Petite and Slender

Empire-line dresses have a seam just below the bust and fall away to the floor. It’s a style that suits slim and smaller-busted women. A column dress with a high neck is a style that can be pulled off by those blessed with a slight figure. Steer clear of ball gowns, which can swamp a petite figure.

Untoned arms

If you feel self-conscious of your arms, don’t show them. Either opt for a bridal gown with full sleeves, or choose a sleeveless dress, but cover your arms with a pretty jacket, shrug or wrap for a hint of movie-star glamour.

photo credit: jenny downing

Hourglass figure

Consider a halter-neck bridal gown, which gives the illusion of extending the shoulder line and balancing out the lower body. A two-piece works well if your bust is smaller than your hips. A bodice married with a ballerina-style skirt gives the figure a better proportion. Avoid straight or bias-cut designs, which magnify the hips and bottom.

Generous bust

A strapless bridal gown can look bewitching on a curvy figure, but you will need some extra support in the bust area. A V-shaped or scooped neckline (not too plunging) is also flattering. Avoid high necklines, which make breasts appear larger.

Womanly tummy

An A-line bridal gown if perfect. This style flares out from the waist and hides a multitude of sins! Many A-line dresses have vertical seams running from the top of the dress to the bottom, so there are no seams across the dress at the tummy area. Leave the beading to the upper part of your dress. Avoid bows or sashes around the waist, as they will only add bulk.

But then, not everybody can afford to buy or have a designer wedding dress. If you are on a budget, the best option for you is to rent it. Some women, although they have the resources to have a specially designed bridal gown for their wedding still prefer to just rent for practicality. You won’t get married every day and therefore, bridal gown rental is a practical option.

Another advantage of a renting wedding dresses is that you don’t have to worry about maintenance after your wedding day. All you have to do is return it within the allotted days after your wedding and not worry about dry cleaning it or where to store it. Also, renting a bridal gown can save you a lot of time for your wedding preparations since you won’t have to spend extra time going to a designer, thinking of the design, selecting the materials to be used, and the time needed to do the dress. You can also take advantage of bridal gown rental for destination weddings so that you don’t have to worry about transporting the bridal gown to the wedding location.

photo credit: Oferico

Most bridal gown rental shops also offer rental of temple dresses and other dresses for different occasions. Some women prefer the use of temple dresses for their wedding. Temple dresses are the perfect example of simple yet elegant designs. As simple as they are, you can also design them any way you want. Bridal gown and temple dresses rental shops offer a good number of ready-made designs to choose from.

Renting a bridal gown is not a bad option at all. The best thing with renting is that you get it instantly and you don’t have to wait for a few weeks to get your bridal gown. No matter how you got your bridal gown, whether bought or rented, the most important thing that you should consider is that it fits you perfectly. You should make sure that you do not feel even a slight discomfort from your wedding dress for you to be able to fully enjoy the biggest event of your life.

There is one possible exception when it comes to bringing your bridal tiara out of retirement. One of those exceptions would be when your daughter wants to be a princess and needs a princess tiara. You could buy a cheap plastic tiara at the dollar store instead of using your heavy weight bridal tiara since little girls have a tendency to break things on accident. And this idea holds true for safety reasons since your bridal tiara tends to be metal with real crystals, diamonds or pearls and you don’t want your daughter to get hurt. However, if your daughter is fairly careful and can handle the fact that your bridal tiara is real and not plastic, then it might be a really cute alternative for your tiara. But as for as alternatives go for your tiara, this is the only logical one.

The other nice thing about letting your daughter borrow your tiara to be a princess is that it gives her a little history of your wedding day. And even though she is young, some of the memories of her princess days will carry forward to the day when she ends up getting married. And if you are a parent of toddlers right now, you can only hope that the day is at least 25 years from now.

Like the train on your wedding dress, you can choose varying lengths of wedding veils and again it depends on the location and theme of your wedding as to what length veil would be most suitable. One of the most popular lengths for a wedding veil would be the “fingertip” length, which means it comes down to your finger tips when your hands are straight down beside you. You can also get shorter veils which are about shoulder length or at the other end of the scale, floor length and longer.

Of course a veil isn’t your only option if you want a headpiece but aren’t that keen on the veil idea. Facinators are becoming more and more popular with brides these days and can look very chic and modern.

If you’re not sure what a facinator is, think Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City Movie, she had a fabulous feather facinator which looked stunning and suited her personality down to a tee. Although with facinators you must be careful it doesn’t ‘overpower’ your face. I for one, thought Carrie’s facinator/bird on her head took away from her gorgeous make up and dress, so be aware, sometimes less really is more!

When choosing your wedding shoes don’t be pressured by the norm. You don’t have to have matching ivory wedding shoes that blend perfectly with your wedding dress, be bold and adventurous if you will, wear some beautiful, bright blue stilettos that are a talking point for your guests.

It can be very cute to have a pair of red kitten heels peeking out from under your big white wedding gown. Don’t be pressured into wearing “boring” white heels if that’s not your thing.

Of course there are still those of us who like the traditional matching colored bridal shoes, usually the easiest thing is to buy a pair of dyeable shoes which can then be matched perfectly with your dress. If you’re going to match your shoes to your dress then try and get as close to the colors as possible. Cream or ivory bridal shoes paired with a white dress will make the shoes look dirty in comparison to the crisp whiteness of the dress.

