by Karen Vander

A beautiful Italian bride

New emerging wedding trend

A wedding dress trend from a fashion leading country Italy.

Thanksgiving is a great time of the year to throw a wedding party. Your family will be in town. Your friends will likely have days off for the holiday. Generally its not recommended to have your wedding around a major holiday, Thanksgiving can be the exception. People travel and do travel a lot, but its to visit families. Take advantage when they are in time and not worry about conflicting vacation schedules. Get the whole family together for your wedding.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

by Jessica Lang

Photo source: Angel’s Closet Occassions

Here are some gorgeous wedding dresses that you can pack up and take it anywhere around the world. Finding that perfect wedding dress is not an easy task. Destination wedding dresses are more trendy. You want to choose a dress that is lighter and softer fabrics to make you feel more comfortable. Styles range from elegant full length gowns to romantic tea length. Sexy slip dresses and halter styles are very popular and beautiful.

Photo source: Angel’s Closet Occassions

Many brides having destination wedding are skipping altogether the white wedding norm.

by Karen Vander

Match your dog with your dress

Male dog in a matching tux

Who’s missing from your wedding party? Your adorable pets. Have pets at your wedding. Keep your Pooch looking fashionable with you on your wedding day.

Make sure your dog is up to the task. If you can incorporate your dog into the wedding and have a great time, go for it.

by Jessica Lang

Be a queen at your own wedding

You would rarely see a woman in a white dress in the 1800s period. This includes wedding and many occasions. Women have not always been marrying in white. In fact relatively, this tradition is not that old at all.

Even up to World War II, many women in the western world continued to wear their best sunday dress as the bridal gown. In early Celtic cultures, red was the bridal color. Red is still the color of choice in many cultures today.

Fairy tale wedding do come true

Red have always been the color of choice for royalty.

There is nothing wrong with aged old tradition of wearing your Sunday’s best dress as your bridal gown. Not every wedding need to be grand and elaborate. Remember what a wedding is about, true love and the joining of two people.

Dress like royalty

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Be a Disney princess on your wedding day

The Divine Red Bride - a living goddess

A bride married in red like royalty

Red Wedding Gowns Make You the Fairytale Princess of Your Life Story

Make Your Red Medieval Wedding Gowns a Dream Come True

by Karen Vander

I had another opportunity to attend a Chinese wedding this weekend in Manhattan. I was told this was a Cantonese style wedding. Last weekend I attended a Fujianese wedding. To an outsider, which I am probably classified as, both weddings’ traditions and styles may look the same. However I was awarded with an honorary Asian membership from my club of Asian friends and have learned a great deal about the subtleties between the various factions of Chinese groups. I think I may know a thing or two but certainly correct me if I am wrong.

The brides are on a honeymoon. This is not a photo of the actual bride of the weddings I attended. (Photo source: Oriental Wedding Studio of NY Inc.)

To an outsider looking at both weddings, it would look the same because the themes and colors are greatly similar. Red and gold are widely used. From red table cloths to red napkins to gold letterings of the bride and groom’s last name pasted on the wall, it was the same for both weddings. The way the meals were served was the same. Yummy courses after courses kept on coming nonstop the whole night.

This wedding banquet started with appetizers which consisted of various sliced meats, jellyfish, and various types of nuts shaped like dragons and phoenixes and served chilled. I found out every meal has a very special symbol behind it. Even the number of courses is also significant. At a Chinese wedding, eight courses are usually served. In Chinese, the word “eight” sounds like “good luck in making a fortune”

Here’s my best recollection of what was served at the wedding:

Appetizer meal

Sliced meats, jellyfish, seaweeds served chill

Roast Suckling Pig - Roasted pork is a symbol of virginity.

Shark fin soup symbolizes wealth

Shark’s Fin Soup - The soup symbolizes wealth because this delicacy is very expensive.

Red is the color for happiness

Peking Duck and Lobster - Red is the color for happiness. Serving Peking duck and lobster would symbolize joy.

Abalone for long life.

Abalone - A delicacy to wish long life. If you think lobster and filet mignon is a pricey ticket item, think again. This is the mother of all shellfish. This goes for $50-$75 per pound wholesale.

Butterfly Mayo Shrimp - Not sure what this means, but it was very delicious.

Fish - The word fish “fish”” sounds like “plentiful” in Chinese. This meal hopes to bring the couple a fulfilling life of having everything they dreamt about.

Sweet Red Bean Soup - The hot sweet red bean soup contained lotus seeds and a bark-like vegetable to wish the newlyweds a hundred years of togetherness.

Seafood fried rice and noodles - The noodles served at the end symbolize longevity because noodles come in long strands. Its also used to fill you up in case you were busy all night drinking and socializing missing all the yummy meals.

