Carine Halabi began her career in fashion more than ten years ago when she moved to New York City to join the design team at Aeffe, the parent company of Moschino, John Paul Gaultier, and Alberta Ferretti. She later returned home to Washington, where she specialized in bridal fashion at Vera Wang, Priscilla of Boston, and Saks Fifth Avenue in Tysons Galleria. While at the salons, she continued to work with New York designers twice a year for bridal-fashion week.

Halabi developed a knack for hand-picking dresses off the New York runway that would be instant bestsellers in the Washington bridal market and decided it was time to open a store of her own. In November 2006, Carine’s Bridal Atelier (1726 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-965-4696) opened its doors in Georgetown, offering wedding-gown expertise and tailored bridal fashion for every body type, personality, and style. The shop’s long list of designers includes Angel Sanchez, Carolina Herrera, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, Melissa Sweet, and Monique Lhuillier.

It’s no secret that the holidays are the most popular time of year to propose. With January just under way, we knew that our first chat of the year had to be with a planner who could answer any newly engaged couple’s questions, from save-the-dates right on through the honeymoon.

Enter Jamie Sears. She’s been a party-planning addict since she was a little girl—growing up, she used to help her parents pick out invitations and decide the menus for their parties. After graduating from college with a degree in event management, she realized she could turn her passion into a career. Helping to plan her best friend’s wedding and then planning her own inspired Sears to pursue her dream, which she did by forming Simply Chic Events in 2006. Since then, she’s planned more than 40 weddings in Washington and beyond—everywhere from the Hay-Adams and Meridian House to Bermuda and Napa Valley. “Being a wedding planner is about much more than timelines and spreadsheets,” says Sears, whose firm offers services from “month of” to full wedding planning. “It’s about being a friend,” she says.

When Jamie Sears was a little girl and her parents threw parties, she made sure to be a part of every stage of the planning from picking out the invitations to deciding the menu. But it wasn’t until after she graduated from college with a degree in event management that she realized she could turn her passion into a career.

Helping to plan her best friend’s wedding and then planning her own wedding inspired Sears to pursue her dream, which she did by forming Simply Chic Events in 2006. Since then, she’s planned more than 40 weddings in Washington and beyond—everywhere from the Hay-Adams and Meridian House to Bermuda and Napa Valley. “Being a wedding planner is about much more than timelines and spreadsheets—it’s about being a friend,” says Sears, whose firm offers services from “month of” to full wedding planning. “I love getting to know each couple and helping them create a day that’s truly unique and reflective of them as a couple. My goal is simple: to allow my clients to enjoy being engaged and ultimately be guests at their own wedding.”

Who needs white when you can plan a green wedding? More and more couples today are taking the environment into account when planning their nuptials. But knowing what’s ecofriendly and how to find it can be difficult. That’s why we called in the expert.

Environmentally-friendly wedding planner Katie Martin, owner of Elegance & Simplicity Wedding & Event Designers, knows a thing or two about planning green weddings—in fact, she’s writing a book about it. Martin, a native Washingtonian, has planned about 3,500 weddings since starting Elegance & Simplicity ten years ago. In 2001, she added floral design to the company’s list of services, and now offers everything from planning to lighting to stationery. Martin and her team, who were chosen by the Audubon Naturalist Society as one of the area’s best ecofriendly event planners, drive fuel-efficient vehicles and order flowers from growers who use environmentally-friendly herbicides.

Move over white—green weddings have arrived. More and more couples today are taking the environment into account when planning their nuptials. But what’s ecofriendly and what’s not? And where should you even begin?

Enter environmentally friendly wedding planner Katie Martin, owner of Elegance & Simplicity Wedding & Event Designers. She knows a thing or two about planning green weddings—in fact, she’s writing a book about it. Martin, a native Washingtonian, has planned about 3,500 weddings since starting Elegance & Simplicity ten years ago. In 2001, she added floral design to the company’s list of services, and now offers everything from planning to lighting to stationery.

Your wedding day will probably fly by in a blur. All those months of planning evaporated in a matter of hours. How can you relive the day once it’s gone? Through the photos that captured so many of those precious moments.

Because photography is such an important element to every wedding, we called in an expert. Michael Bennett Kress, a DC native, has been a photographer for more than 30 years. His career started out with the gift of a camera for his bar mitzvah, and years later he’s still shooting.

Michael Bennett Kress’s first camera came as a bar mitzvah gift from his father. He started taking pictures immediately—and got hooked on the gym floor at school. “My first memorable experience came in junior high when I realized I could get out of class and be closer to a cute girl I liked if I was taking photos of the gymnastics team,” he says. More than 30 years later, he’s still shooting away.

With a degree in photographic sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Kress started his career as a commercial and advertising photographer before switching to social events. He and his team at Michael Bennett Kress & Associates (4710 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda; 301-654-0909) are life-cycle photographers, covering everything from bar and bat mitzvahs for children of past wedding clients to weddings of previous bar and bat mitzvah clients.