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The Love Story That Started It All
With wedding dresses, it’s easy to fall in love with the ones we see on TikTok or the styles that are trending on Pinterest. But when it comes to your dream dress, wouldn’t your say “YES” to the dress moment be that much more powerful if you knew that your gown came from an incredible love story too?
Casablanca Bridal Co-Founders Kevin & Gloria Lu got married within only seven days of meeting each other. A love story that began when Gloria’s parents first met Kevin on a train ride in China. This took place not long after Gloria called off an engagement back home in California. She just couldn’t imagine a life of forever together...and before she knew it, her parents were showing her pictures of the handsome new bachelor they met on the train! They liked Kevin SO much that they begged her to fly to China to meet him for the first time. Unsure about the long adventure ahead, Gloria ultimately decided to trust her parents' intuition. Next thing she knew, she was headed to the other side of the world!
After a long journey, Gloria took her first steps into a foreign country and had no idea what to expect. She finally saw Kevin in the bustling crowd, barely recognizing him from the few polaroid pictures that her parents had shared. Kevin was waiting to greet her at the airport and started walking toward her the moment he noticed her. In that exact moment they both instantly knew... they had found “the one”.
Kevin and Gloria spent the next few days traveling all throughout China. Since it was her first time there, he made sure to show her all the main attractions: hiking the Great Wall of China, boat ride at the Summer Palace and so much more. On the fifth day, Kevin introduced Gloria to his own parents, and she couldn’t help but feel like they were like her own parents. By the seventh day, Kevin got down on one knee and proposed. They quickly ran to the courthouse to finalize their marriage and they were officially Mr. & Mrs. Lu!
Although their decision to get married was an easy one, life threw many curveballs their way. Kevin Lu decided to walk away from his career as a general surgeon in China to pursue a new dream in America with his wife. After many years of financial struggle, they saw a need in the wedding industry to provide luxury dresses at an affordable cost. Kevin never imagined he would be applying his knowledge of anatomy and expert stitching to altering dresses! But more importantly, the Lu’s saw the devastating statistics of rising divorce rates among younger generations, and they wanted their wedding dresses to encourage couples to commit to “celebrating forever.” They knew that when they combined their God-given passions and their desire to pass on the gift of an everlasting love, the result would be beautiful.
“At Casablanca Bridal, we believe there’s a difference between designing a dress for your wedding and designing a dress for your marriage,” - Kevin Lu, CEO of Casablanca Bridal
At Casablanca Bridal, we believe there’s a difference between designing a dress for your wedding and designing a dress for your marriage. After all, your wedding dress symbolizes the beginning of a new life with your best friend, a big decision to say the least, and if saying “till death do us part” doesn’t fully drive that decision home, then we believe your dress should! We want your dress to emulate this sentiment. We want your marriage to be filled with the same qualities that went into creating your personal gown: love, loyalty, quality time, commitment, and a little bit of sparkle!
Your wedding day isn’t something you can plan in a week, and at Casablanca Bridal we believe your wedding dress needs to represent that attention to detail. And we aren’t just talking about the detail that goes into creating your perfect ceremony aisle or your pink champagne tower. We are talking about the detail that goes into building a lasting, life-long relationship.
Now over 25 years later, the Lu’s are leading the bridal industry with elegance and grace and celebrating 30+ years of marriage together. From humble beginnings to becoming a global powerhouse, they are now one of the fastest growing and well-known manufacturers in the industry. If you were to ask them about their success, they quickly give all the credit to family and friends who helped them along the way, practicing humility & resilience in the face of adversity, and most importantly to their trust in God. Their faith has kept them grounded through all the highs and lows of married life, especially when Co-Founder Gloria Lu suddenly lost her vision and damaged immune system due to an unknown virus back in 2008. Through all of those trials, they recognize that every blessing comes from The One who created love itself. Their goal is to continue designing gowns that truly represent what love is as God intended it for us.
“Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” - 1 Corinthians 13:13
