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?

Bad luck to show up to a wedding wearing white? Hardly, if you’re a bridesmaid in certain weddings! Are you a true traditionalist? Then you could say that choosing white bridesmaids dresses in keeping with tradition — old tradition, that is, what with the bride’s attendants dressing just like her to confuse all those demons and evil spirits that were always causing trouble way back in the day. In this very pretty picture of a real wedding taken by the talented Agaton Strom, we see four women in white and not one of them is the bride. Based on this pic, I am loving white bridesmaids dresses. They’re fresh and pretty and summery and romantic, and if the bride wants her ‘maids to dress in white, who are we to tell her they shouldn’t?

What say you?

When you think of a bride, chances are that you think of a lady in a white dress. The fact is, though, that white is not required at all. Oh, and if you choose not to wear white, ivory isn’t your only other option. Really. No, this is true.

Look, white is great. If that’s what you want to wear I’ll have your back no matter what your matrimonial or sexual history, age, budget, or any other factor you may think is holding you back from your dream.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to wear white, I’ll have your back every bit as much. Maybe you don’t want to because this is your second wedding and you already did that. Maybe you feel uncomfortable because you come from a culture where white is a color of mourning. Or maybe you just think there’s another color you look better in than white. Whatever your reason, you should choose what makes you happy.

You could wear a silver gown and pair it with a dramatic, dark bouquet.
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LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE! Would *I* wear it if I were getting married all over again? Maybe not — or maybe yesyesyes — but I think that this real bride is too adorable in her itty-bitty blue and pink ruffled wedding dress. What say you?

(Photos by Mike_fleming)

How sweet is this silver wedding dress hanger from Lila Frances? If it was terribly expensive as so many things associated with weddings are, I might turn up my nose at it for being silly, but at $20, it’s a cute little keepsake that you’ll see every day when you’re rummaging in your closet.

While I’ll admit that a personalized wedding dress hanger isn’t the most practical sort of pre-wedding gift for the bride-to-be (or from the bride-to-be to herself), these hangers do look quite nice in those iconic ‘wedding dress waiting for the bride’ photos.

One word of caution: Don’t leave a heavy wedding gown hanging from it for any length of time, lest it warp the lettering.

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.

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In some ways, Lukka Sigurdardottir’s wedding cake wedding dress is the best of both worlds. Wedding cake. Wedding dress. White. Princesstastic. Very edible.

My logical mind says she’s just standing behind a huge mound of what looks like a lovely rainbow checkered cake — kudos to the baker! — but my whimsical mind really, really, really wants Sigurdardottir to be mired waist deep in a wedding cake wedding dress that she herself is consuming.

Doesn’t that look tasty? It wouldn’t be at all practical, but so little associated with weddings is, no?

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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)