For many style-obsessed brides, the aisle at their wedding could double for a catwalk. Like everything else in fashion, bridal gown styles are also heavily influences by the major designers and labels – what they premier at their shows are what you could be seeing in an upcoming ceremony near you! The look for 2009 is in, and trend-watching brides can find inspiration in these five hot bridal attire design styles.

Cascading Columns
It seems that the biggest trend of 2009 in bridal wear is a style that has cascading narrow lines with ruffled tiers or pleats. It’s a body-skimming look that can be described as 1920s flapper meets Grecian goddess. If you are not interested in the typical princes shape, this style of wedding gown is perfect for a bride who enjoys confident and girly fun. Designer wedding dresses of this type are taking the runways by storm and are set to appear on brides who have an eye for couture fashion. All the big designers are featuring this column style, but British designer Jenny Packham has brides falling over themselves for her interpretation of this trend.

Crumb-Catchers
If this style is going to catch anything, it would surely be everyone’s attention! Crumb-catchers are named for a design element that involves an outward fanning or pleating at the bust of the gown. Choose this style if you want to add drama, detail and high fashion elegance to your look. This is also the perfect method for brides who want to boost the appearance of their chests without showing a lot of skin. Some truly beautiful bridal gowns were showcased at Kenneth Pool’s last catwalk that fashionable brides can look forward to in the coming year.

Shorter Hemlines
According to the Chinese calendar, 2009 is the Year of the Ox, but according to many wedding gown designers, it’s set to be the Year of the Leg! Hemlines are coming up for brides who wish to buck tradition, and wedding gown stores will have more to offer them this coming year. While still unmistakably feminine and sweet, these designer gowns are also flirty and youthful. Brides with bigger budgets may even want to have a traditional dress for the ceremony but perform a quick wardrobe change into one of these shorter styles for the reception (please your grandma AND show off your gams to your news husband – it’s the best of both worlds!). Oscar De La Renta is owning this look this year, while several others have only just picked up on this trend.

Fabric Applications
Embellishments – and not the typical bead or sequin variety – are making a big splash on wedding dresses this coming year. Brides will see more and more gowns that feature added details in the form of fabric flowers (often in the same material and colour of their dress) or colourful bands of ribbon. These applications give bridal dresses an exceptionally feminine touch – and one that frugal brides can add themselves if need be! If you like floral details which is quite hot in 2009, you cannot go wrong by finding a Priscilla of Boston gown.

Pockets
Maybe it’s because many brides today are finding it difficult to detach themselves from their mobile phones, but 2009 dress trends are hinting that many wedding gowns will feature subtle but handy pockets. It’s the perfect solution for tucking in your BlackBerry or Iphone before walking down the aisle! As the pockets are sewn along the dress’s side seams, it would be hard for you to find a guest that would notice this modern touch of functionality. Leading this trend is American retailer, J.Crew, who have been making fast inroads in the bridal wear industry in the last three years.

This coming year is said to boast both stylish and playful wedding dress designs for brides. Be sure to first understand the style and shape that best suits your figure and then add that trendy touch – this way, you can be both a classic and being a fashionista on your wedding day!

Read more wedding dress related articles.

Visit NZBride for all your wedding planning needs.

Knowing what attire the groom should be wearing for his wedding can be very tedious and frustrating.Firstly you need to depict the style of wedding you are going to have.

Is it going to be held during the day or evening? Where will it be held? What’s your bride’s attire? Once you have answered all these questions, you can decide if your wedding is going to be casual to semi-formal, formal, or highly formal.

If your wedding is during the day:

Casual to Semi-formal - If you are having a semi-formal wedding during the day then an option is for you and your groomsmen to wear a suit as opposed to a tux.It’s not required to wear a tie. Either way, make sure to also wear a white boutonniere to complement the rest of the attire. This is a really great casual yet trendy look.

Formal – Here there are many choices of attire: tuxes, single and double breasted jackets and pleated trousers are a few options to go with.

Highly Formal – This is where the fun begins, here you get to go the whole nine yards starting with a cut away coat and grey stripped trousers. Check out wedding magazines for a few more ideas or catalogues from formal wear stores.

If your wedding is in the evening:

Casual to Semi-formal – If your wedding is in the evening you can either wear a suit or tux but making sure its of a dark fabric.

Formal – Your formal evening attire should be a contemporary look, therefore the traditional black tuxedo with a white shirt and black bow tie will SUIT you perfectly.

