Not all weddings have to attempt recreate a romantic atmosphere by covering the place with tulle and roses and using decorating cliches to death. Depending on the couple’s personality, a wedding can have the fun, playful atmosphere of a children’s birthday party. In fact, I think a fun, informal wedding is close to what the real nature of a wedding should be. A wedding, after all, is a celebration, and it’s a little hard to celebrate and let loose when you can’t quite be yourself in a very formal setting.
A couple named Ben and Kerri had a geeky, superhero-themed wedding - which is fairly surprising since most women would want the roses and the pink and would never consider having the Incredible Hulk top their wedding cake. But in honor of the Hulk, Ben wore a green tie, Kerri wore a green sash around her waist, and the couple had an Incredible Hulk-themed cake, with the Hulk and Wonder Woman on the topmost tier. I love how the cake was able to incorporated typical wedding cake designs together with the Hulk’s bright green color. A bright green cake might not look very appetizing to some guests, but I would definitely eat it just to see what kind of cake it’s made of.
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I outgrew Hello Kitty when I was seven years old but I guess some girls aren’t too old for this white Japanese cat by Sanrio. Japanese brides who have the money for kitsch can shell out $4,000 for a ruffly, pink wedding dress adorned with Hello Kitty’s face. And if that’s not enough for the hardcore fan, you can apparently get an entire Hello Kitty wedding done at the Daiichi Hanyu hotel chain in Japan. Wedding packages cost somewhere in between $8,717 - $22,275.
Sanrio’s not the only company to offer cartoon-themed weddings for the childlike bride. Last year, Disney launched a line of wedding gowns for women who want to look and feel like their favorite fairy tale princess on their wedding day. The most expensive Disney Princess wedding gown is a thousand bucks cheaper than the Hello Kitty wedding dress, and I guess that’s because the Disney gowns are a lot less poofy and busy-looking.
The average wedding costs at least Php 100,000 with the local wedding industry earning millions every year. The reason why the wedding industry earns that much is because couples pay so much for wedding accessories that they don’t really need. Today, the bridal industry in the West is working to minimize this excess by reinventing a new trend: green weddings.
A green wedding is essentially a wedding that’s more environment friendly. These weddings are more sustainable, makes less of a negative impact on the environment, and basically involves reducing items that aren’t necessary. This doesn’t mean that you can no longer have a sleek and stylish wedding without a clean conscience, though.
For starters, you can make your wedding dress eco-friendly by changing the material it’s made of. Most wedding dresses are made from taffeta or polyester, which are not very earth-friendly. This is because taffeta and polyester are synthetic fabrics that are petro-leum based. Eco-friendly wedding dresses have material woven out of natural fibers like organic cotton, fair trade hemp or silk. I’m not sure if local designers are incorporating this trend into their designs, though. If you can’t find wedding dresses made out of eco-friendly material, another chic option is to wear a vintage wedding dress. A Little White Dress will also do the trick, especially if you’re having an outdoor or garden wedding. That way, you can wear your wedding dress again and again at different occassions, which is better for the environment.
Most famous bridal companies began as small family firms and ended up selling to big multinationals and losing touch with their founders’ traditions. Mori Lee is one of the few that has remained a family business for three generations. Established in New York in 1959, Mori Lee began when the great-grandfather of current president Mitchell Udell took an interest in the bridal market. Today, the brand is well-known for stunning designs that suits each bride’s personality.
This year’s Mori Lee wedding gown collection is designed by internationally-acclaimed New York fashion designer Madeline Gardner. She joined the company in 1985 and has since received six prestigious Debi Awards and designed hundreds of wedding gowns and prom dresses. I love how the fabric looks so sumptuous in the Duchess Satin wedding gown (pictured above). This halter-neckline gown has a dropped waistline and a ruched skirt, with crystal beads tucked into the skirt’s pick-up and chapel-length train. What’s great about this design is that it goes perfectly with either a sweet garden wedding or a formal evening wedding.
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Claire Pettibone is well known for her frilly frocks, lacy bridal gowns, and luxury lingerie, making her pieces perfect for feminine, flirty brides. Pettibone looks at a rather unusual source of inspiration for her 2009 bridal collection: wedding cakes. This season you can expect a lot of beaded floral appliques, ribbon-tie straps, delicate embroidery, and wedding gown styles that will make any blushing bride look sweet and sexy. One of my favorites is Jean, an elaborate sweep-train wedding gown with silver, gold, and ivory embroidery lined with pearl silk. I love how the deco-beaded insets gives the bride an old-fashioned glam look that’s perfect for formal evening weddings. Mind you, this is just a sneak peak of Pettibone’s new bridal pieces. The dresses from her Spring 2009 collection are fresh off the runway and are not yet available in stores!
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