Once you’ve bought your wedding shoes you’ll need to wear them in. The best way to do this is just around the house. Get a large pair of socks and put them over the shoes while you’re wearing them, this will ensure you don’t get scuff or dirt marks on your shoes so they still look nice and new on your wedding day.

You can find designer wedding shoes in any boutique store, or at your bridal salon. If you’re looking for cheap wedding shoes you can try E-Bay or even your regular shoe store. Buy your shoes during sale periods to get massive savings then put the shoes aside until your big day.

Some might say the focal point of your entire wedding. You, wearing your wedding dress, is going to be the center of attention for much of the day (and night) so choosing the right wedding gown is an extremely important decision.

There are so many factors to consider when deciding on your wedding dress, but the most important things are:

Your wedding dress budget

There is no point falling in love with a Vera Wang orginal masterpiece if you only have a budget of $1000. So instead of putting yourself through the agony of lusting after designer wedding dresses which are totally unatainable, sort out how much you have to spend and only look at dresses in your price range. It will save so much heartache in the long run!

Your wedding theme

Depending on the theme and location of your wedding, some wedding dresses gowns are going to be more suitable than others. If you’re having a casual beach wedding then a gown with a 10 meter long cathedral train is not really practical, not saying you can’t have whatever dress you want, but imagine dragging all that fabric through the sand!

If you’re going for an elegant, modern wedding then a halter neck satin sheath gown might be a great idea. You must choose a wedding dress that suits your personality and fits in with your wedding theme.

Your body type

Unfortunately all wedding dresses are not created equally. There are about four main styles of wedding gowns, the empire, ballgown, sheath, mermaid. The empire and ballgown dresses are the most forgiving as your lower half is hidden in layers of fabric. However if you’ve got the figure to pull it off then sheath and mermaid gowns can look stunning!

The fabric

Traditionally a wedding dress is made from fabrics such as tulle, organza, satin and silk. There are so many variations to these fabrics and the same design bridal dresses can look completely different when made with each fabric, so always check with your dress maker or bridal shops what fabric is best for you.

Remember wedding dress shopping is supposed to be an enjoyable time and most of us only do it once so have fun!

If you don’t have a huge budget, you can find cheap wedding dresses online at sites such as Trade Me and E-Bay, in most cases the dresses are in brand new condition (since they have only been worn once!) and you can find amazing bargains on designer wedding dresses, sometimes at half the retail price!

Thankfully, many gown creators have answered that call of action and are consistently designing jaw dropping maternity wedding gowns and dresses that are just as beautiful as their traditional non-maternity counterparts. No longer are pregnant brides forced to hide their pregnancies under piles of chiffon or yards of tacky tulle and lace. Finally, these wonder brides are given the opportunity to buy the dress of their dreams – the one they’ve imagined since childhood – but with a little extra fabric in the belly area. A maternity wedding dress that is cut just like a “regular” wedding dress but with a growing belly, breast and hip allowance that gives her the opportunity to show off her curves and her femininity instead of burying it under excessive amounts of material.

No more embarrassment and shame. No more trying to pretend that she may not have put the cart before the horse because these days are all about crossing the lines and celebrating exactly who she is. A bride. An expectant mother. A woman in love and a woman who is among a growing trend of brides who are bringing in 10% of the bridal industry’s revenue this year. Maternity wedding dress sales have soared since 1990 and the bridal industry is well aware of the demand.

Many of these women are career-minded individuals who are constantly on the go and they’re not the type of women who are going to succumb to societal pressures. They instead mold society to fit their needs and there’s no way they’ll hide who they are just to fit in with what’s expected. They’re expecting. And they’re expecting to look just as beautiful as every other bride when walking to the altar in a maternity wedding dress.

For the bride who is also a mother to be, there’s a vast selection of maternity wedding dresses from which to choose. Whether the budget includes enough for high end couture or if it leans more to off-the-rack maternity wedding dress designs, there are a mind-boggling amount of styles to fit every bride and every budget. Starting the search online is a great idea as it provides the most varied and largest selection available and quite often the very best prices as well.

Easy Online Bridal Shopping

There are many shops that are excellent for different items, such as, Orange Blossom Tiaras who stock tiaras, headbands and really wonderful bridal hair accessories that are very affordable. If you need a variety of matching accessories and rhinestone bridal purses you will find really good buys at Anna Bellagio;  everything there is elegant and excellently crafted. It is also really nicely and easily presented online to make shopping and choosing what you need really fun and uncomplicated.

Cheap, Fun and Stress Free Buying

If you need accessories that range from garters to wedding veils to accent the bride and her party from head to toe with hair products to shoes, then you need to pay a visit to a couple other shops that specialize in weddings, such as Eliza Fig and Model Bride. Forget spending a fortune at exclusive shops that cater to brides who are excited and stay in control by shopping online without salesclerks. You need to be able to see the items you need without the stress of people telling you what you want – you have enough of that with helpful family members and friends. Relax and spend an hour browsing the gorgeous rhinestone bridal purses and bridesmaid bags, the delicate bridal veil selections and elegant hair accessories and tiaras and even choose a few little extras for yourself without anyone knowing you can afford to treat yourself to your very own “something blue” like a garter or some lingerie.

Stick to your Budget

If your budget is between $30 and $50 you will be able to get all you need in handbags and hair accessories and even jewelry if you shop at Model Bride, Anna Bellagio and Eliza Fig.