Check out my favorite hats below!

The Not So Secret Garden is the perfect accessory for bridesmaids, or even the bride herself! This birdcage wire veil is adorned by three pink blossoms, but you can request for the veil to be made in white. $150.

This top hat is the cutest! I know it’s not something a bride would traditionally wear to her wedding, but I think we can all agree that a red top hat makes a daring fashion statement. Made of silk fabric with grosgrain ribbon around the crown and edge. The chenille dot veiling can be removed. Also available in navy and black. $210.

Maybe it’s the dramatic name, or maybe it’s the chenille veil, but Au Revoir Monseiur looks like something a noir film heroine would wear. I suppose the detail in this cocktail hat wouldn’t be too obvious on a bride with black hair, but it’s a great excuse to get your hair colored before the wedding!

Finally, you can follow the fall 2010 trend of black on white accents with a large black flower on a wide-brimmed straw hat.

Even though nobody else but your new husband will see it, the lingerie you wear under your wedding dress can make a world of difference. The right bra, pantyhose, and shapewear will help define your shape and make you look great on your wedding day. Read on to find out how to choose the right wedding lingerie.

Shopping for wedding lingerie should come after you choose your wedding gown. Although you might get tempted to shop for frilly white items once you get engaged, the lingerie you wear will depend on the cut of your wedding dress. A strapless dress, for instance, will require a different bra than a dress with sleeves.

Ask the bridal salon to recommend the right bra style for the dress. Then get professionally fitted. Wearing the wrong bra in the wrong size will make you look saggier or heavier than you actually are.

Once you know your bra size, choose a longline bra. A longline bra is the type that fastens at the small of your back and has a subtle corset effect on the torso. This versatile bra can be worn with almost any type of wedding gown and is very flattering for most body types.

If your wedding dress clings to your hips or you’ve noticeably gained weight, wearing shapewear will flatten any bulges you might have. However, if your dress has a full skirt, you won’t need any.

When in doubt, ask the assistance of the sales associate in the lingerie shop! They’ll be able to recommend the perfect lingerie for you. Bring a photo of your wedding dress for reference.

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Just because the economy is in recession, doesn’t mean that you won’t look fabulous for your wedding or that your dream dress from the best designers is out of your reach. Saks Fifth Avenue is holding Bridal Sample Sales in all stores across the United States from January 7 until May. Enjoy 50% off from the best bridal designers including Melissa Sweet, Kenneth Pool, Vera Wang, and more. If you open a Saks account when you buy a gown, you get to save an additional 10%!

Here’s how you can make the most out of any bridal sale:

1) Remember that all wedding dresses sales in any bridal sale is final, which means that you can’t return them for a refund or exchange. Make sure that the dress you buy is really THE dress.

2) Before going to a bridal sale, you should already have an idea of what kind of wedding dress you want. Do you want a traditional strapless ballgown dress? A more casual wedding dress? If you’ve already visited several bridal salons and tried on different types of wedding dresses, it’s even better because you’ll spend less time figuring out what cut and style flatters your figure most.

3) Have the wedding dress cleaned before the big day! Ask the bridal salon for a reputable wedding dress cleaner.

4) Bring your mom or a friend to the sale with you, not only because you’ll need their opinions – you’ll also need help grabbing dresses of the racks and carrying them to the dressing room!

5) Take your time choosing which dress you want and trust your instincts. If you can’t find anything you like, keep looking. Don’t force yourself to buy something you only half-like just because it’s cheap.

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Long hair is thought to be the best length because of its versatility – you can do so many wedding hairstyles with it. Brides with long hair have the option of wearing them in an updo, letting their hair loose, or a combination of both. But just because you have short hair, doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun styling yours for your wedding! The best thing about having short hair is that it won’t take too long to fix up and it’s easy to maintain throughout the ceremony and the reception. No need to worry about having stray hairs tucked back in or about uncoiling curls. You can still look very glamorous and feminine during your special day.

