Tom Mora, who heads up the wedding design division at J.Crew, also popped by to walk me through the current collection. Tom’s been at J.Crew since 2001 and working on wedding since 2004, so he’s a wealth of knowledge. We talked a lot about which dresses are bestsellers (in reality, women have such different tastes that there isn’t one runaway hit); we also discussed garment construction, and fabric sourcing, which blew me away.

What surprised me, having only seen the dresses online, is just how special each one is. From the silk crepe Mimi t-shirt gown in a Champagne color to the Lucinda gown, a poly/cotton/silk ballgown with a hammered that almost resembles a seersucker, there’s a dress for every bride. (And with prices starting at something like $300 and capping off at under $4,000, these are good quality garments that most people can actually afford.)

Tom explained that, much like the J.Crew cashmere sourced from the same mills used by Loro Piana, the fabrics used on the wedding gowns are milled in Italy and France. And you can tell. I was besotted with the Sascha, a lightweight ivory silk taffeta number with a corseted bodice and structured sweetheart neckline, for this reason. The shape made me happy, but the fabric was just so luxurious, it made it even better.