Meet Forever Bridal

Forever Bridal Productions began with a love story. The owners, Dom and Laura, met, fell in love, and were married in 1991 here in Raleigh, Laura’s hometown. After a brief stay in New Jersey in which Dom exhibited in bridal shows nationwide, the couple developed a plan to start their own bridal show production company in the Triangle. They settled in Raleigh and Forever Bridal was born..

In 1995, the company held its first bridal show, featuring 25 vendors. The show attracted over 100 brides. With Dom as the financial manager and people person, and Laura as the creative force behind the company’s marketing campaigns, they succeeded in growing Forever Bridal into the premiere bridal show producer of North Carolina. The company now hosts four shows a year, including North Carolina’s largest, attracting thousands of brides and over 250 vendors.

The couple never stops developing their business, constantly focusing on how they can enhance the bride’s experience. This has led to the production of the Dream It • Plan It • Live It• wedding organizer and an interactive set of online wedding planning tools called My Bridal Suite™, exclusively designed for today’s busy bride-to-be. Although their company has grown, they pride themselves on keeping it a local powerhouse and appealing to and enhancing the Triangle community. Their shows have attracted both local and national sponsors including Bride’s Magazine, the Knot, Men’s Wearhouse, Belk, The Hall & Gardens at Landmark, WRAL TV-5, and G105.

In 2002, Laura and Dom founded the Triangle Bridal Association, an association of wedding-related businesses in the Research Triangle committed to serving local brides. Since its formation, the association has grown to include over 80 businesses.

Forever Bridal is a proud member of Bridal Show Producers International (BSPI), a professional association for bridal show producers. A fixture at the annual BSPI conferences, Laura and Dom have set trends, served as industry expert panel members to other show producers, and are 3-time BSPi Star Award winners for image, branding and marketing pieces. Forever Bridal Productions also belongs to the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE), the International Special Events Society (ISES).

Meet Laura

Laura was born and raised in Raleigh and remains a southern girl at heart. Beginning a gymnastics career at the young age of 6 was undoubtedly the start of her creative and motivated nature. As she entered Enloe High School, Laura’s leadership qualities began to take shape as she proudly served as captain for several sports earning her an MVP award and state title in gymnastics. In 1985 she continued on to East Carolina University where she met Dom, a fellow Pirate athlete and together they shared a passion for the commitment and involvement in school with both sports and academics. She quickly found her niche in the Interior Design department and earned a BS degree in 1989.

After graduation, she and Dom became engaged and spent the next 18 months planning their wedding. She and Dom have been married for 19 years and complement each other both at work and home. They both also enjoy the challenges of raising four children, Dominick 16, Jacqueline 14, Anthony 11 and Matteo 8. Her passion for creativity and organization are definitely evident in her family life. Laura thrives on the daily routine of laundry, dishes and being the kids chauffeur! Seriously though, sewing, gardening and decorating top her list of favorite hobbies. She also loves to socialize with her network of "moms" and wedding peers, whether it’s drinks and dinner or a quick update on facebook.

Laura’s vision has always been to inspire and educate both the bride and the local business with her creative and contemporary style. As a wedding marketing and branding specialist, ideas are never lacking. Being an industry trade show leader, her unique approach and superb organization has made a strong impact on the local bridal market. Laura’s ongoing enthusiasm has resulted in the design and development of countless products, services and literature aimed at improving her company image, as well as marketing and branding Forever Bridal. It’s easy to see where she acquires her inspiration for life and work.

Meet Dominick

Dominick was raised in the small town of Boonton, NJ with his mom, dad and three sisters… Always organized and planning events for all his friends, Dominick quickly became the go to guy that everyone was comfortable with in looking to for direction. His leadership skills carried over to the sporting arena where Dominick excelled. In 1981, he attended the prestigious Delbarton School; one of the countries top catholic prep schools. By his senior year was named team Captain for both Football and Baseball. His summer vacation was spent with long hours operating the family business and learning the necessary skill set needed to manage and maintain the company. Taking on such great responsibility as a youngster, Dominick rapidly developed people skills and created his own management style.