Highly Formal – This is generally a black and white affair, wearing a black tail coat, white shirt and black trousers. This will give you a look that is classy & sophisticated.

If you are interested in more articles and advise related to grooms, please visit NZ Bride and check out the grooms section. We also have a large collection of other wedding planning advice articles relating to subjects such as: wedding dresses, wedding flowers, wedding reception planning, etc. that you may be interested in.

Wedding visitors are also required to practice proper decorum.  Bear in mind, the wedding day is an event where we should give respect and celebrate with the new couple.  Properly conforming to the conventions of wedding decorum is our way of making the day even more memorable for the couple.

* Dress fittingly.  If it’s a formal event, don’t be there sporting casual clothes.  For you, an unconventional outfit may be more fashionable, but the wedding ceremony – and also a wedding celebration – is rarely an event where guests are permitted to be gaudy.  The focus during the entire night should be on the husband and wife, and their requests should be respected, the selection of the {guests’} outfit included. This includes dresses for the groom’s mother and any over the top trendy hairstyles!

* Arrive on time, or earlier.  Don’t be “fashionably late.”  A wedding is a special occasion that should be respected, and this means observing the clock that has been set for the occasion.

* Normally, only people who are sent a request should go to the wedding.  Bearing this in mind, don’t take anyone if they weren’t invited to the ceremony.  Wedding reception these days can cost quite a lot, and the husband and wife may have been pushed to limit the quantity of their visitors to keep the operating costs at a level they can afford.

* If you can’t attend, tell the husband or wife before long.  If you have formerly sent word that you will be there, but something suddenly came up that will prevent you from going, tell the couple of the adjustment as well.

* If you can’t make it to the wedding, send a gift instead.

* Stop from taking photographs throoughout the rites.  This rule should be specifically observed if the ceremony is celebrated in a church or a place of worship.

* Leave your gift in the vehicle, or somewhere else.  Avoid taking it to the ceremony, especially if the celebration is being held in a place that’s considered sacred.  Only take with you your gift to the reception.

* Do not disappear for the reception until after the wedding rites.  Stay and see the couple walk down the aisle for the first time as husband and wife. Greet them once more at the doorway and shower them with rose petals if some are available.  The wedding rites isn’t fisnished until the husband and wife have left the place.

Did you think that love conquers all?, if yes you are well advised to read all this article. The problem is that often people get married with the idea that their chemistry or undying love for each other will keep them together forever.

Think about how you got together, was it through friends, work or a online dating site like match or plenty of fish?, also known as plentyofish, did you really give yourself enough time to get to know each other?

However, with a very large percentage of marriages ending in divorce these days, it’s obvious that a lot of marriages that start out well still fail. Therefore if you want your marriage to be a long time success it pays to know a few truths before getting married. Here are a number of tips for staying together longer:

Over the years, people often drift apart or relationships and marriages become stale because couples fail to do new and special things together.

That’s why going on new and different dates is so important. In fact, there is something about dating that creates a feeling of magic in a relationship and can even bring relationships out of a rut.

While on a date, you also put more effort into your appearance, have more uninterrupted time to communicate on a deeper level and are naturally drawn closer together.

Stuck for ideas?, just try using Google and search for fun and interesting activities in your local town, city or state, you will be surprised at what you can find.

It’s a well documented statistic that couples who have dated for a year or longer before marriage have a significantly lower rate of divorce than those who married after a short dating period.

A year of seeing each other gives time for many emotions to surface and many character traits to be discovered. You may adore someone in the spring, but despise him or her in the winter.

Asking someone for his or her hand in marriage on the third date isn’t romantic, it’s really very silly, it may work for a few people but for most it will end in tears.

Oftentimes, as a relationship matures, partners tend to stop praising each other because they ‘assume’ their partner already knows what they’re thinking.

When in reality, a day should not go by without you praising your partner. Compliment them on their cooking, reaffirm that they’re the greatest person in the world or tell them they’re a wonderful role model. If you want to be loved and romanced by your sweetheart, love and romance them first. When they’re feeling loved, it is much easier for them to love in return.

Are you a super supporter of what your mate does and says? So do you cheer them on and praise them all the time? Or do they constantly hear boos or silence?

Couples with the most problems are many times the ones that say, “I just don’t understand him/her.”

So let me ask you: How knowledgeable are you about your mate’s profession or the degree they are pursuing? Do you know anything about their family heritage? Are you able to have a meaningful conversation about her cross-stitch hobby or his interest in rugby? If you are a man, do you fully understand what women experience during PMS or menopause?

