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Buying Discount Bridal Gowns Online

Monday, July 5th, 2010
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Looking for a discount bridal gown online is a great way to find a gown that fits you and your personality. You get to see a lot of gowns quickly and whenever you’re ready to do so, and you can always come back to it. However, there are some tips you should think of following if you’re looking to buy a bridal gown online.

The first tip is to start with only one online page and look through as much of their inventory as you can to get an idea of what you like. Write down the name of the designers, and if possible the name of the style of dress you see. This will help your search later down the road.

The second tip is that, once you get that price, go to Google and look for, at the most, 3 other discount bridal gown sites to peruse through. More than that will overwhelm you, and looking for bridal gowns is stressful enough as it is. The reasons you want to do this are:

1. To compare prices
2. To compare colors
3. To see which website makes you feel the safest to use

That’s tip number three, pick a discount bridal gown website that makes you feel as if it’s being run by professionals. Some sites will have certifications on them that indicate they’re safe, but many of those are easy to get so don’t give them much more credence over your own intuitions.

Tip number four is to not necessarily buy your wedding gown on the site you find it on. If its not your chosen site, you can always try to write the company and tell them where you found the other dress and ask them if they’ll match that price. Most of them will to get your sale, as the prices are usually pretty close, and that way you’ll get to work with the people you wanted to.

Tip number four is to always check a website’s guarantee page to see what your rights are. If a site doesn’t have a guarantee page, either write them to ask for one or don’t use that site for your purchase. Some online sites will let you exchange dresses if something wasn’t satisfactory, whereas for others it’s buyer beware.

The process of buying a discount bridal gown online might be exhausting, but it can also be thoroughly enjoyable.

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Add Lace To Your Wedding Dress

Friday, June 11th, 2010

If you’ve purchased a wedding dress that you believe is rather plain, there are always things you can do to give a little bit of style. One of those things you can do is add some lace into the mix. Lace is one of those fabrics that automatically stimulates people’s minds into thinking that a dress might have cost a lot of money, when in reality adding lace could be one of the most economical things you can do.

There are many types of lace to select from. It’s defined by how it’s made, not by what it looks like. However, the more intricate the lace is, the more you can probably bet that it’s more of a manufactured lace rather than a handmade or needle lace. Handmade lace will cost more, because just like everything else people are charged for the time it takes to make something, and not always the quality or look of something. Most of the time when we think of lace it’s white, but it doesn’t always have to be white.

Where would you apply lace? That would depend on what you’re trying to do. Probably the most common place to add lace is around all the outer edges of the wedding ensemble. For instance, the bottom of the dress, the cuffs of the dress if there are sleeves or the straps of the dress or along the neckline. It can be sewn over each of these areas, or added on as an extension. It doesn’t matter how much lace one wants to use. The best thing to shoot for is symmetry.

The next thing you might think of is adding lace around the waist. You could decide to make it look like a belt or more like a sash. Either way, it works with any body type to help define the shape of the waist better. You could do it with one thin strip of lace or wrap it around a few times, either over the top of itself or overlapping to make the waist area spread out a bit more.

One other thing you can do is take swatches of lace and have them hand sewn in different areas of the silhouette and bodice. These are stylistic decorations that add your own personal touch and will really make a wedding gown stand out. Chantilly lace would really add a unique style to a wedding dress, as it tends to remind people of the warmth of family and home life.

Whatever you decide to do, remember that lace is something that can help make your wedding gown unique and special.

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5 Strange Ways To Alter Your Wedding Dress

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Suffice it to say, not every bride wants to go along with the status quo. They don’t all believe in the concept of “white is purity” in regards to their wedding dresses. What some brides do to add some life to their wedding dresses is usually add some kind of sparkle or embroidery to it. However, as we’ve gotten into the 21st century, brides are coming up with some very unique and different ideas for how to express themselves with their wedding ensemble. Here are five relatively strange ideas we have seen.

1. Fictional characters on your wedding dress. As you can see from the image, some women have decided to honor some of their favorite fictional characters by having their images and colors somehow interwoven into their wedding dresses. It may be hard to believe, but there are wedding dresses out there that would remind you of superheroes, characters on TV shows, and even things such as zombies and vampires. Quite often grooms will find a way to match up with the bride, but that’s not always the case. Then again, sometimes it’s the groom who’s gone strange and the bride stays traditional.

