Throwback Thursday: 1 Wedding, 1 Anniversary

My gorgeous friend Alyssa Brownell and her fabulous man, Robert, got married last month. Alyssa wore my 18K gold tiara, as I've mentioned. The entire day was beautiful. There were a lot of happy tears during the ceremony in the awe-inspiring Church of St. Francis Xavier.

Saturday afternoon church ... #notmyusualsaturday #wedding

A post shared by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on Jul 15, 2017 at 11:55am PDT

The cocktail party at the top of the NoMo Hotel in Soho gave us a bird's-eye view of lower Manhattan ...

View from @thenomosoho yesterday #clouds #nyc #reallyrakos

A post shared by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on Jul 16, 2017 at 7:36am PDT

... and an enjoyable breeze on a hot day.

A bit windy on the top floor of @thenomosoho yesterday! #reallyrakos #weddingguests

A post shared by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on Jul 16, 2017 at 1:39pm PDT

The reception was downstairs in the NoMo's restaurant, which I highly recommend.

Let there be light #nomohotel #chandelier #wedding

A post shared by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on Jul 15, 2017 at 8:52pm PDT

I'm anxiously awaiting the professional photos of Alyssa in the tiara and her Vera Wang gown with the black bow. You can glimpse the bow here, but you need to see the full back view. It was so striking! Speaking of the photos, I was puzzled for a moment when the wedding photographer greeted me with great enthusiasm on my way out of the church. It took me a hot second to realize it was my own wedding photographer, Bill Fredericks, whom I last saw at my sister's wedding in 2002. I had given his name to Alyssa. In addition, Alyssa's hair was styled by my friend Julie Matos of Warren-Tricomi, and my right-hand woman Eryn was Alyssa's maid of honor. I totally infiltrated this wedding! I wore a dress that I wore to another summer wedding five years ago. This is now my official summer-wedding dress.

What Wendy Wore Dress: Prada (2011) Shoes: Prada (2011) Purse: Prada (2007)

This dress springs to my mind whenever I talk about statement-piece dressing that's very recognizably from a particular season.  It was everywhere -- on celebrities and in magazines -- in 2011. [caption id="attachment_37133" align="aligncenter" width="468"] April 2011 issue of Elle.[/caption] I wore it to my grandmother's 95th birthday party that summer (Grandma turned 101 this June!). [caption id="attachment_37134" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Click for original post.[/caption] I got those black wedges on our way to Grandma's party, and I liked the look so much I've worn the combination ever since, including to my friend Shawn's wedding in 2012. [caption id="attachment_37135" align="aligncenter" width="499"] You can't see the shoes but they're there! Click for original post.[/caption] The combo came out again for a friend's birthday party in 2014. [caption id="attachment_37136" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Click for original post.[/caption] I wore it out to dinner in 2015. [caption id="attachment_37137" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Same shoes! Click for original post.[/caption] I even had the dress and shoes in my wardrobe when I was turned into a paper doll by gorgeous Megan Mae, who used to blog at Megan Mae Daily. (I like that another one of my doll's options is my frequently worn Damien Hirst skull t-shirt.) [caption id="attachment_37138" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Click for original post.[/caption] I'm in no way tired of the dress yet, so I'd say it was a good purchase, even though it's very obviously an "old" dress. The fact that I wore the Prada dress to two weddings inspired me to re-wear a very different, but also memorable, outfit for my own 16th wedding anniversary with MrB, which was a week after Alyssa's wedding. When we celebrated our 15th anniversary in 2016 by going to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, I wore a rather peculiar hot pants/maxi skirt hybrid by Gareth Pugh. [caption id="attachment_37139" align="aligncenter" width="498"] 2016. Click for more photos.[/caption] This year, we saw Hello Dolly! starring Bette Midler (So much fun! Go see it!) and out came the Gareth Pugh. I spiced things up by changing the shoes to the 2011 Prada wedges.

What Wendy Wore Top:  L’Agence (2013) Bottom: Gareth Pugh (2016) Shoes: Prada (2011) Purse: Louis Vuitton (2001)

This Gareth Pugh garment -- I'm not sure what else to call it! -- demanded a little Boomerang video like last year's.

Gareth Pugh skirt/shorts thing #boomerang #wiw #ootd #legs #garethpugh #outfit #fashion

A post shared by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on Jul 22, 2017 at 7:56pm PDT

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the entire outfit will make it to 2018 because I discovered the think, shiny leather peeling off the L'Agence top that night. It pains me to have something fall apart after only four years, but at least the Gareth Pugh is intact. We'll see if I pair another top with it next year or revert to my 2012 anniversary dress. Or maybe I'll dare to wear a brand-new anniversary look ... like the striped Prada dress. If it's good for weddings, it's good for wedding anniversaries too, right?