You don’t need to be identical, but make an effort to learn about the things that interest your partner in life and you’ll grow closer as a result.

Does your partner want children? Do you both want careers? Do they have a history of spending their way into debt? Do they go to church?

In my opinion, the biggest reason almost half of marriages end in divorce is because couples fail to ask each other the right questions BEFORE they get married.

I guess people think they’ll be able to change their spouses after marriage and everything will be better. Wrong. If you fail to sit down and discuss finances, religion, sex, housing, your future, and other topics in great detail, you could end up with nothing but argument after argument for the rest of your days.

In the end, if you both have completely different views, desires and goals in life, there’s no guarantee that chemistry or “I love you’s” will help you stay together.

Make it your utmost priority to understand each other ‘inside-out’ BEFORE you take that walk down the aisle, and it really does not matter where you met, even if it was a dating site like planty of fish, what counts is that you put into action some of the tips you have just read in this article, good luck.

Bridal Jewelry Choices

Is your daughter, granddaughter, or a close family friend getting married and you would like to share your wedding jewelry with them?Being able to wear someone else’s beautiful wedding jewelry is a special experience that just about every bride would love to do.Sharing your wedding jewelry with a new bride is a big decision and should be thought over carefully to make sure it is what you really want to do.

Your wedding jewelry is likely very close to your heart but if you have a woman in your life that needs something old or something borrowed, you may want to share your jewelry.  If you have decided this is something you would like to do, you first need to determine if you would like to give them the jewelry or if you would rather just loan it to them.

You may want to consider how you should present your wedding jewelry to the new bride, according to whether you lend or give it away.A great idea would be to ask the bride to dinner and after you have eaten your mean present her with a beautiful box and tell her you have something very special to share with her.You may want to include a note inside the box that just tells of how special the jewelry is to you and how many happy years of marriage they have seen.

You may want to be surprised when the bride opens the box and sees your wedding jewelry at what her reaction is.Many brides are caught off gaurd and are surprised, others are sad and some may show no reaction at all.You may be overwhelmed at the bride’s reaction, so try not to take it personally.You may want to tell her that she doesn’t have to wear the wedding jewelry if she doesn’t want to and that you wanted her to have the jewelry just in case she decides to wear it.

Sharing your jewelry is a heartfelt gesture that not every bride will ever have the benefit of experiencing.Make sure the bride isn’t confused about whether or not you are letting her have the wedding jewelry or just letting her borrow them.Seeing a new bride wear your old wedding jewelry will bring back warm memories and make that day even more special.

A bride’s wedding day is one of the most magical days she’ll ever experience. It is the day that she’s been dreaming of since she was five years old. But it’s not just the day as a whole that will make it magical, but the little details that are involved. It’s not just about the church or the reception or even the dance, it’s about the dress, the shoes, the veil, and flowers. But one area that is often over looked when planning out the big day is the wedding cake. And the piece that will define your cake will be your choice of a unique wedding cake topper.

Some people might think it’s a trivial item, but unique wedding cake toppers are a growing trend in the bridal world. Many couples will spend thousands of dollars on their cake, but the one detail that will really give your cake a finished look will be the topper. Years ago, the choices in toppers were very basic, just the small bride and groom standing next to each other. Then, things evolved and you were able to pick out the hair color of your bride and groom to match your own. In the last few years, people are getting more and more creative with their wedding cake toppers and using letters from their monogram — some have even used PEZ dispensers. For the matchbox car collectors out there, people have picked out specific matchbox cars to use on their cakes. Those with strong ties to their respective cultures may choose to use flags on their wedding cakes.

Also see: bride and groom wedding cake topper available in many different themes such as beach, motorcycle, and more. These unique themes make the “bride and groom” cake topper even more special on your wedding day.

Each couple can get as elaborate or as simple as they want to get with their wedding cake toppers. No matter what you are looking for in a cake topper, you’ll be able to find a website to meet your needs. If you are looking for a specific interest such as western themes or Disney themes, you can easily find wedding cake toppers that will suit your needs. They also make wedding cake toppers that are a little more whimsical and humorous. There is a site available that has couples in fishing, football, and baseball themed attire and positions.

As you can see, a beautiful wedding day will consist of the many tiny details that will all pull together to make a fabulous picture perfect day. But please do not overlook the small details of the cake and the unique wedding cake toppers.