"wedding" news and stories

Todd English and Erica Wang. Photo: David X Prutting, PatrickMcMullan.com

Todd English is speaking out for the first time since calling off his wedding to Erica Wang.

"I couldn't go through with it," the 49-year-old chef of Olives told People. "I thought I'd met my partner, but as things progressed [it] went down hill."

English has appeared on "Iron Chef America" and PBS's "Cooking Under Fire."

In the People interview, English accused his jilted fiancee of "physical and verbal abuse" and allegedly hitting him in the eye in September. The New York Post reports Thursday that English visited a New York City police precinct to report the allegations.

But she denied the abuse allegations to the New York Post earlier this week, telling the paper that English has left her without a job (she was his personal assistant) and an apartment, and forced her to pay $12,000 for wedding expenses.

"An animal wouldn't treat another animal the way he has treated me," Wang told the Post. "He is forgetting I am human. I don't deserve this. He has caused me, my friends and family so much pain."

Slashfood reported on Oct. 5 that Wang had thrown a party despite the nuptials being called off.

[Via People, New York Post]

By Josie Swindler

The Hungry Bride has been sated. She was married last Saturday in a simple and beautiful ceremony on the grounds of an estate in Washington D.C., the city in which she and her handsome groom, Jon, fell in love years ago. In addition to being Sarah's co-worker (visit me at ShelterPop.com for home decor ideas!), I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids.

On the day of the long-awaited event, Sarah was as calm, cool and collected as ever and in true food-editor form, she remembered to eat breakfast. The details were thoughtfully chosen and worked together seamlessly. The girls' bouquets even had fragrant herbs like rosemary tucked inside!

After the simple ceremony, guests sipped on lemonade and sangria and waited a bit impatiently for what we knew would be one of the best meals we had had in quite a while. We all knew that baked chicken with droopy carrots and dried-out fondant-covered wedding cake wouldn't be on Sarah's menu. Instead, we were treated to lamb chops, macaroni and cheese, dim sum, s'mores and even cookies and milk.

Click through the gallery of pictures after the jump for pictures of the spread and the beautiful bride.

Todd English and Erica Wang. Photo: David X Prutting, PatrickMcMullan.com

What do you do when you and your celebrity chef husband-to-be call it quits just days before your extravagant wedding at an upscale New York City hotel?

If you're Erica Wang, the recently ex-ed fiancee of Todd English, you put on a chic black dress and party it up with your family and friends, the New York Post reports. English is the previously married 48-year-old owner of the Olives restaurants and star of season three of the reality-TV show "Top Chef."

Wang and English called off the wedding days before it was to take place at the St. Regis Hotel, and since several guests had already made the trip to New York for the event -- which gossip blog Gawker reports English had already paid for -- the would-be bride and "about 150 of Wang's closest friends and family packed into the posh party space 20 stories above Fifth Avenue," the Post reported.

"Everybody is having a fantastic time," a source told the Post. "People are dancing their butts off."

Photo: StephenMitchell, Flickr.

I've heard of brides getting so overwhelmed and busy the day of the wedding that they actually forget to eat. I found this notion pretty hard to believe until I started participating in weddings myself. All of a sudden you're rushing to get into a car to go to your hair appointment, then there's makeup, then you have to put on your dress and be ready for photos at a certain time. Before you know it, you're sitting down to the first course and your first meal of the day; and even then, you're busy making sure the bride has everything she needs.

With that said, I couldn't let this happen to me or my bridesmaids. The solution: have breakfast catered in my hotel room where everyone will be getting ready. Platters of fruit, danishes and croissants, along with yogurt and homemade granola, should please everyone. Even if the girls don't have time to formally sit down at the table and eat, they can grab a yogurt and eat it while they're having their hair done. The wedding day is long and arduous. The more energy we all have, the less cranky and more pleasant it will be for everyone.

Did you eat the day of your wedding? If not, was it because of the lack of time or were you too nervous? For those of you who have been bridesmaids, what would your ideal wedding-day snacks be? Let me know in the comments.

Still hungry? Follow the Hungry Bride on Twitter.

Tomorrow night on Top Chef, Gail Simmons has a special surprise for the Chef'testants. She's throwing her girlfriend a bridal shower and they are cooking!

Creating a menu around the old maxim:

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

... should be no trouble for the teams (Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue ... where's Sixpence?).

The only problem is, some of them don't look too excited to be Gail Simmons' personal chefs. Isn't this supposed to be a competition, not a service?

The episode airs tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 10th, at 10/9c on Bravo with guest judge Dana Cowin, Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine Magazine.

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