Oh, the Japanese. Sometimes their tastes can be delightfully tacky. As if Hello Kitty wedding dresses weren’t horrifying enough, Mattel actually launched a Barbie bridal collection in Tokyo. And no, I’m not talking about those collector’s edition Barbie bridal dolls in designer wedding dresses. I’m talking about life-sized models in Barbie-esque clothing. They’re not really as horrid as I make them out to be; some of the gowns look pretty wearable. But a good majority of the Barbie bridal gowns look like they’d be more appropriate on Barbie dolls than on actual women.

I quite like these wedding gowns, especially the one to the right. The fur-lined cape and gloves balance out the voluminous ball-gown skirt. The lacy wedding dress to the left looks good too, but I’d like it better without the ruffles on the neckline.

This is a really lovely photo. I like how the model looks so relaxed and carefree, and I love how the dress’s fabric cascades down the chair.

I wouldn’t mind this dress so much if it didn’t have the Barbie logo dangling from the waist. I can see a debutante wear this on her 18th birthday bash, but on a bride? Maybe not.

More debutante-appropriate wedding dresses.

Barbie Bridal also has a flower girl collection but I think these are the tackiest dresses of the bunch. The girl looks just like a child beauty pageant contestant. And those big bows? Ugh. Whatever happened to dressing up children like children?

Like Mattel’s other clothing lines for adults, the Barbie bridal collection is only for sale in Japan, thus sparing the rest of the world of these monstrosities.

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I’m bringing you more wedding inspiration from Korea but it isn’t the traditional Korean bridal gown this time. Korean brides who choose not to get married wearing a hanbok can wear the Western white wedding dress, and they’ve got so many lovely designs to choose from! The bridal gowns I’m showing you today are from Korea-based bridal store Clara Wedding. I love the romantic ruffles, lace, and how each dress was styled. Click on the photos to view them in their original size.

I love the beading on the wedding dress to the left.

Now this is something I never thought of doing – styling a wedding dress with white ballet flats and knee-high socks!

Not a big fan of the bows on the dress to the left but I like the poofy tulle hat.

For more gorgeous wedding dress inspiration, check out the Clara Wedding website. The whole website is in flash and is a little on the slow side, but they’ve got an extensive gallery of beautifully-styled wedding dresses. It’s definitely worth a look!

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The Italian fashion house Atelier Aimee is renowned for the dreamy quality of their romantic wedding gowns. For brides who want to make a big statement without looking too unconventional, a wedding dress from Atelier Aimee is for you.

If you like the nature-inspired wedding dress trend of spring 2010, you’re going to love the dresses at Atalier Aimee. Although they have a number of traditional white wedding gowns, they also come in pastel colors and florals.

Even Atelier Aimee’s white wedding gowns don’t look boring at all. The gold embellishments on the corset make the dress look so regal.

I love the ruffled skirt trend because of its unique texture. The wedding dress to the left looks almost like a tutu.

More dreamy ruffles and tiers.

The intricate beading on the wedding dress to the right reminds me of Indian wedding dresses. I know I said I prefer simple lace wedding dresses to beaded ones but if done right, embellished wedding dresses could look fashionable rather than tacky.

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Let’s turn our eyes to the East for a change and get inspired by the colorful wedding garb of Korean brides – the hanbok. The hanbok is not actually a Korean wedding dress per se; rather, it refers to the traditional Korean costume. There are many different kinds of hanbok, which are classified according to their purposes – everyday hanbok, ceremonial hanbok, and special hanbok. Ceremonial hanbok are worn for formal occasions like a child’s first birthday or a bride’s wedding day, while special hanbok are for government officials and shaman. Obviously, since this is a wedding blog, I’ll be showing you some gorgeous bridal hanbok I just found on the internet.

The women’s hanbok is made of two parts – the jeogori or the shirt, and a full wrap-around skirt called a chima. Men also wear a jeogori, but with loose pants called baji.

Korean brides can get married in white Western wedding gowns these days, but if she chooses to wear a traditional hanbok to her wedding, she usually wears the wonsam (the ceremonial silk top coat) or hwarot (a silk embroidered robe, usually red) over the hanbok.

Aren’t the colors of the hanbok so cheery and vibrant?