2. Go electric with your wedding dress. Sometimes sparkle just isn’t enough to highlight a wedding dress, so some brides have taken to having lights somehow embedded into wedding dresses. Of course the problem would be having a way to power the lights in the dress, but enough brides have figured out how to overcome that issue so that they can stand out even more than they already will on their wedding day.

3. How about some feathers with your wedding dress? A growing trend seems to be adding some kind of feathery materials, including feathers themselves, to parts of the wedding dress. What we’re also starting to see more often are multiple colored feathers all over the wedding dress, which includes having a wedding dress totally made out of feathers. Sure, Bjork took some heat when she showed up at the Academy Awards wearing a swan dress, but most brides will forgo having the birds heads attached their wedding dresses.

4. Maybe show your patriotism with your wedding dress. Nothing screams patriot more than having your wedding dress designed like an American flag. Actually, that’s not necessarily true. Some brides have had their wedding gowns designed to look like military uniforms. Some have had their wedding gowns designed to look like their state flags, or even flags from countries that their families have come from. There have even been wedding gowns that have added different types of military armaments onto their wedding dress; patches, not actual grenades, guns or bullets.

5. Flowers? Why not! It’s hard for most of us to imagine it, but one can actually have their wedding dress totally made out of flowers. On the TV show Project Runway, one of the assignments the designers were given was to make ballroom gowns out of flowers. What some did was make the shell of a dress and then add flowers to the dress. What others did was figure out a way to actually so flowers and leaves together to make the dress. Either way, if it can be done with the ballroom gown, then why couldn’t it be done with a wedding gown? As a matter fact it has been done; we just haven’t been able to find out if the bride had to be watered before the wedding.

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Interview With An Independent Wedding Dress Maker

Monday, May 31st, 2010

independent wedding dress makerQ – How many wedding dresses have you made?

A – I’ve probably made around 15 wedding dresses over the years.

Q – What would you say has been the biggest problem you’ve ever had?

A – Brides to be always have their weight fluctuating, and that’s no fun. Most of the time they actually gain weight when they say they’re working on losing weight. You’d think stress would make them lose weight, but it doesn’t usually go that direction.

Q – Do you design dresses, or do you use a pattern?

A – The only wedding dress I ever designed was my own dress. I usually work with the brides on the pattern they want for their dress. They always purchase the fabric, or give me the money to purchase the fabric. I try to get them the best deal possible, even hopping onto a bus or train to New York sometimes to find them lower cost fabrics.

Q – What’s the longest it’s taken you to put together a wedding dress?

A – It once took me two weeks to make a wedding dress. It wasn’t the dress so much as all of the hand stitching on the back of the bodice. The lace overlay on the silhouette was fairly easy, and I was thankful for that because of how long the back took. I actually had two 14-hour days just working on the back of the dress. The rest of the pattern came easily, even the hand stitching along the sides of the dress, which had this really pretty pattern, went easier than the back.

Q – How does the conversation go when someone asks you to make a wedding dress for them?

A – Brides always want to start off with price, and I always tell them that I can’t start with price before I know what it is they want. Since they buy all the materials, the only thing they have to pay me for is my time. And I don’t know what my time will be until we agree on the pattern and the materials. Some materials are hard to work with, some are easy. That dress I talked about above took a lot of time, so I charged her more.

Q – Do you only deal with making wedding dresses?

A – No, the bulk of the work I do is in alterations. That’s so much easier to deal with most of the time, unless a bride has purchased a wedding dress that’s way too small for her. If there’s not enough material to cover it, then it’s almost like making a new dress, because I then have to go out and find material that matches the dress, and then add it so that the pattern of the dress doesn’t look like it’s changed. And I have to make sure I buy enough of it because, as I said, more brides gain weight than lose it leading up to the wedding.

Q – Final question; what kind of satisfaction do you get once a dress is totally done?

A – I love seeing a completed project. When you see something in a pattern, it doesn’t quite do the finished dress enough justice. And when you see a wedding dress looking perfect on the bride, there’s not enough words to describe the pride you feel in having a part in making it. I will say, though, that once I complete a dress, I don’t want to make another one for awhile. Sometimes the entire process can take months because of the constant alterations, and you can get caught up in the bride’s emotions. So I usually need a little bit of time to decompress from that experience.

