Facebook Bride Priscilla Chan's Wedding Dress Designer: Who Is Claire Pettibone?

5:43 PM PDT 5/30/2012 by Merle Ginsberg

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After Mark Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend, many wondered who was behind her custom bridal gown. It was L.A.'s answer to Vera Wang.

Priscilla Chan Claire Pettibone - P 2012

Getty Images

Priscilla Chan wore a Claire Pettibone gown for her wedding to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

When it comes to American wedding gown designers, we've all heard of Vera Wang, Reem Acra, Carolina Herrera, etc. But when the now-wife of one of America's richest men, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan chose to wear a $4700 custom made Claire Pettibone gown to her wedding, people were wondering who the designer is.

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Pettibone is based in Los Angeles -- in fact, her flagship store is at 236 S. Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills, where she sells her vintage-style wedding gowns in a number of fabrics and ecru shades, plus wedding headbands and beaded headpieces for the bride that are very reminiscent of the 1920s.

For any potential brides out there, Pettibone -- who runs the business with her husband Guy Toley -- will be having a trunk show at the store this weekend. Her website, under her own name, shows lots of different styles, and you can see in the photography what her fantastical sensibility is. There's a lot of fairytales and imagination going on there.

The designer grew up in Upstate New York in a rural farmhouse where her artist parents encouraged her to draw, study classical ballet and attend design school at Otis-Parsons School of Design in L.A. A lot of her retro designs are informed by her love of the ballet world. And she has gowns at quite varied price points, unlike many wedding gown designers.