Tell us about Casablanca’s beginnings.

Casablanca Bridal was established in 1997 by husband-and-wife team, Kevin & Gloria Lu. They had absolutely no professional business or bridal background as Kevin was a general surgeon in China and Gloria was a fine-arts college student. Their passion and perseverance quickly made them one of the fastest growing, well-known designers and manufacturers of wedding dresses in the industry! They received many nominations, but within the first five years of business, they won Bridal Designer of the Year and shortly after, the DEBI Awards for Bridal Manufacturer of the Year as well.

After 25 years of business, Casablanca Bridal is proud to have launched three additional labels, each with unique characteristics. Beloved by Casablanca Bridal is for the free-spirited bride looking for youthful, fresh, and light designs. Amaré Couture is for daring brides who are not afraid to step out of their comfort zone with designs that are as bold and fashion forward as them. Le Blanc Collection is our latest brand for the modern bride who appreciates chic and minimalistic designs with luxurious and sleeks fabrics that truly speak for themselves.

What are the greatest changes you have seen in the industry since you began?

For years and years, the bridal industry has been steeped in tradition. This generation of couples is all about breaking traditions and abandoning outdated practices. They’re not afraid to break a few rules at the cost of embracing what is the most meaningful to them on a personal level. It comes as no surprise to us then that the process of saying “YES” to the dress is no exception.

Over the past 25 years, Casablanca Bridal has helped millions of brides customise their wedding dresses so that their unique personalities can shine through. However, with the increased desire to incorporate more personalised elements into the big wedding day celebration, more and more brides have been taking advantage of all our extensive customisation capabilities. Brides can combine their favourite characteristics from four or five of our dresses to create a completely brand-new style that no one else in the entire world has! A customisation such as this might cost thousands of dollars with other designers, but since we have our own private manufacturing facility, we can offer these customisations at competitive affordable prices.

What has been Casablanca’s greatest achievement so far (and biggest challenge)?

Our greatest achievement has been navigating through all the difficult, oftentimes seemingly impossible, challenges brought on during the pandemic. Without all our retailers, there would be no Casablanca Bridal. Therefore, the first course of action we took during the start of the pandemic was launching our Casablanca C.A.R.E.S. Financial Assistance Program. This program was intended to financially assist our retailers during all the lockdowns and stimulate cash flow despite business restrictions. Although there were so many harrowing stories of businesses from every industry being forced to shut down, we were extremely fortunate enough to maintain our customer base and be able to truly partner with our retailers to help continue make all our brides’ dreams come true.

The biggest challenge Casablanca Bridal has faced was back in 2008 when our Co-Founder and Head Designer Gloria Lu suddenly lost approximately 90% of her vision. Casablanca was just awarded the prestigious DEBI Award and should have been a wonderful time of celebration. Unfortunately, an unknown virus suddenly flared up in Gloria’s body and took her vision along with her immune system. As opposed to allowing this new handicap to hinder her from continuing to design, Gloria manages to use her remaining sight to physically touch all her samples to make the necessary changes for future collections. She has the full support of our expert design team and her daughter Crystal Lu who has also recently joined as the new Creative Director. Crystal extensively assists with all of the designs and recently launched Casablanca’s successful new brand Le Blanc which consists of sleek, modern and chic designs, perfect for the modern bride.

There’s so much pressure for brands to come out with collections season after season – how do you keep them unique and innovative?

All our beautiful brides are a HUGE source of inspiration for us. We’re constantly customising wedding dresses and being inspired by all their innovative new creations. Casablanca was one of the first bridal brands to offer black wedding dresses due to the high volume of brides calling in to customise their dresses since brides knew of the company’s extensive customisation options. Casablanca has always been able to customise the silhouette, neckline and vast array of colours, but never offered the option for black. Now Casablanca offers several fun black wedding dress options. In addition to collecting feedback directly from brides, we conduct extensive market research with our trusted retail partners around the world and experiment with different styles at our Flagship Store in Southern California.

Our new Creative Director Crystal Lu has also expressed that she personally gets a lot of inspiration from her friends’ closets and even her own closet. She loves looking at current fashion trends and trying to see how she can adapt or transform them to fit more of a bridal style. In our latest collections, we’ve introduced chic one-sleeves, pantsuits, two pieces, and more under the creative direction of Crystal!