Pnina Tornai

A FLORAL ROMANCE

It was a gorgeous day for a romantic garden wedding on August 6, 2017 at Carlisle on the Green in Long Island, New York. It was the weekend of love in the Jewish religion, which was felt all around as Jonathan and Lauran Birnbaum wed in an enchanting outdoor ceremony.

Originally from Boston, Lauren decided to begin the search for her dream wedding dress in her home city. Looking for a fitted, lace gown, Lauren tried over 70 wedding dresses during her search in Boston. With nothing standing out to her, Lauren decided to expand her search to New York. A fan of the popular show Say Yes to the Dress, Lauren made Kleinfeld Bridal one of the two stops on her New York dress-shopping trip.

At first the appointment began like any other. Lauren started trying on wedding dresses with nothing quite capturing the vision she had in mind for her dream dress. Then, while walking out to the salon in another gown, Lauren gazed into the Pnina Tornai Boutique where a stunning gown caught her eye. A Guipure lace gown with a mermaid bottom was poking out amongst the other gowns, and Lauren couldn't help but want to try it on.

Lauren slipped into the enchanting and alluring gown and the rest was history. Immediately falling in love with the gown, Lauren was thrilled when she showed the gown to her shopping crew who immediately loved it too.

“I just fell in love with the lace,” Lauren recalls. “The fit of it just made me feel very bridal, very special and it was very different from the 90 other dresses I had tried on!”

There wasn't a doubt in Lauren's mind that this was the gown for her. In love with the heavy and intricate floral lace on the Pnina Tornai gown, Lauren knew she had found the perfect gown for her romantic garden wedding. Lauren opted for nude lining under the gown and kept the illusion along the sides and back. She also added some extra lace appliques along the open back and waistline of the gown. The dress was the ideal balance of modest and alluring, classic and dramatic on the bottom, and just altogether what Lauren had been searching for.

So in love with the lace on the gown, Lauren took the extra lace appliques from the gown and added them to her veil to complete her bridal look. In addition to the veil, she wore exquisite diamond earrings that her husband surprised her with and a vintage 2-string pearl bracelet. Lastly, to balance the volume on the bottom of her gown, Lauren wore her hair half up, half down on her wedding day.

When it came time for their first loo,k Lauren had a little surprise in mind for her husband-to-be. Jokingly chided for taking the wedding too seriously (like that could even be possible), Lauren decided to lighten things up and show up to their first look in a dinosaur costume! A wonderfully, hilarious surprise for Jonathan, he was even more floored upon seeing Lauren in her actual wedding gown later on.

As one of the first things she decided upon in her wedding planning process, finding her dream wedding dress was huge weight off of her shoulders. Feeling good about herself in her wedding dress and the decision she had made, Lauren was thrilled how it had all come together on her wedding day.

“Just amazing,” Lauren fondly remembers of wearing her wedding gown. “I felt so comfortable and so beautiful; just exactly the way I pictured myself looking that day.”

To capture that feeling again and keep the magic alive, Lauren has removed the bottom skirt of the gown, which will trim their first child's crib. With the newly shortened gown, Lauren plans to recapture their wedding day magic and wear it for their upcoming anniversary. What a beautiful and romantic way to keep her lace dreams alive.

Written by: Jazmine Keels
Photography by: Joseph Lin Photography