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Going “Green” For Your Wedding Dress

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Most people don’t think of wedding dresses and “green” as it pertains to the environment. But these days many designers are thinking outside the box and coming up with unique ways of making wedding dresses for their particularly green thinking clients.

For instance, designer Gary Harvey came up with something unique. He took 30 to 40 copies of the Financial Times and created a wedding gown out of them. He then exhibited his ideas at two fashion shows. The dress was a halter top style with a full ball gown skirt. For a guy used to making clothes out of recycled material, including discarded cans and boxes, this is nothing new. He also once created a wedding dress out of 28 army jackets of various shades and another wedding dress out of pieces from 10 other wedding dresses.

The basic for creating “green” wedding gowns is to either use recycled or reusable fabrics, or using fabrics that are created from plants that are environmentally friendly, allowing them to be easily recycled later on. For instance, there’s the green wedding dress collection by designer Deborah Lindquist, where she uses hemp/silk organza as a major portion of each dress, along with semi precious beads. This dress is not only environmentally friendly, but it’s price comes in at a wallet saving $875.00

For something a little more pricey, there are designers like Rene Geneva Design, who pledges that all of their wedding dress designs use 100% hemp silk that’s also formaldehyde free. However, you can decide to take a step up in luxury and have a dress made out of what they call “peace silk”, which is cultivated by allowing moths to emerge from their cocoons to live out their full life cycle. The silk is degummed and spun instead of being reeled, resulting in soft, fluffy silk. It’s rare, which is why it’s also expensive, but very green.

Of course, if you’re looking for both cheap and green, there’s always out of the way fashion designs made out of things such as toilet paper. That’s the specialty of Cheap Chic Weddings, which holds a yearly contest for the best wedding gown made out of toilet paper, tape and/or glue. These dresses hold up well for the most part, but of course if it’s a wet day one had better hope the wedding wasn’t supposed to be outside.

There are other fabrics that can be used on wedding dresses that are considered “green”, such as organic cotton, raw silk, and even, of all things, bamboo. There seems to be no end to ways creative designer can look at something and create a wedding dress out of it. So, if you’re a bride who’s into the environment, take some time and check out your “green” options; you might be surprised at what you’ll find.

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Bridal Week 2011, New York

Monday, May 24th, 2010

New York celebrated Bridal Week 2011 during the middle of April and some of the top wedding gown designers in the world got a chance to show what their visions were for the future year.

If what was exhibited is to be believed, the top designers believe that more princess style dresses will be the norm next year. Folks such as Priscilla’s of Boston, Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta, Badgley Mischka, Angel Sanchez, Carolina Herrera and many others exhibited those types of dresses, along with a few other fashions as well. Monique Lhuillier presented something a little bit different, with more bare shoulders, lots of frills and lace, corset bodices, and a couple of shorter dresses, one in particular that stood out having a bunched short skirt that was shaped like a white rose in front.

Christos came out with the look of high waisted corset bodices that exhibited different levels of eye-popping cleavage, yet seemed to stick to the princess theme as well overall. Someone who deviated slightly from the theme of the week was Carol Hannah Whitfield, who exhibited some wedding gowns that looked like they came straight from ancient Greece, especially one gown that covered one shoulder like a toga, had a wonderfully embroidered silver belt at the waist, an A-line silhouette and a sweep train.

The other theme of the week was black and white, and in this regard I’d have to say my favorite dress of the week is the one pictured here by Carolina Herrera, off the shoulders, a little bit of lace, but the matching black flower pattern on both the high waisted bodice and the lower part of the silhouette; the black flower bouquet was a wonderful touch as well.

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Wedding Gown Options For the Zaftig Bride

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Larger women might feel like they’re not going to be able to find a wedding gown that will make them look good on their wedding day. While it may be true that they might not look good in a mermaid style silhouette, and a midriff bodice might be a bit too extreme, there are many styles for zaftig sized ladies that will still make them look special on their wedding day.

For instance, a plus sized bride might think that she can’t wear a sleeveless wedding dress, or even one with spaghetti straps. That’s where accessorizing comes into play, as wedding jackets always look good with most gowns. Jackets are the perfect accessory for most styles of dresses for almost any sized bride. And they can both be lacy or silk or almost any other material and still go well with the wedding gown. Adding a touch of color will spice up any ensemble. However, brides who are comfortable with their arms can look pretty nice in a sleeveless wedding gown.

