Category: Wedding Dresses

There’s another annual tradition right around Valentine’s Day besides flowers and chocolate hearts—exclusive celebrity giveaway parties called “gift suites.” At these high-profile events, fashion entrepreneurs and high-end product purveyors lavish entertainment VIPS with bagfuls of goodies. This is where trends are set, styles take off and specialty items are given two thumbs up.

Are you a free-spirited bride with a yen for vintage elements? Do you dress to please yourself rather than tradition? Do you find romance in the warmth and beauty of nature? If so, your bridal style might be a good match for a bohemian beach wedding!

I just got engaged and I keep hearing about trunk shows for wedding dresses. What exactly is a “trunk show”? Is it worth going to one?
—Amanda, San Luis Obispo, CA

The Dresser, a favorite bridal salon in historic downtown Fullerton, isn’t content with just matching you and your gal pals up with great dresses—they also want to take a little financial stress out of planning your honeymoon.

I confess to major butterflies for my interview with celebrity wedding planner and TV show host, David Tutera at the elegant Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena last month. I needn’t have worried. He was warm and charming, and very open to sharing his wedding planning pointers. Later when I dished the dirt with two of his “My Fair Wedding” Season 2 brides, Dee and Quiana, they both agreed that he was way more personable and down-to-earth than they had expected. I was particularly excited to confirm that David and I were in complete agreement about several key “Wedding Dos & Don’ts.”

Mon Amie Bridal Salon in Orange County has found a very pretty way to support our troops—by giving away free a wedding dress to military personnel or their brides! “Our annual Military Bride Gown Giveaway is a chance for us to show our appreciation for service and devotion to our great country,” says Shawna Flatten, co-owner of Mon Amie.

When I heard the actresses who play the two leading ladies of Sterling Cooper are both getting married, I started imagining what their alter egos Peggy and Joan would wear on their respective wedding days.

I paid $220 for my wedding dress. My colleague Jennifer? Got hers for $125. Since we were both footing the bill for our own weddings, there was precious little in the budget for our gowns (I had to make sure there were enough offerings at the pasta bar to satisfy my Italian relatives!). We both looked lovely, by the way, even without spending 2 two months’ rent on our wedding attire. Here are some of our dress-shopping secrets:

We all love “new,” right? New cars, new clothes, new guy (Ok, you’re probably past that one.) To prove our love of all things “new,” we’ve added a fresh crop of bridal salons and places to buy your wedding rings, wedding jewelry and fashion accessories to HereComesTheGuide.com.

When Queen Victoria married in a white gown, who knew it would spark such a lasting trend? In 1890—a full fifty years after Victoria said “I do”—white wedding dresses became the norm in America. Before then, practicality won out: During the time of the California Gold Rush, for example, a woman probably wouldn’t have the luxury of wearing her wedding dress only once, so something like this blue silk number from 1868 made much more sense.

Who says a vineyard wedding means you have to use bunches of deep purple grapes to decorate your cake, centerpieces, and bridal bouquets? For a garden wedding, I’d rather take my cues from a tossed salad: crisp greens with tomato and carrot-colored blooms. I’ve been in love with this cabbage leaf arrangement from Panacea Event Floral Design since we posted it. It makes me hungry just looking at it!