Manolo for the Brides

Oversize bows on wedding dresses are one thing; this is quite another. While this wedding gown purports to have a bow in the back, I’m not so sure that ‘bow’ is the first thing that comes to mind when I look at this Renella De Fina creation. Is this dress stacked in the back? Sure. Was that bow tied by someone suffering from delirium tremens? You betcha!

But whatever, giant bows are nothing new, whether they’re in the front or in the back or goodness knows where. I’ve seen bows before. Am I just missing the bow in this picture, or do I need to squint at it until I go all Magic Eye crosseyed? Hate, hate, hate. Too messy!

What say you?

Wedding and bridal accessories featuring hearts abound in stores and online, from the classic measuring spoon favors with hearts for bowls to heart-shaped cake toppers upon heart-shaped cake toppers. Heart-shaped cookies… wedding cakes embellished with rolled fondant hearts… even a surprisingly pretty (from far away) Vivienne Westwood jelly pump featuring a luxurious red heart at the toe.

What you don’t see is a lot of wedding dresses decorated with hearts outside of the Hello Kitty novelty frocks. In fact, I only found four or so, all of which I’m posting here so they can be more easily found in the future.

It’s hearts all the way down on this wedding dress that looks rather like something a kindergartner would give his momma for Valentine’s Day, but I’m willing to guess that the photograph doesn’t do it justice. This is now, to my mind, the kind of wedding dress that improves upon zooming in with the camera, but I could see it looking quite fascinating from a slight distance.

(more…)

For this week’s LOVE/HATE, we have an Unrath & Strano wedding dress from the spring/summer 2010 collection. A prairie neck ruffle comes together with what looks to be mother of pearl… the ruffle continues on in sash form to the dropped waist only to be split in two and spat out from under a shiny belt. And the best part: Around the saddlebags, a discarded tube top from the 70s!

The weird thing is that I want to hate it so badly, but there’s a part of me that keeps saying “ON THE RIGHT BRIDE, ON THE RIGHT BRIDE” over and over again like a song stuck in my head. I can picture this wedding dress looking amazing, perhaps on the bride who looks just like the model? Or in just the right venue? It’s as if this frock has hypnotized me into loving it even though everything about it breaks some fashion rule I have for myself.

What say you?

(Photo by Boris Marberg)

I’d not heard of her until stumbling across one of her wedding dresses recently, but Stephanie Allin is one of the UK’s foremost award-winning bridal fashion designers. Her designs are British-made, though it’s not impossible to find a Stephanie Allin wedding dress in other countries, and they’re almost all 100% gorgeous. The details are what really draws you in, from heavy lace to sophisticated belts to artful gathers. Here’s a sampling, along with what I like about each.

What I like: The belt! Sashes are all right and bows are okay, but a wide belt with a big belt really tickles my fancy on the right wedding dress. This belted wedding dress is luxurious without being stuffy.

(more…)

Wedding dresses are crafted in a variety of fabrics and fabric finishes, with everything from cotton to taffeta being fair game. Yet the last thing most brides-to-be are thinking about when they step into a bridal salon or log on to an online shop like House of Brides is fabric characteristics. Luckily, wedding dress designers and manufacturers make it easy for us all, pairing certain fabrics with certain styles to ensure that everything drapes and flows and rustles like it ought to.

Still, a little knowledge goes a long way when you’re searching for the perfect wedding dress! For example, knowing the difference between a fiber and a finish will ensure that you don’t unintentionally buy a wedding dress made of synthetic fabric when you have your heart set on natural fibers. The finish is what cloth looks and feels like once it’s woven – for example, taffeta can be made of silk or polyester, and it’s worth it to know which one you’re buying.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a short bridal fabric glossary that includes the fibers and finishes you’re most likely to encounter when shopping for your wedding dress and bridesmaids’ dresses.

Batiste
Made of cotton, wool, or polyester, this lightweight fabric is thin and opaque, but not nearly as transparent as organdy.

Charmeuse
A lightweight fabric with a satin weave that is softer and clingier than satin and less voluminous than silk finishes. Charmeuse, which is lustrous on one side and dull on the other, can be made with silk, polyester, or rayon. This is a slinky, slippery fabric.

Chiffon
This lightweight and slightly rough fabric is translucent with a soft drape. Made with either cotton, silk, or synthetic fibers, it is quite delicate and is usually thought of as a summer weight fabric.

(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!

*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?

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.