Cathedral length veils and their slightly shorter counterparts, the chapel length veil, take an already feminine bridal ensemble and make it dreamier and more romantic. Dramatic and elegant, bridal veils of length typically only appear at very upscale and/or very large weddings. Why? Read on for the answer as well as tips on wearing and making the most of a chapel length veil or cathedral length veil.

At anywhere from 108″ to 120″ or longer, long veils play a starring role in the bridal ensemble. While a bride can wear a cathedral length veil with almost any wedding dress other than a very short gown or a ballgown, the longest veils are properly worn with wedding dresses with extremely long trains. In fact, the end of the bridal veil should extend six inches or more past the end of the train. Cathedral veils pair well with wedding dresses that are embellished simply, but if you decide to pair an ornate gown with a long veil, be careful of hiding a beautiful dress behind one or more layers of lace or netting.
(more…)

Romantic? Check. Elegant? Check. A little bit out of the ordinary? Check. A pink and gold wedding palette is perfect for the feminine bride who wants to plan a wedding that could be described as magical and lovely. Though this palette skyrocketed in popularity after the modern movie version of Marie Antoinette, a pink and gold wedding palette doesn’t have to be inspired by the French Court by default. As pretty as it is, the pink and gold wedding can also be modern.

So what do we have here? Traveling in a vaguely clockwise pattern, there are natural branches studded with tufts of fluffy garden stock blossoms from a party hosted by Tracy Metz, a striking pearl and bird necklace designed by kgarnerdesigns, a lovely soft pink wedding dress by Alisa Benay for 100 Brides for $100K, a pink wedding cake with delicate gold embellishments from The Wedding Cake Shoppe, a gorgeous handpainted wedding invitation from Momental Designs, freaking amazing shoes from Haberdashery Boutique, a delicate rose gold filigree bracelet, and a snapshot from a real wedding that included antique gold bridesmaid dresses from Vera Wang.

The pink and gold wedding palette is truly as sweet as can be!

Everywhere I look lately I’m seeing carnations being used in weddings… more and more often, carnations are appearing in ceremony decor, reception table centerpieces, bridal bouquets, and elsewhere. Truth be told, once upon a time I might have been surprised. Carnations, to me, were the flowers one finds in the cheap corsage the senior prom date purchases minutes before picking up his date or the bouquet hastily bought at the gas station to apologize for some misdeed. But done right, carnations in weddings are beautiful and shockingly elegant.

Far from being just a filler flower, carnations have the most impact when used as the sole bloom in a wedding arrangement. Because of the way their petals are formed, carnations are best used in a big bunch, like in these carnation wedding topiaries from PD Bloom. But that’s not all!

(more…)

*Squee!* I’m over the moon for all the colored wedding gowns and flora-inspired wedding dresses in the Spring 2010 designer collections. It’s like they distilled all the beautiful colors and patterns of springtime and used them to dye and decorate what might otherwise have been rather plain wedding gowns. I’ve spent about an hour this morning clicking through various collections to find my faves in the hope that they will inspire and delight you.

Simple sheath dresses from Jorge Terra become something spectacular when embellished with botanical imagery. My first thought was that these would be lovely at an outdoor wedding, but then why compete with Mother Nature? Either one of these wedding gowns would be delicious at an elegant evening affair, especially one with a very simple wedding color scheme so the dress itself becomes a centerpiece.

Uber evocative of springtime, these fanciful wedding gowns from Vera Wang‘s Spring 2010 collection bring to mind fairytales and all things feminine. I love the softness of the colors and the billowing fabric and the wide, wide ribbons. There are other colored wedding gowns in the collection, so if you’re a bride who has a big spot in your heart for color, it’s worth a look.

Finally, two gowns from Rafael Urquizar. Looking past the crown of thorns — what’s that about, anyway? — and the head scarf, I love the deep pink and floral detailing of the righthand wedding gown and the beautiful pattern and ultra-high neckline on the dress on the left. I’m afraid I can’t exactly tell if those are flowers or insects, but I like them all the same. The dress itself is quite striking, even without its sinister headgear.

All six are the perfect foil for a chilly December day, no?

Hale, caption fans! It’s time once again to play Twistie’s Sunday Caption Madness.

You all know how this works. I pick a picture that’s simply sobbing into its Corn Flakes for a caption. You provide said captions through the comments function. Next week I declare a winner and there is much rejoicing.

This week’s image comes to you from the too bizarre to be fake file.
Ready…set…snark!

Over the past few seasons, the color combination of chocolate brown and Tiffany, robin’s egg, or baby blue has reigned supreme. Now, though, it seems folks are ready for a change. The hot new color combo according to the gurus is purple and red.

This colorway can wind up looking like you’re getting married in the middle of a meeting of the Red Hat Society:
but it doesn’t have to. Don’t believe me? Take a look after the cut and see the possibilities.
(more…)

As the weather grows ever colder here in Massachusetts my thoughts turn to those brides who chose wedding dates in late fall, the dead of winter, and early springtime. When one considers the continuing popularity of strapless wedding gowns — at least in the minds of the wedding gown designers — it seems less than surprising that weddings in May, June, July, and August are popular here in the northern hemisphere. So I tip my hat to the bride participating in a winter wedding who must make do with itty-bitty wraps, shrug herself into a bridal cloak, or cover her lovely gown with a bridal coat to avoid Jack Frost’s nip.

Unless, that is, she can find a wedding gown with sleeves. As Twistie and I have lamented in many a post, there’s certainly not a glut of sleeved wedding dresses out there. Oh, there are some, especially if the bride doesn’t mind shopping in the modest section of the bridal salon and making do with a sleeved wedding dress that looks as if it started life as a strapless wedding dress before getting whatever one might call the opposite of a sleevectomy. But there just aren’t that many lovely sleeved wedding gowns out there, particularly if you don’t count the ones with sleeves made of fabrics that do nothing at all to insulate the arms.

May I recommend that wintertime brides skip a whole bushel of frustration and simply have a dress made by a skilled seamstress or couture dressmaker? Doing so is frequently a whole lot less expensive than it sounds, and the results are often stunning. In my search for sleeved inspiration, the wedding dress with sleeves that I liked best was crafted by bridal designer Joan Shum.

Isn’t the White Dahlia wedding dress just divine? Made entirely of Dupioni silk (or any other material you’d like), it’s glamorous and vintage chic and offers a bit of coverage for the bride who’d rather not have to choose between wearing a bolero jacket for half the night and having visible upper arm goosebumps in all of her wedding photographs. The only flaw, as I see it, is the steep price tag — at $6,500, I’m guessing a lot of winter brides who might otherwise fall head over heels for this particular sleeved wedding dress will have no choice but to brave frostbitten shoulders… or to use this gown as inspiration when they make an appointment with their seamstresses.