I briefly mentioned Hawaiian weddings a while back to illustrate the principles that cause even the most budget-conscious brides to examine the world of outrageously-priced weddings. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course–I do it all the time when researching goodies for the blog. But what if you are getting hitched in Hawaii and you want to plan the whole production on the cheap? Jade Fashion has a line of pretty cotton wedding dresses that pair more traditional silhouettes with subtle island elements.

Each Jade dress is made to order and the most expensive of the lot–the one of the train–is a mere $245! If you want to go all out, they also feature a range of brilliantly colored dresses that would stand in perfectly for the usual blah bridesmaids dress.

Manolo says, Ayyyyyyyyyy! While attempting to fight the comment spam, the Manolo has just accidently erased the last three days worth of the comments on this blog.

Many and profuse apologies to the Never teh Bride and to our internet friends who participate in the spirited conversation here. It was entirely the Manolo’s own fault.

I don’t usually wax poetic about gadgets. Weddings, as a rule, tend to be low-tech affairs, and I’m not a big tech head. But I am a photographoholic, and I recently received one of those spiffy Philips digital photo frames. It’s just about the coolest thing on my desk, and I think it has a lot of potential as both a wedding gift and a piece of supplementary wedding décor.

Now, I like framed photos as much as the next gushy girly-girl, but getting the orientation right and coping serenely with matting issues has never been my strong suit. That’s probably why I like the darn thing so much — loading photos into a sleek plastic frame via a USB cable is something I feel comfortable doing. I’m also a fan of good design, and this frame fits the bill. It’s sleek and simple, and isn’t cluttered up with buttons and switches. The in-frame interface is even fairly intuitive. Plus, the default options seem to be a creamy sort of white or a metallic silver, making it a perfect compliment to most wedding stuff.

First let me suggest you ignore the image quality of the picture above. I don’t know why it came out all skuzzy like that, but trust me when I say that these digital frames really make pics pop with a print-quality LCD display. While you can store photos in the frame itself (how many you can load depends on the resolution of your pics), the frame features a built-in memory card reader that supports a number of data storage formats. This means you can scroll through as many photos as your memory card will hold – which, in my case, is a lot. Then you can either set up the frame in a landscape or portrait orientation to display one pic ad nauseum, scroll through your photos at will, or check them all out slideshow style.

This is where the options come in. Say you want to roll through your pics using the slideshow feature. You can set the frame to change photos randomly or sequentially every five, ten, or thirty seconds; every one, five, or thirty minutes; one, four, or twelve hours; or once per day. I recommend using a longer transition time…seeing a new photo come into view every five seconds really messed with my mind. And if the thought of the current picture simply being replaced by the next bores you, there are fourteen transition effects to choose from, including resolving pixels and a sweep. Want to see them all? Choose the random transition feature and watch your photos get rolled up and peeled back as new pics come into view.

You can also use the frame to modify your photos using a small palette of effects. Morphing a pic from color to b&w or sepia is as easy as pushing a button…because that’s all you have to do. There are a few funny outline type effects that will enclose your photo’s subject in a word bubble, a heart, and things like that. You can crop and rotate. While the modification features don’t exactly add up to Photoshop, they are plenty fun and functional, and generally good for those people who want to play with their images but don’t feel up to learning the ins and outs of design software.

So what makes this a great gift? Imagining buying one for a new bride and groom…but rather than present it to the couple before their nuptials, you wait until after they’re legally wed so that you can load a memory card filled with the photos you took at their ceremony and reception into the frame. They not only receive a pretty cool piece of gear, they can also get a slick preview of their wedding photos before their professional prints come in. And this is a particularly thoughtful gift for those whose photogs have flaked out — it doesn’t happen often, but it happens.

Or consider picking one up before or after the wedding for the husband-and-wife-to-be or a family member. There probably isn’t a loving parent or grandparent in the world that wouldn’t like a digital frame pre-loaded with a memory card worth of photos from their child’s or grandchild’s wedding. And I know my mother is planning a post-wedding brunch with a slide show — a few of these frames set up on tables around the venue would make a great alternative to a projection screen or TV.

Used to be that gay folks looking to get hitched could rent out rooms at Disney resorts and use them for their ceremonies, but if they wanted the full in-the-house-of-the-mouse brouhaha, they were out of luck. Locations at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World set aside specifically for Disney-fied weddings were earmarked “STRAIGHTS ONLY” due to a rule that stated that only those who could obtain valid state marriage licenses were eligible to reserve those spaces.

But times, they are a’ changin’.

“We are updating our Fairy Tale Wedding guidelines to include commitment ceremonies,” Disney Parks and Resorts spokesman Donn Walker said. “This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests.”

This means that brides and grooms of all ilks can purchase Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding and Honeymoon packages. Good on Disney — it’s about dang time.

Forget your heart. The good folks at No Prenup Clothing & Apparel suggest you wear your values on your sleeve. Or, more precisely on your head, on your belly, or even on your butt:

They call it “clothing that promotes unconditional love.” I call it clothing that may scare your future family members, just a little.

If you’re not a bride-to-be trying to tackle some serious trust issues using your clothing as a vehicle for change, perhaps you are a guest who is just so sick of chucking handfuls of crunchy dried petals at bored newlyweds. Then you, my friend, need to invest in ROSE PARTY SURPRISE. According to the retailer, Bim Bam Banana, ROSE PARTY SURPRISE is a “hot new effect,” whatever that means. So what is it really? It’s a freakin’ cannon that shoots rose petals as far as 10 meters, baby.

At these distances, it might be wise to give brides and grooms a running start.

Photographer John Kantor recently sent me an e-mail asking if I could tell him who designed the gown worn by the model in the new Cover Girl commercials. Unfortunately, I can’t — I don’t watch a lot of TV and have thus never seen the advert in question. Perhaps one of you astute readers could help him out?

Even if you have no idea what I’m talking about, I do suggest you go have a gander at John’s samples. He does wonderful things with light and perspective, and his photos have a rich depth you seldom see in your average wedding snapper’s sample book. If you’re looking for a photog in the Tampa Bay area (or elsewhere) I would definitely recommend him.

That said, the whole point of this plug was to direct you to a rather neat blog that John pointed out called Trash the Dress. It features fun (and stunning) pics of brides and grooms taking part in activities that aren’t exactly conducive to keeping a white dress white. The photo below was snapped by Sol Tamargo:

For some reason, thrashing about in seawater is a dominant theme…maybe because there is just something sexy about the ocean in general? Whatever the driving force behind photos like these, I am now sorely tempted to trash my dress. Did I mention that I’m getting married at my gram’s property on the Banana River in Merritt Island? That presents just so much dress trashing potential!

If you’re contemplating having your bridesmaids in different outfits, but are afraid your choice will look weird or funny, maybe these pretty pictures will change your mind.

Just be sure to follow some simple guidelines if you are looking for cohesiveness in your bridal party. Allowing each maid to choose her own dress in a specific fabric and color can ensure that everyone feels comfy in their duds, and hemlines should basically match.