Things Women Need To Know About Wedding Fashion

For The Bride

1. Waist emphasis: After a tumultuous affair with the trapeze dress, America is ready to re-embrace the waist. At the Spring 2008 Fashion Week, designers showed nipped in waists, often accented with wide belts. Look for wedding dresses to follow suit, with a reinvigoration of the obi belt and contrasting color sashes.

2. Trumpet Skirt: As it skims over the body before flaring out near the knee, the trumpet skirt naturally shows off your best curves, especially your waist

3. Jewelry as Part of the Dress: While previous years' fads included heavy jewelry, in the year 2008 wedding trends, jewelries are now commonly worn on the dresses themselves.

4. Lower necklines: Show off the neck and shoulders

5. Back Detail: It's what your wedding guests see during the ceremony, so show it off with intricate details or a low v-back.

6. Vintage inspiration: From dresses to rings, brides are revisiting the past for style inspiration. For wedding gowns, that means delicate fabrics like chiffon and tiers of tulle, along with bygone embellishments such as beaded straps, keyhole halters, and lace sleeves.

7. Silver: The bride who wears a metallic silver wedding dress is sure to stand out and be remembered. If you're more traditional, incorporate the silver wedding trend in other ways like wedding bands and other jewelry accessories.

Bridesmaids

8. Yellow: Yellow was all over the Spring 2008 runways, which is great news for brides. This ideal wedding color is fresh, energetic and summery.
For an evening wedding, pair lemon yellow with chocolate brown. Or, choose a brighter yellow paired with silvery gray. Yellow brings feelings of warmth and happiness. When used alone, yellow makes an impact, when used as an accent; it compliments many other colors very nicely. Pale yellows are great for spring weddings, lemon yellows give a citrus punch to summer weddings and deep mustards are beautiful for fall and winter weddings.

9. Silver / Pewter: Silvers and metallics are taking the place of standard black. Steel gray will replace chocolate brown as the accent color. I absolutely love this soft yet deep hue teamed with butter yellow, bright aqua, rich eggplant, or pale pink. It's so versatile!

10. Bold colors: Jewel tones are back in style! If you love rich purples, bright greens, and shocking pinks, you'll be excited by 2008 wedding trends. But stay far away from the '80s. Today's couples should look to use jewel tones sparingly, mixing brights with cream or gray, or more muted versions of the same color.

11. A variety of dress styles: There's nothing wrong with wanting your bridal party to look coordinated, but because all your girls have unique shapes and styles. Why not pick a color and fabric and have them choose the rest?

Let your girls choose their jewelry. You can and should suggest the type of jewelry you'd like to see them wear (pearls, silver, or gold) but allow them to pick from their own closets when it comes to the particulars. Chances are, your pictures won't pick up the difference in their jewels, and they'll feel more comfortable in baubles they already know and love.

12. Metallic footwear: Rather than asking your girls to buy matching celadon green wedges, these days formal footwear is all about silver and gold - with just about any color and look you've picked for your maids.


Mother of the Bride/Groom

13. Consider the Wedding Party: Though you probably will want your dress to coordinate with the wedding party, it DOES NOT need to match.

14. Consult with the Bride: She is the one who knows best the style and formality of the wedding and can offer great insights.

15. Consult with Each Other: The mother of the bride should choose her dress first and then let the groom's mother know what she has selected.

16. Age-Appropriate Does Not Have To Mean Dowdy: There are many very fashion-forward options for the mother of the bride/groom.


Men's Wear

17. Three Major "Don't"s to Remember: Don't wear socks that are too short. They should come up over the calves so that no skin is exposed when you sit down and cross your legs. (Source: "The Wedding Book" by Mindy Weiss with Lisbeth Levine)

Don't wear a belt with formal clothing. Use Suspenders to hold up trousers. (Source: "The Wedding Book" by Mindy Weiss with Lisbeth Levine)

Don't over accessorize. You don't want to look overly flashy. (Source: "The Wedding Book" by Mindy Weiss with Lisbeth Levine)

Wedding Guests

18. Take Cues from the Invitation: Is it in flowing, engraved black script on a heavy cream paper with formal language? Odds are the wedding will be similarly formal.

Does it cheekily ask you to come see them get hitched? Wedding guests should look for a nice casual outfit. And of course, it may tell you directly on the invitation - black tie, casual attire etc.

19. Do Not Wear White: This rule has relaxed some, and you can get away with wearing a printed dress with a white background and some cream colored clothing.

20. The Black Factor: Black is a great choice for an evening wedding, but you should never wear black to a daytime wedding.

21. Don't Upstage the Bride: Avoid anything too sexy or revealing.


All of the dresses featured in the video portion of this story can be found at Saks Fifth Avenue.

By: Holly Quartaro, Fashion Stylist at Galleria Dallas
Originally published CBS11tv.om; May 7, 2008