Say Yes to the Dress!

My dear friend Bob gave me the idea for this hub of mine. He beautifully writes;

"My lovely wife and I had no wedding. We were married in the pastor's house with one friend of mine and the pastor's family in attendance. I can't imagine her in any of these beautiful dresses because even though they are beautiful, they wouldn't do her justice. It's hard to imagine any that would."

Bob went on to say that if he did get to choose a dress of his liking, it would be the "B dress," as seen on my "Flattering Wedding Dresses for Skinny Woman" hub. I found Bob's perspective very touching, and yet extremely valuable information for any other brides. In my own event planning, I never really thought about the man's perspective, when it came to wedding dress selection. Most brides, I am sure myself included, mostly cares about whether the dress is right and it happens to look on them. I think most of us brides, just presume if we like something, naturally our beaus will follow. However, as Bob pointed out that might not be necessarily true.

A Smart Choice;

When I first got married in 1994 to Mr. Charles Knippel, I distinctly remember asking for his input. Bucky being Buck, actually sat down with me one day, and scrounged through some of my bridal magazines that were worn from handling. After an hour or so, it was amazingly clear that my idea of the perfect wedding dress, was completely different from his. In my magazine, I had tabbed all the "Cinderella" style bridal gowns. Bucky, as my husband to be clearly spoke of his disgust for these types dresses. He hated dresses that featured a deep V'd waistline, because they created really puffy gathers at the hips. He said the look was ugly, because it made all the models butts look ten times bigger. The funny thing about it was, I personally thought all the kind of dresses, were the prettiest. Needless to say, I purchased a lovely sheath bridal gown, with a detachable cathedral length train. My bridal gown was made of raw silk, and had very little beading. I must admit, it looked spectacular on me! Bottom line, Bucky was right.

For that time and era, my dress was considered unique by all standards. Everyone at that time was wearing fairy tale dresses, which usually had big fancy bows sewn across the butt. In addition, most of these wedding dresses were also heavily beaded, and if that wasn't enough, most of these bridal gowns were made of an obnoxious, polyester, satin.

Therefore, the dress I selected was really different for that time period. You can imagine how unique I must have looked in my plain, straight wedding dress that was made out of hand spun, raw silk. From the gasps in the room, I would not have changed a thing.

To really showcase my new look, I also wore a bellowing tulle, Pillbox hat as my veil. My husband Bucky, cried throughout the entire ceremony. He clearly thought I was the most beautiful woman in the world. That was a truly remarkable feeling.

In the spirit of a recent engagement, brides tend to want to go shopping for a bridal gown right away. The stark reality though is, most brides are ill prepared to start shopping for their bridal gown. They and their family members, generally end up having a very difficult time, and often confusing day. This article is design to ease some of that difficulty. With your vote, brides can become more knowledgeable and less confused. It is the hope of this author that brides reading this article, are able to find the right dress, and walk away from a shopping experience saying, "YES!" to the right wedding dress.

• At the end of the picture gallery is a poll. Please vote for the dress of your choice and help another bride make the right choice for her big day.
• This poll's purpose is to be a focus group, designed to give brides another viewpoint .

What many European, Indian, and Asian brides might not realize is that many American brides want to know what the latest wedding designer trends are, to hit the fashion runways of China, India, or Europe. Any point of view is desired however, points of view from men might also be another avenue for brides to find the right wedding dress.

Do A Little Homework Beforehand

In this article located below is a grouping of bridal gowns. Each gown is label A-F, and listed accordingly to alphabetical order. The bridal gowns featured below, have been selected according to a particular style and look, which represents a trend.

The point of featuring these particular looks and pictures are to inform:

1.) Inform brides, friends, and family members, who might be shopping with a bride for a wedding dress- what a romantic look, modern look, traditional look, etc…, of bridal gown looks like exactly.

2.) Inform brides, friends, and family members, who might be shopping with a bride for a wedding dress- what other people are saying and thinking, about a particular bridal gown look.

Way too often, when it comes to weddings in particular, women tend to think what looked good in their day, will still look good today. Which is far from the truth actually. What might have been considered high fashion in 1973 is NOT necessarily, going to be considered high fashion in 2013. Therefore, Mother-to-Be's can do a little homework, before stepping out to shop, and (now thanks to this article) be current on what is considered high fashion in this decade.

• This years featured Bridal Designer is Sophia Tolli. All selected dresses are from her 2013 Winter and 2009, 2014 Spring collections.

• The styles selected are featured for the same reasons as the Pronovias of Barcelona gowns were selected for the 2010-2013 poll;

A- Bridal trend

B- Traditional Style

C- Contemporary Style

D- Romantic Sophistication (my featured favorite)

E- Modern Couture

F- Innocent beauty