PORTSMOUTH, N.H., June 8, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ – Like the silk moire wedding dress Sarah Osgood Jones wore when she married Mark Hunking Wentworth in Portsmouth in 1844, weddings at Wentworth By the Sea Hotel Spa are exquisite examples of craftsmanship, fine materials and attention to detail. The dress is on display in local Strawbery Banke Museum’s exhibition “Thread” (http://www.strawberybanke.org). The wedding expertise is on display daily at Wentworth By the Sea Hotel (http://www.wentworth.com) and, like the dress, reflects experience and knowledge stitched together with the custom tailoring that puts the spotlight where it belongs.

“The current trend is to choose a dramatic backdrop or an unusual venue,” commented Gina Damiano, director of catering at Wentworth By the Sea. “Our historic hotel, with its Victorian wedding cake architecture, lush gardens and expansive reception areas, certainly fits that description. But we also provide all the back-of-the-house elements that the perfect wedding requires and many options, from packages to completely customized plans.”

Named to the Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure lists of the “best hotels in the world,” Wentworth orchestrates all the components a great wedding needs. Menu choices range from the most traditional to the casual, developed in partnership with on-site Executive Chef John Welch and paired with an extensive wine cellar.

As one enthusiastic couple wrote on WeddingWire.com, “We looked all over New England … wanted a place that was sophisticated, classy, on the water, held quite a few people, but simple all at once! We are so happy we chose to have our special day at Wentworth by the Sea.”

To showcase its wedding capabilities, twice a year, the Catering Department invites couples who have booked their weddings at Wentworth to a “Grand Tasting” in the hotel that puts the sensory variety of color, taste and sound on display, along with florists, photographers, cake designers, lighting artists, bands and DJs, transportation experts and other partners who have made Wentworth the wedding venue of choice on the New England seacoast. “Couples tell us that because we work with various vendors, all top-notch, the process of making decisions about the reception elements is very easy,” Damiano said.

“We understand that each couple wants to make a statement and that their wedding must express the way they want their guests to think of them,” Damiano observed. “That means that no two Wentworth weddings are the same. We work to understand what’s important to this particular couple – food, service, budget, our location, history, architectural details?” Packages include the Little Harbor Celebration package, with a complimentary stay the evening of the wedding in the honeymoon suite, open bar, food, flowers, cake and linens.

“The ultimate compliment we’ve received is ‘I didn’t have to worry,’” said General Manager Frank Wetenkamp. “The bride enjoyed her own party because once she walked through the door she saw that every detail was in place, exactly as she’d requested.”

For more information on planning weddings and other social events at Wentworth By the Sea, visit http://www.wentworth.com or call the Catering Department at 603-422-7322.

Photos: http://www.ereleases.com/pic/2012-Aerial-Marina.jpg http://www.ereleases.com/pic/2012-Silk-Moire-Dress.jpg

Contact: Stephanie Seacord, 603-772-1835

This press release was issued through eReleases® Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Wentworth By the Sea Hotel Spa

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If you are getting married, planning your wedding day can seem totally overwhelming. But if you win Bridal Guide’s Your Dream Wedding Design by David Tutera Contest, you could win professional wedding planning help, plus a dream honeymoon and more.

To enter, create a Pinterest board showing your wedding style, using photos from Bridal Guide. Judges are looking for emotional impact, aesthetics, and creativity.

The grand-prize winner will receive wedding planning by David Tutera and his team, bridal clothing for the bride and groom and the rest of the wedding party, a feature in Bridal Guide’s Real Wedding Album, and a dream honeymoon at Paradisus Playa del Carmen La Perla. The prize is worth up to $13,816.

Entry into Bridal Guide’s Your Dream Wedding Design by David Tutera Contest is open to engaged couples who are US residents and at least 18 years old. Enter once before July 16, 2012.

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PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF

The bodice of the gypsy wedding dress (priced at $20,000), with Swarovski crystal pins and flat-back crystals.