The meals served at this Cantonese wedding varied greatly with the courses served at last weekend’s Fujianese wedding. Without going into great details about each course, but the following delicacies were served at the Fujianese wedding:

Snails, large steamed shrimps, lobsters, frogs, seafood soup

Snail served at the Fujianese wedding

All the above photos are for reference only. Not actual photos of the dish I had

It’s a lot different then the Western type wedding where you often presented with 3 or four choices of Filet Mignon steak, shrimp, chicken, or sea bass fish. You only get to pick a single dish. The dishes served at this wedding are memorable that I certainly recommend regardless what nationality and what type of wedding you are having, you should consider having your wedding food in Cantonese style!

Now that you seen all the delectable meals. See the brides in action in a future coming article. These brides are currently on their honeymoon.

Related stories:

Be friend a Chinese to attend their wedding

A chinese wedding color tradition

Lucy Liu competes in the Olympics 2008 fashion competition

Grab the Chinese Lucky Charm of Red Wedding Gowns

The Red Hot Talisman for Brides-To-Be from the Mystical Land of the Dragons

by Jessica Lang

While scouring the Internet in my boredom on a Sunday afternoon, I came upon a bride that was torn between a blue and a red dress. Both was a Forever Yours designer dress.

Here they are:

Forever Yours Style#38227

Forever Yours Style#45232

Which one would you vote for? Vote on the right hand side. Help this bride out.

Here’s the source of debate:

http://db764286.fb.joyent.us/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9180

(http://www.getweddingbook.com)

The source of the wedding dress debate is on a Facebook application if you want to join the active discussion there.

Leave your comments below after voting. No registration required!

—UPDATED

The vote has ended with our 71% vs 29% in favor that the red wedding dress was the way to go. Thanks everyone for voting.

by Karen Vander

The famous Lindor Dress from last year

What’s that on the above picture? Is it ruffles in her dress? Take a look closer and see if you can find what makes this dress deliciously sweet and charming (might want to add sexy too!).

Dress designed by Lindka Cierach

Some facts and tidbit on this amazing dress:
-1000 Lindt chocolate balls and crystals.
-It was named the Lindor Dress.
-Total of 79,000 calories
-Stunning famous violinist name Linzi Stoppard wearing the dress
-Swarovski Crystals

Christmas is approaching - get ready for a sweet loving holiday

Stating the obvious that this is one sweet looking woman. Her red kicks on her feet complements perfectly with the dress making her a complete head to toe sweety.

Its not a wedding dress, but it was so wonderfully sweet that I thought I rave about it here again this year. This dress debut last year in December 2007 and was a big hit over the Internet.

The Lindor Dress is the ultimate party dress that you can unwrap and indulge in,” Lindka Cierach said.

A delicous violinist

Whats next? A wedding dress covered in cream puffs? Covered in flowers? Wait, that have been done too!

See previous story on some unique colorful wedding dresses here:

Colorful wedding dresses - Something beautifully different

Color wedding dress trends - Paper wedding dress

The above stories show some very creative ideas for wedding dresses. Be creative on your wedding day and stand out. Try not to be another cliche bride walking down the aisle.

by Karen Vander

I attended a Fujianese wedding last night and I must say it never stops to amaze me to see a Chinese bride adorn at least four different outfits before I lost count at their wedding party. Each one of these outfit a Chinese bride wears is so colorful and more beautiful then the prettiest flower I have seen.

Red is often the central if not the main wedding theme to the wedding color of China . It signifies love, prosperity and joy. It is used in a variety of ways in Chinese wedding traditions. One of the bride’s wedding gown is often red, as are the wedding invitations, and wedding gift boxes or envelopes for cash gifts. Even the bride and groom’s homes are decorated in red on the wedding day.

If you never attended an Asian wedding particular Chinee, I urge you to make friends with soon to be married Chinese brides to be invited to their wedding to witness such a blast type of event. I had the privy to attend two weddings this past weekend.

Before the party, most of the time the new couple will stand at the front door of the restaurant or hotel. They thank everyone for coming. Usually, people who come to the wedding party will give the new couple some money that is called “Hong Bao”. When almost everyone have arrived, the party begins … there is no firm set scheduled of events.

Seeing colorful dresses and eating 12 course meals to say the least was heavenly satisfying. If I am lucky, check back in a couple of weeks and see if I post some professional photo shots of the brides.

Shanghai Tang’s signature red silk Qi Pao dresses - They were on displayed on 08/08/2008. This was the opening day of the recent summer Olympics. It also is the luckiest day of the century says the Chinese people.

“At the dawn of the 21st century, all the world´s eyes are riveted on China as the ancient nation embarks on a path of unrivalled economic growth, unmatched modernization and phenomenal projects on a world-beating scale. ” says Shangai Tang, an upscale fashion shop in the heart of Manhatten.

Consider incorporating some ideas from Asian weddings.