If you can comfortably wear one, going with a corset bodice, though not a tight one, can help bring out a nice waistline. Or you can try a drop waist, which often helps many brides look slimmer. You won’t need a jacket with either of these gowns if you add sleeves, but don’t do puffy sleeves; it just won’t work.

If you want to move eyes away from most of your body, you definitely want to add a V-neck. Not too deep, but a little cleavage goes a long way towards altering other people’s perceptions. A scoop neckline will achieve the same effect without showing as much skin.

Now let’s add the silhouette into the mix. Most people would probably tell you to have a ball gown silhouette, which makes the waist look thinner and longer, but it might bring a bit too much attention to the hips. Instead, think about the princess silhouette, which also makes women look slimmer, but doesn’t attempt to define the waist, and therefore looks a lot smoother overall.

We’re not done with the dress just yet. Adding a nice, long train to your dress will really make it stand out. Either a court train or a chapel train, something at least 3 feet or a little longer, will give the wedding gown more elegance and a sense of regality. It won’t be overstated either.

Something not recommended is too much embroidery or baubles on the dress. You don’t want too many distractions going on with the dress, because it will take away from what you’re hoping to do, which is impress and dazzle on your special day.

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Putting Together A Wedding Dress

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Recently, the record for the longest train on a wedding dress ever was broken by a woman in China. Her train was more than a mile long, had 9,999 red silk roses, took more than 200 people and three hours to unfurl, and cost around $7,000 for that part alone.

While that’s very extreme, the reality is that brides can pretty much do or have anything they want on their wedding dress. The main word in that sentence is “can”; whether they should or not is a different story.

Every year, the top wedding gown designers will have a show where they’ll exhibit their dress designs for the coming year. Not all of the wedding dresses are soothing to the eye, and that’s done on purpose. Designers know that everyone doesn’t want to have the same traditional look, but they also know that those people who want something different are willing to pay big money for them, if only for the shock value.

When people go to a wedding gown show, the idea isn’t to look at the dresses specifically for purchase. The purpose is to show general styles, and give everyone an idea of the type of work a designer can do. It’s hard for most people to go to a wedding show looking for a specific dress and be able to determine what they would look like in that same dress. The models can either make a dress look outstanding or make it look like it’s just hanging there. Most of the time, the body shape of the model doesn’t match the body shape of the viewer.

So, instead of hoping to have the latest Vera Wang or Reem Acra wedding gown, which you might not be able to afford, what brides should be looking for are ideas of what they’d like their wedding dresses to have, according to their body shape. For instance, a tight bodice might look great on the model, but does your body type fit wearing a tight bodice? A plunging neckline might make for a sexy dress, but can you wear that dress with confidence if it’s something totally out of character for you?

The same goes for all the additions on a dress. Are you someone comfortable with a lot of embroidery on a dress, or do you usually wear more simple patterns? Are puffy sleeves your style, or do you like your shoulders being unencumbered by all the extra fabric? Do you want a train that’s going to take 200 people and hours to unfurl, or would you like to stride in, have your wedding, and be able to walk out so you can get to the party?

It’s up to you, the bride, to make these decisions for yourself. Just take your time, figure out what will make you feel the most special that you can afford, and don’t try to compete with what someone else has done. You will be special no matter what you do.

See also:

Reem Acra
Vera Wang

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Wedding Dress Ensemble Mistakes

Monday, April 26th, 2010

There are thousands of different wedding dress designs. Most of them will make brides look spectacular on their wedding day, and give people something wondrous to remember. Every once in awhile, though, there’s a wedding dress design or idea that, well someone should have thought more about before they put it on, or at least before they decided to wear it outside of the house.

Here are some things that, hopefully, you don’t want as a part of your wedding dress ensemble.

1. Too much cleavage. This seems to be more and more common, and frankly it needs to take a step back to normalcy. True, the adage says if you’ve got it, flaunt it, but when it comes to your wedding dress, everyone is already going to be looking at you on your wedding day, so why take chances that most guys will be hoping to see in falling out of your dress?

2. Pasties. Unless you’re Li’l Kim, pasties aren’t a great wedding dress idea. Where this fashion idea came from as it pertains to wedding dresses is beyond me, but even if there aren’t any children at the wedding, this doesn’t seem like the most appropriate time to be exposing yourself to the public.

