We’ve incorporated this theme of generosity throughout our magazine and website.With each issue’s “Honeymoon Contest,” for example, we select winners who exemplify the power of Mutual Support. In our most recent issue, our early-20’s winning groom was fighting cancer. While in the hospital, he fell in love with his nurse, and she fell in love with him! After his cancer was in remission, he returned her inspiring kindness when she temporarily questioned her commitment to the stress of the oncology ward, by helping renew her faith in her everyday work.

When we started Manhattan Bride in 2000, it seemed every bridal magazine featured only one type of bride.Those other magazines filled their pages with light-skinned white models. But even then, our sophisticated Manhattan-inspired bride, wherever she lived, knew reality and wanted to see diversity. So right from our first issue, we featured Caucasian, African-American, Latin-American, and Asian-American models. Then we would alternate single-page fashion shots of our different models — so as you turned page after page, the intended diversity of our magazine was very apparent.

After establishing our celebration of diversity, we went back to my real love as a photographer, creating exciting Multi-Page Features with a vibrant visual story line. We chose Special Shooting Locations — local wedding venues, from rustic to formal, where we showcased different ballrooms, outdoor gardens, romantic ceremony settings, and eye-catching décor. We present  the newest gowns, glamorous hairdos, and makeup styles both natural and glam. We also include all the Accessories — from creative bouquets and dramatic headpieces to beauty-enhancing jewelry. We also put each of these new multi-page fashion features on our website, so their rich range of possibilities can be accessed anywhere.

The Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in 2015. After that decision, people asked how we were going to write about it in Manhattan Bride. But I didn’t feel we needed to comment on a decision that sanctioned what many of us recognized for decades … and which we’ve been featuring in Manhattan Bride almost since our first issue over 25 years ago.

Before same-sex marriage was even legal in New York, we published Real Wedding stories celebrating gay and lesbian couples who got married in the area and the Supreme Court decision, while historically profound, has no direct impact on our magazine that’s been covering gay, lesbian, straight, inter-racial, inter-cultural, and inter-religious weddings since our first issue. We celebrate weddings, but who is getting married and who they are marrying is of little concern to us. It’s love and commitment that we celebrate.

In each issue’s editorial, we acknowledge that wedding planning is joyous, exciting, and also maddening. As one of our wedding couples, you know all the challenges, whether it’s choosing your venues, gown, floral designs, menu, or music. Meanwhile, you’re trying to keep aware of everyone’s wishes and comments, and to stay within your budget. We view each of these challenges — which are often accompanied by heated discussions for and against various decisions — as a chance to work out and even reinvent new life-long relationships with your spouse-to-be, both your families, and your friends. We believe this is the perfect time to establish how you will solve problems together.