Looking for a wedding dress in any other colors besides "white" or "ivory?" Maybe say… something like that black beauty for your Halloween wedding?

Yeah, well … good luck with that. Shopping for a colorful gown can range anywhere from frustrating to completely frustrating, forcing brides to either relive prom dress shopping or scouring the bowels of the internets for creative alternatives. That is until Wedding Dress Fantasy showed up on the bridal scene!

Based in New Jersey, they have an online store full of colorful wedding gowns! You can now easily find the perfect red dress for your gothic castle wedding, or blue dress for your urban loft wedding, or pink dresses for, oh I don't know, your lesbian gamer geek wedding? Or even the ever rare and elusive gold wedding dress for your elegant lodge wedding. They also gots tons o' love for the plus size brides as well.

Oh, and maybe you're a budget bride, but you feel weird about ordering a custom dress from overseas. Wedding Dress Fantasy's custom dress prices are uber-affordable, ranging from $299 to $599.

So, when you're ready to easily track down your perfect colorful wedding dress, head over to Wedding Dress Fantasy.

After doing a ton of wedding profiles, I started to notice a recent offbeat wedding trend. Apparently, Jessica McClintock has captured the hearts of offbeat brides this past season with her black and white wedding dresses.

Photos courtesy of Jessica McClintock. The floor length dress is called Jacqueline, style no. 54222 and the short dress is called Katie, style no. 54207.

With it's dramatic contrast between black and white  and vintage-style lace, it's like a classic wedding dress with a punk-rock edge. And it's easy to see why brides are having a love affair with these dresses. Of course, in true OBB style, each bride who wore this fabulous dress made completely her own…

Continue reading "Did Jessica McClintock create the perfect offbeat wedding dresses?" →

So you're planning a summer wedding, or a destination wedding, or you're just into comfortable, natural fabrics and don't want to feel suffocated in a sheath of polyester blends and scratchy tulle?

Enter The Cotton Bride, a contemporary couture bridal collection from designer Chris Kole.

Now, if you're thinking cotton wedding dress = semi hippie and probably like what you'd wear to a picnic, then you haven't seen these modern gowns, which are just as sophisticated as anything you've seen in organza. I mean, I'm all for lovely hippie dresses, but this gown would be just as fitting at a beach wedding as it would be on the lawn of a fancy-ass B&B.

I've included a few shots of The Cotton Bride's collection below, but you can see lots more cotton wedding dresses on their website.

Continue reading "Cotton wedding dresses" →

A while back I ranted about how I think brides are best off having their wedding dresses custom made — you'll get a better fit, exactly the design you want, and won't have to suffer the attitudes and obscene prices of a bridal boutique.

There was some grumbling in the comments about "Ok, fine: but how do you find a custom dressmaker?" My best advice is start in your immediate circle and work your way out &mash; do you know any seamstresses or amazing sewers? Do any of your friends or family known any? If not, search online or in the Yellow Pages for someone locally. Being able to do fittings in person is a big bonus. If there's no-one in town you like, then start looking online for seamstresses with styles you like who will work with you via email.

The ladies of the OBT came to the rescue with lots more tips on picking a custom dressmaker, as well as specific dressmaker recommendations:

Continue reading "Everything you need to know about having your wedding dress custom-made" →

Um. Yeah, so I have only one question? Ok – it's more a comment and plea for resources to be added than anything else. There aren't a lot of resources out there for plus size brides, let alone plus size off-beat brides. -Karissa

I haven't spent a lot of time talking about dresses for plus size brides because my advice to y'all is the same as my advice to everyone: HAVE YOUR DRESS CUSTOM MADE. I don't care if you're a size 2 or a size 18, apple body, pear body, or cucumber body — a custom dress made to your exact measurements is going to fit you better than anything you could buy off the rack and will cost less than 90% of the dresses you'll find at any bridal salon.

Remember Angela's red wedding dress? Custom made. What about Bree's stunning pin-up style dress? Custom made. Honestly, I don't know why anyone even bothers with the demoralizing hell of bridal shops. Regardless of your size or shape, you'll get the best fitting dress if you have it made for you.

That said, if you're looking for additional resources, I definitely recommend the Plus Size Bridez group on the Offbeat Bride Tribe. But my best advice is to start looking for a good local dressmaker.