The trick to having a gorgeous hairstyle on your wedding day is to have fun with accessories. You can push back your hair with a glittery headband or tie a sheer sash from the crown of your hair to your nape, then lend the ends dangle on your shoulders. You can also part your hair to one side and make it stay there with an old-fashioned looking hairpiece. If your hair is long enough, you can curl it to soft ways and put jeweled pins for a glittering ‘do. Tiaras also look great no matter what your hair length is.

Finally, you can also get hair extensions and lengthen all or part of your locks. They’re generally expensive, but Tokyo Posh Hair Extensions at Eastwood offers snap-on hair extensions that are extremely affordable and easy to apply.

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It would be a total waste of money and good cloth if you chose a dress style your bridesmaids wouldn’t be caught dead in outside your wedding. When deciding what kind of dress your bridesmaids should wear, just remember that the best bridesmaid dress is something simple and elegant – a dress that they’d be more than happy to wear at other formal occasions.

One bridesmaid dress style that’s very popular at weddings is the slip dress. A fun dress that comes in either silk or layers of sheer chiffon, this style flatters all sorts of body types and can easily be re-used as cocktail dresses. Another bridesmaid classic is the A-line dress. Like the slip dress, the A-line dress is an enduring style that looks great on most women, especially those who are a little bottom-heavy. Add variety to the look by using two-tone cloth, adding a full length skirt, or tying a sash or thin belt with a bow around the waist. Other bridesmaid dress styles you can consider are column dresses, floor-length dresses, and halter tops.

As for the color – generally speaking, your bridesmaids’ dresses should complement the wedding’s color scheme. This year, the color scheme for most weddings are soft, ethereal, and feminine. Pastel colors like pale yellow, lavender, soft pink, pale green, peach, and powder blue are popular choices, as well as sorbet-type shades like coral, tangerine, sea green, and lime. If your wedding’s color scheme is already quite muted, do something different and have your bridesmaids wear flourescent colors like electric blue, purple, and fuschia so they will really pop out. Those who are a little more conservative might prefer pale colors like sand, grey, and taupe.

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Would you ever wear a wedding dress made out of toilet paper? I would, but only if the toilet paper were unused and only if the wedding dress looked this stunning! This toilet paper wedding dress was designed and made by Katrina Chalifoux for a US toilet paper wedding dress contest. Contestants can only use toilet paper, tape, or glue to create whole bridal gowns complete with faux embroidery, ruffles, lace effects, and pleats. The grand prize of one thousand dollars went to Miss Chalifoux, who spent seven rolls of toilet paper and two weeks to create the winning wedding dress.

I’m not a big fan of the layered ruffles – that kind of cut makes me look fat – but I love the dress’ texture and embossed floral design. Who’d have thought that toilet paper would make such sweet and delicate material for a wedding dress? I wonder if you can achieve this effect by using traditional fabrics. I also wonder how comfortable it is, and if you have to be really careful when you move around. Toilet paper isn’t exactly the most sturdy material in the world.

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If your moldy-oldie relatives are trying to dictate to you how you should go about your wedding, don’t listen to them. You have your own personality an dstyle and today’s the day to show it. If on a normal day you don’t wear bland colors, you don’t have to do so during your wedding day either. Here are some color schemes you can use at what they mean in our society:

White

Brides have been wearing white wedding gowns since the 1800’s when Queen Victory wore an opulent white gown for her wedding. But before that, brides have been wearing whatever color they wanted (save for black). White symbolizes the innocence of childhood and purity (but how many brides are still virgins on their wedding night these days?).

Gold

In Christian symbolism, gold stands for the brightness of the day. It also symbolizes wealth. As the main color, gold might be too much but you can use this as an accessory to full colors like burgundy and earth tones like orange, brown, and green.

Black

Black is the color of morning, but today it’s also the color of sophistication. For a stylish wedding, have your bridesmaids wear little black dresses with white accents.

Purple

Purple has been the color of royalty ever since the days of the pharaohs. During the Rennaiseance period, ordinary people actually got arrested for using purple and the other royal colors of deep red and black. Today, you have the freedom to use purple whenever and however you want!

