Manhattan Bride's Editor-Publisher and Webmaster Rick Bard launched the publication and this website. He also started Manhattan Magazine over 20 years ago. Since then he has won over 50 national and international awards, including 11 this past year alone, for his photography, writing, and design.

As a fashion photographer, he has taken Miss France on location to the glistening beaches of Tahiti, took Miss USA to the jungles of the Amazon, gone to the elegant streets of Paris with Miss Russia, and to the Bahamas, Morocco, Acapulco, Maui, Milan, Los Cabos, Antigua, Jamaica, and other exotic locales with top models, actresses, and dancers. His trips have been sponsored by departments of tourism and major hotels, resorts, and airlines.

His photos have appeared in publications worldwide, from the cover of a #1 best-selling book and other best-sellers, to publications such as Time, Newsweek, Elle, Dance, Self, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. All the photos on this site are also his as well, unless otherwise indicated.

He received the prestigious Award of Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers for his environmental articles and photo essays. He graduated near the top of his class from MIT and Harvard, was a champion amateur athlete, was a consultant for Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood and Bankers Trust, a computer programmer at the MIT Instrumentation Lab for one of the legendary Apollo moonshots, and the founding Editor-Publisher of Studio 54 Magazine.

Rick also launched a charitable foundation 20 years ago, enlisting such co-sponsors as Harry Winston, Lancome, and Wall Street's Sheason Lehman.

He has since held some 40 charity benefits, with regular annual fund raisers for homeless children and breast cancer research. In this capacity he has hosted events at major venues, including The Plaza Hotel, where he has welcomed as many as 800 guests for black tie dinner-dances, fashion shows, charity raffles, and photo exhibits. These events have been covered by local papers, magazines, and ABC-TV.

He co-hosted the charity events with one of his supermodel cover personalities for many years, and at his benefits he has presented awards to leading medical researchers, Nobel Laureates, activist celebrities, Oscar-winning producers, Hall of Fame athletes, heads of industry, civil rights leaders, Grammy-winning singer-songwriters, Emmy-winning actors, Tony-winning Broadway stars, top fashion designers, and best-selling authors.

At his charity events, Rick is responsible for all planning, budgeting, menus, music, flowers, invitations, seating, programs, gifts, scheduling, and party choreography ... and he draws on these experiences to fill each issue of Manhattan Bride with tested, real-world solutions, plus the sense of playfulness so much a part of each joyful wedding.