Not all wedding dress trends have to be superfluous and decorative. Some of them serve practical purposes! My favorite wedding dress trend (and dress trend in general) is pockets. Pockets allow you to keep small items like a mirror, lipstick, tissue, maybe a pack of cigarettes if you smoke. They’re perfect for brides who have a habit of forgetting their purses because they’d like to keep their hands free – and you’ll be needing your hands throughout the reception. What I love most about pockets is that you can either make it a part of the dress design like in the photo above, or tuck it discreetly in between the pleats. Click on the cut to see the wedding dress styles that look great with pockets.

Pockets add girlish appeal to lacy wedding dresses. Instead of hiding them at the skirt, you can easily make the pocket a part of the design. But make the pockets opaque rather than sheer.

Structured, modern dresses look great with pockets, especially if they’re located at key angles.

Finally, it’s easy to include a pocket in dresses with full skirts, even if the skirt is this short!

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If you want a little avant garde flair into your wedding day look, I suggest you take inspiration from fashion house Lanvin’s Collection Blanche – their bridal collection. Alber Elbaz, one of the lead designers behind Lanvin, created the first Collection Blanche as part of the resort collection. This year, there are four new wedding dresses in Collection Blanche. Not all of them are wearable though; I much prefer the dresses from 2009 (shown above). Still, the 2010 collection is worth a look.

This is this strangest dress in the collection. Maybe it’s just the angle, but the model looks like she has a furry raccoon tail.

I can totally see someone wearing this hot party dress to her reception!

Other photos from style.com.

View more at her Behance Gallery.

View the rest of the bridal collection at the Watters website.

Over the years, we’ve given a lot of style inspiration and advice on how to find a wedding dresses. But I realized that we haven’t answered a rather important question – exactly when should you start shopping for a wedding dress?

When to start shopping for your wedding dress is up to you and the length of your engagement. Most brides don’t start looking until six months before the wedding, while others start the search shortly after saying “Yes!” I actually suggest starting the search soon after the engagement because it will take a while before you find the perfect design and the right couturier to create your dream dress for you. The creation process will also take several months, and most couturiers only accept orders if the wedding is four or five months away. Not to mention that if you shop for the dress at the last minute, you might end up with a dress style you don’t particularly like, or paying a lot of money for a rush-order dress. It definitely pays to give yourself the time to shop at a comfortable pace and leave plenty of leeway for changes and alterations.

The exception to this rule is if you’re in for a long engagement (a year or longer) because there are too many downsides to shopping for a dress early. For one thing, you’ll need to store the wedding gown if you buy it now – which can be a pain if you have a full ballgown skirt and not enough room. Not to mention that if you choose your dress too early, a whole new wave of wedding dress designs will come out next season. What if you find a dress you like better? While there’s no harm in looking around, it might be a good idea to save your money during the first year of your engagement so that when the wedding date draws nearer, you can buy the dress of your dreams and plan for your wedding without feeling the financial strain.

Are you tired of looking at photos of wedding dress designs? Do you already have your dream wedding dress all planned out in your head but are unable to get it down on paper? Thanks to the Internet, coming up with wedding dress ideas has never been easier – and I’m not just talking about the inspiration you can get from blogs such as this. There are a number of websites that allow you to create your own wedding dress designs on virtual “dolls” that you can customize according to your body type, size, even your skin color and hair. Check them out below!

The Wedding Dress Creator

The Wedding Dress Creator has a wide range of wedding dress styles, and has a feature that allows you to mix and match hairstyles and jewelry with the dress you chose. You can even select a background and your wedding colors to see if your dress will match. The only thing missing from this site is the ability to choose the model’s body type – all of them are as tall and skinny as runway models.

I-Amour

This cartoony website reminds me of those virtual dress-up dolls I used to play with when I was a teenager. It doesn’t offer a very realistic image of how you’ll look on your wedding day, but the dress designs are fairly easy to replicate. You might want to shut your speakers because the site has annoying music that you can’t turn off.

i-Village Build Your Dream Dress

Unlike the first to websites, the i-Village Build Your Dream Dress allows you to change the model’s body shape. They also have a number of gorgeous silhouettes and accessories to choose from. On the downside, everything is just a sketch, but you can easily take your final design to a skilled seamstress.

Flonga

Flonga resembles I-Amour in that it feels more like a Flash game than anything else. But this site has a feature the other three don’t have – you can choose which textures and fabrics you’d like to use for your wedding dress.

It’d be great if there was a wedding dress creator that has the best features of all four websites! I suggest you start with the iVillage Build Your Dream Dress just to get the general silhouette and dress style down on paper. Once you’ve decided which dress looks best on your body, try to see if you can replicate the style on Flonga or Wedding Dress Creator.

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