Red

The color red has conflicting meanings. One side expresses blood and violence, while the other stands for love and passion. Although Western brides don’t normally wear red wedding gowns, red is the traditional color for wedding dress in China because it symbolizes good luck. If you think a red wedding gown is too much, you can always have your bridesmaids wear it for you.

Blue

The color of the sky, blue is associated with spirituality, fidelity, cleanliness, freshness, and femininity (even though this is the color assigned to male babies). There is very little negative meaning associated to blue.

Orange

They say that people who love life love the color orange. It’s warm and stimulating and adds oomph to earth tones. When added to white, it reminds people of sweet childhood memories like orange popsicles and candy corn.

Brown

While some might think brown is too dull for a wedding, it’s a neutral, dependable color that you can mix with many others to make your wedding party look warm.

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If you don’t have the funds for a wedding videographer, there’s another option available for you: disposable video cameras. This is a great way to capture your wedding day memories, especially since editing movies by yourself is now easier than ever. Besides, there’s something charming about amateur recordings of your ceremony and your guests; polished, professionally-edited videos look a little too clean and fake.

There’s a new, one-time use digital camera out in the market today from Pure Digital Technologies. The CVS disposable video camera costs $29.99, has built-in flash memory, and is very compact (about the size of a point and shoot camera). Behind the unit is a small LCD screen you can use as a viewfinder as well as to view the shots that you just recorded. If you don’t like the shots, you can always delete them.

You can place a disposable video camera unit on each table or give them to important guests to play with. This way you can watch your wedding day from the point of view of your guests.

“Natural” looks during weddings are out of fashion as more and more brides today turn to salon services during their wedding day. Wedding hairstyles must reflect the bride’s personality and style, and the creative touch of the hairdresser makes the bride look original and unique during her big day. Here are some wedding hairstyle ideas for brides with short, medium-length, and long hair.

Long Hair

If you want your long locks pulled back during your wedding, an elegant updo is your best option. To make your overall look more complete, incorporate a detail from your gown or bouquet into your hair design. You can also look at your dress’s material for ideas – for instance, a wispy hairstyle looks great with a full-skirted, tulle gown while a satin gown with heavy fabric complements a smooth hairstyle with rolls or knots. If you were lucky enough to be born with natural curls, keep your look soft and enhance your curls.

Medium-length hair

For brides with medium-length hair, curl the ends and top off the look with a sparkly headband or a tiara. You can also tuck your hair behind your ears and use a glittering hairclip to hold it back. If you want to wear your hair up and you only have a few months to grow it out, then go for it. Medium-length hair is very versatile, so experiment with your stylist a few months before your wedding so you can chart out your hair’s growing process.

Short hair

There is a lot you can do with short hair. Get a curling iron and give your hair some body in the crown area and back. Sweep your hair to the side and keep your front flat and straight. Don’t touch the curls while they are warm because it will loosen them too much. Don’t brush them out either as they will look poofy and very dated. Top off the look with rhinestone hair clips or a glittering band.

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Planning a wedding is an enormous task for couples, who often get confused about how much to spend, where to get special services. Often, these worries add up as quickly as the wedding’s cost, and the couple is faced with so many options they may not be able to choose from. This is where professional help comes in.

A wedding coordinator’s services used to be exclusive to the wealthy but now they are essential to any wedding. Besides having a large network of florists, caterers, photographers, and other wedding suppliers, a coordinator can save you lots of time and money by availing of discounts. They are not there to make your decisions to you, but to present you with options and help you make informed decisions. Besides giving you wedding suppliers and discounts, wedding coordinators can also serve in other ways, such as acting like a family counselor for nervous brides and mothers.

Trust is essential for any relationship, especially business relationships. Ask your friends for recommendations and referrals. It’s important that you hire a wedding coordinator who’s completely attuned to your needs and who will not force you into making any decisions you are uncomfortable with.

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