3. Too much skin. Some wedding dresses remind us of some of the styles young girls are wearing at proms these days; don’t any of these kids have parents? Even if you have a great body, you’re not auditioning to be a fashion model or a stripper. An exposed back in a wedding dress is sexy; an exposed stomach is tacky.

4. Multi-colored patterns. I haven’t seen a lot of these, but there are a few on the market. Being colorful is one thing; reminding people of a tye-tied T-shirt is another. It takes the experience of a splash of color for your wedding ensemble and turns it into a LSD drug trip that everyone at your wedding lives with you.

5. How short is too short? That’s a tough one to answer, but I would assume that if you don’t have to bend over for people to see what’s underneath, it’s too short. Short wedding dresses may sometimes come as high as mid-thigh, but not every bride can pull that off. Wear one any shorter and your grandmother might faint.

6. Flip flops. We all can understand that wedding shoes might not always be as comfortable as other shoes, but do you really want to put on a $1,500 dress and then wear flip flops under it? Everyone will know you’re wearing them, even if they’re never seen (and they will be seen) because flip flops make that distinctive noise that everyone knows. More woman are moving to a shoe that emulates the flip flop, and if you really want your feet exposed, at least go with something that has some style to it.

Please, please, don’t do any of the above. If you do, you can bet that pretty soon your image will be on the internet, circling the globe with an unflattering byline.

See also:

Short Wedding Dresses
Elegant Wedding Dresses

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Wedding Dress Fabrics

Monday, April 19th, 2010

There are many wedding dress fabrics, some that are fairly well known, others that kind of skim the surface. Below are the most known fabrics in and on wedding dresses, in alphabetical order:

Charmeuse is a lightweight fabric for wedding dresses that is soft and drapes beautifully. It is very smooth, has a semi-lustrous satin weave face and a dull finish. It can be made out of either silk or polyester.

Chiffon is a sheer fabric with a soft drape, made out of silk, polyester, or rayon. It’s very comfortable for the bride to wear because it’s soft on her skin, and is often used in the sleeves. It’s not the easiest of fabrics to use, especially silk chiffon, so it will take an experienced hand stitch specialist to work with it.

Crepe Back Satin is one of the most popular fabrics for wedding dresses because it’s reversible, which means of course that it can be used on both sites. One side is a shiny satin, while the other side is a crepe, or crape, which means it has a crimped appearance.

Georgette is a sheer, lightweight fabric that reminds people of crepe, that can be made of either silk or polyester. It is slightly heavier and more opaque than chiffon. It feels somewhat rough to the touch, but because it has a nice, flowing look, is great for the silhouette of a wedding dress.

Who doesn’t know what lace is? It’s very popular in wedding gowns, and probably has more distinctive touches to it than most other fabrics. It’s a decorative mesh fabric which gives wedding dresses their patterns.

Organza is a sheer, lightweight weave fabric made of silk, rayon, nylon, or polyester; silk is the most popular and luxurious choice to use. It’s lightweight, but also stiff, so it has many uses in wedding gowns, including puffy sleeves or gowns with an overskirt (an outer skirt worn over another skirt).

Peau de Soie is a medium to heavy fabric with a satin weave and delustered finish. It’s also very soft, and is the fabric used most often for mother of the brides gowns. It doesn’t stretch well, so it works best with brides who not only can maintain their weight between purchasing the dress and the wedding day, but also petite brides.

Satin is another very popular fabric for wedding dresses. Lightweight, and with a shiny or glossy finish, it’s made out of silk. It’s popular because of its shine, but it also wrinkles easily. It also tends to cling to the body and will tell on someone who’s not in the best of shape.

Taffeta is a stiff woven fabric made of either silk or synthetic blends. It gives a luxurious feel to a garment, but is also a little bit noisy, as it will make a sound while the bride is walking. It’s also a temperamental fabric; if it gets wrinkled, it’ll be hard to get the wrinkles out.

Tulle is a lightweight, extremely fine material that looks like netting. Many veils are made of this, but it’s also used in wedding dresses to give the silhouette fullness. It’s usually make from synthetic fibers, but can also be made from silk.

See also:

Matching Wedding Dress Fabrics To Your Style
Cotton Wedding Dresses

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