In 1985, Dominick ventured south and attended East Carolina University where he studied Business Administration while playing baseball for the Pirates. Through the athletic program at ECU is where he met his wife, Laura, captain of the nationally bound cheerleading squad. The two began dating in April of 1987 and have become inseparable ever since.

Building a company from scratch is a challenge in any industry, but the couple never faltered. With each passing year they slowly gained market share and Dominick continued to move forward in developing new strategies to help businesses market themselves. Dominick’s passion for educating the bride has led to the development of a one of a kind contact management software system that gives each bride control over her own account. Now in their 15th year, Forever Bridal has welcomed thousands of brides to their shows. In addition, the satisfaction of successfully assisting hundreds of businesses in their marketing efforts goes without saying.

Dominick certainly has his feet firmly planted in the local wedding community, but he is most proud of his wife, four children, and the excitement that brings every day.

Meet David

David grew up traveling the US as the son of a career Marine. After moving back to North Carolina to graduate from high school he attended NC State University studying Chemical Engineering. David's first career was with UPS specializing in Hub operations and the Safety/Compliance departments. Retiring from there in 2000 he then partnered in a startup residential construction company and a commercial landscape company.

After taking some time off to spend with his family David came to Forever Bridal to manage the internet side of the business. His responsibilities include SEO, internet marketing, the vendor advertising programs and website development. He also is in charge of setting up and managing each of our bridal shows. David has a son who plays Junior hockey and still hopes to get drafted some day and a daughter who will begin high school in the fall.

On winter evenings David can be found at Carolina Hurricanes games with his daughter and waiting for the day to get on a boat and sail away to the islands.

Meet Jane

Jane grew up as a Navy "brat" traveling the world for the first 8 years of her life before settling in Pensacola, Florida. Ten years later, she began her college career at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida GO NOLES!!! Needless to say there was a lot of football and social events involved, but she also made it to class once in awhile which lead to a degree in Psychology and a minor in Family and Child Sciences.

After school, she decided to take a breather from the classroom and broaden her horizons even farther by traveling abroad to Australia. Upon returning to the United States, she hopped around visiting with friends and family before taking a job as a nanny in the Hamptons. Sounds glamorous, right? Not so much!

Six months later, she was on the road again and this time ended up in Raleigh thanks to a good friend. It was then that she was introduced to the wonderful world of weddings! She started working for a local catering company and ended up exhibiting in bridal shows where she met Dom and Laura.

About a year later, a change of careers was needed and lucky for her, Forever Bridal was hiring! The past 2 years have been wonderful and she absolutely loves her job! Her main objective is sales; however she is also involved with show and meeting management, event décor, copywriting and editing, social networking, and pretty much anything else that comes her way. She loves staying busy, and is always eager for the next project to come along.

Meet Miriam

Miriam is a southern girl, born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She first met Laura in the fall of 2000 while cheerleading for the North Raleigh Bulldogs. Miriam made a lot of great friends that year and even traveled to Disney World, with Laura as her coach, for the Pop Warner National Cheerleading Championship where her team claimed 15th in the nation. It was shortly thereafter that Miriam worked at her first bridal show in January of 2001. She was eager to make some extra cash and had proved to be very responsible and trustworthy. Since, Miriam has become a team leader at Forever Bridal working each and every show for the past 9 years. Fortunately, for her parents, once she acquired her driver’s license in 2004, she was able to begin part-time office work after school. She has celebrated many milestones as a part-timer here, including High School Graduation and continued that tradition by graduating from NCSU with a BS in Social Work in the spring of 2010.

Miriam is the go-to girl, everything Forever Bridal and the star member of the “Dream Team”. She currently manages the office and bridal show supplies and inventory, manages website listings, and leads the bridal show registration team. Now that she is a full time fixture, she is also working on booth sales and event planning.

Miriam loves working with the Forever Bridal family and feels just as much a part of Dom and Laura’s family.