From My Wedding to Yours

We're back to the Bridal Veil series. Now that you've selected your headpiece, the next step is choosing the length of your veil. When considering lengths, first look at your gown's style and decide what you would like to accentuate. The veil should be above or below the gown's focal point. For example, if your gown has a very detailed bodice and your veil was short (ending where your bodice begins), then you will visually cut yourself in half. Not very flattering. In this case, choose a longer veil, such as a fingertip length, which won't distract from your gown's details. Here are some silhouette rules to help you . . . 1. The slimmer the gown, the longer the veil. For example, a figure-hugging wedding gown with a short train looks fabulous with long chapel-length veil. 2. If you want a long veil, such as chapel, cathedral, or grand cathedral lengths, then your veil should be slightly longer than your train. This way it doesn't look like you ran out of fab...

So far, we've talked about the history of bridal veils and the order of things to do before choosing a veil . Let's quickly review that list: 1. Choose your gown. 2. Decide on a hairstyle. 3. Go veil hunting! Now that you're in the veil hunting stage, there's actually another list to work on. 1. Choose a headpiece. 2. Decide on a veil length, material, and color. 3. Consider which embellishments, if any, you'd like on your veil (ribbon-edging, sewn-on pearls, etc) Today, we are going to talk about the list's first step: Choosing a headpiece . There's a huge variety of headpieces, each with their own blend of pearls, crystals, rhinestones, sequins, and more. I suggest visiting a few websites to see which headpiece styles you prefer. Some fantastic websites with a plethora of headpieces are Bridal Fashion Mall , Bridal Headpieces , Wedding Veil , David's Bridal , and VeiluBridal . Then hit the stores and try on headpieces in those specific styles. You may...

Wedding veils are one of the oldest bridal traditions - much older than white wedding gowns. The oldest record of brides wearing veils comes from the Roman Empire. Brides wore special cloths around their faces called flammeum . The cloths were painted with fire and flame designs to scare away evil spirits who might want to kidnap the bride. In fact, this superstition was so strong that families often brought bridesmaids as decoys for the bride. These maids would be beautifully dressed similar to the bride sans the veil. So if the evil spirits decided to attend the wedding, they'd over look the bride hidden behind her veil and choose one of the bridesmaids instead. Perhaps if we still felt this way today, there would be less hackling over who received the honored title of bridesmaid. Veils were also played an important role in arranged marriages. You know that saying that the groom isn't supposed to see his bride before the wedding? Heavy veils made it possible for the bride and...

After getting engaged, the next thing you (and many other brides) do is purchase a bride magazine and begin picturing yourself in beautiful bridal attire. This includes your dream hairstyle and bridal veil. Now, before you get ahead of yourself, there is an order things should be done. 1. Pick out your wedding gown first. Why? How will you know what type of headpiece to choose if you don't know what you're co-ordinating with? Also, you gown could be white, ivory, off-white, cream, etc. There are so many, many shades of white available. When you find that perfect dress, you will want your veil to be the correct shade. Traditional white doesn't work with everything. 2. Decide on your wedding hairstyle. Why? Now that you have your dress, you have a better idea of what type of hairstyle would look best with your gown. Do you want a formal up-do or a casual loose up-do? Or perhaps you prefer to wear your hair down and flowing around you. Some brides prefer a simple hairstyle, an...