of a wedding party in coral dresses and mint ties. “I saw that photo and said, ‘Done. That’s exactly what I like,’” says Smith, 27, who works in marketing.