While many of this year’s wedding dress trends draw heavily on Kate Middleton’s elegant and restrained lace-sleeved gown, Sondra Celli caters to a slightly more ornate bride-to-be.

For 30-plus years, the Waltham-based dress designer has been creating highly decorated wedding gowns doused with bling: crystals, rhinestones, and occasionally miniature mirrors. Celli’s gowns are status symbols within Gypsy communities, and her customer base has only grown since the premiere of the TLC series “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” in April.

“We’ve been doing bling designs for years,” said Celli, 54. “The Gypsies love anything that’s celebrity-like.”

Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

Designer Sondra Celli (left) and an assistant, Valentina Sofranova.

Celli’s clientele, while it is mostly word-of-mouth, is far from small. Though she and her in-house staff of 11 are Boston-based, the majority of their gown shipments go to North Augusta, S.C.,
a town across the river from Augusta, Ga., with a large population of Travelers, Gypsies of Irish or Scottish descent.

Dresses can run, on average, from $8,500 to $20,000, and often weigh close to 80 pounds, depending on the amount of decoration, she says.

Celli first began designing for the Gypsy community when she was living in Manhattan after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1978.

“I had been selling my dresses to Nieman and Saks and a few other high-end retailers, when out of the blue, I was getting a ton of orders from all of these stores on the same street.”

Puzzled, Celli called a client in Chicago, an experienced designer, for answers.

“She goes to me, ‘You’re selling to Gypsies,’ ” she said. “I’ve been working for them ever since.”

Demand for the gowns and accessories has been on the rise since the TLC reality show began to air, drawing an average of 1.6 million viewers a week. The season finale is Sunday.

at Greenhouse/Globe Staff

The gypsy wedding dress on display in the salon.

(The term “Gypsy” refers to anyone who identifies with that community, though their family heritage and history may differ. Some reject the term as a slur, preferring to identify by familial descent. According to the Smithsonian Center for Education, the Rom are generally of Serbian, Russian, or Austrian-Hungarian descent, for example, while Romanichals are of English heritage.)

“The phone does not stop ringing,” said Farrah Derderian, Celli’s assistant and head “rhinestone girl.” “And it’s wedding season, so this is prime time for us.”

Derderian, 25, started working for Celli in 2006 as a college intern and has remained on staff, making dresses, teaching other employees rhinestone-ing techniques, and managing inventory.

“It was my junior year at Lasell, and my friend asked me if I wanted a design job. It was a local designer and it sounded like a great opportunity.”

The store produces more than just wedding gowns.

“We make party dresses, Sweet Sixteen dresses, just about any occasion where a dress might be necessary,” says Celli.

So it’s no surprise that Priscilla Kelly, 14, of Douglasville, Ga., a Romanichal Gypsy, contacted the store in search of a “Queen of Hearts” dress and dancing outfit for her family’s Halloween party.

“Sondra took my idea [for a Queen of Hearts dress] and filled in the blanks,” said Kelly. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen — ever.”

To complement Kelly’s Barbie pink ball gown with a bedazzled heart-shaped bust and ruffled train, Celli and her team also constructed shorts and a fringed bustier, both made entirely of rhinestones, as well as matching go-go boots, covered in 43,000 Swarovski crystals.

The sparkling combo has been Derderian’s favorite project thus far.

“Those outfits were a challenge, but I love that,” she said. “We don’t always get to see customers in the outfits we make, so watching Priscilla try them on was really exciting.”

Kelly said that while “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” does capture some of her community’s traditions, others have been slightly misconstrued.

“Yes, of course I love big dresses and bling, but not everybody does that,” she said. “It’s not something that we’re ‘supposed’ to do as Gypsies.”

Celli will be featured in a spinoff series set to premiere in early fall, designing a variety of dresses for clients from all walks of life.

“I’m a lucky girl,” Celli said. “These people give me freedom to be creative, and combine my vision with theirs, and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

Try BostonGlobe.com today and get two weeks FREE.Erica Thompson can be reached at erica.thompson@globe.com.