White wedding dresses have been a tradition since Queen Victoria popularised the trend back in 1840. Classic and regal, there is no denying that this light hue will never go out of style. However, non-white wedding gowns have been making a splash for years.
We’ve seen stars like Gwen Stefani, Jessica Biel and Dita Von Teese donning rainbow hues for their big day. If you want to make a statement, live in colour with these non-white looks.
Edward Scissorhands. Beetlejuice. The Nightmare Before Christmas. Corpse Bride. All of these films are classic Halloween-time viewing that come from the mind of the unique writer and director, Tim Burton.
Many laud Burton for being the king of spooky with his dark yet comical films that have gone down in history. His characters continue to inspire many a halloween costume, and now it has even inspired a wedding photoshoot.
Miami-based couple Genesis and Kelvin have been together for 10 years and married in July 2019. However, due to personal circumstances they did not have the financial means to throw the extravagant wedding they wanted. They have four children, one of whom suffers from a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome, and her resulting medical bills have been costly.
“We didn’t really have a big wedding because our daughter has a disability,” Genesis told Business Insider US. “Our wedding day, unfortunately, was a big flop.”
The couple, who are big Tim Burton fans, were granted the opportunity to have the wedding of their dreams when their friend approached them to do a posed photoshoot.
The photoshoot, captured by photographer Angela Vallejo, recreated their wedding day in epic style. Together with Monica Reyes, event planner from ‘Events with a Promise’, the couple were spoiled with the spooky and glamorous day they had originally envisioned.
With the white piping on his lapel and the black and white colour scheme, Kelvin’s suit perfectly hinted at Jack Skellington’s attire from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Credit: Angela Vallejo Photography
Genesis went for a gothic look, sporting a black lace gown with a lengthy train.
Credit: Angela Vallejo Photography
Elements from Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice were incorporated through decor and colour scheme. Green, purple and black are focal colours in many of Burton’s films, and were stylishly woven into this styled table without looking overly themed. Pumpkins, Jack Skellington’s favourite accessory, were also included in the decor.
The wedding invites featured curlycue script on a charred paper, giving a Halloween inspired look. The envelope, which reads “Mr. Unlucky”, referred to “Jack’s Lament” in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
There was even a replica of Beetlejuice‘s “Handbook for the Recently Deceased”, except this time it was used as a guest book.
The stunning three layer black cake was adorned with dried flowers and a cake topper with the figures of Jack Skellington and Sally cut into it. It also reads “Mr” and “Mrs”. The cake stand is in the shape of skeleton legs.
The photoshoot gave Genesis and Kelvin some much-needed time to spoil themselves. Most of their time is dedicated to looking after their children, especially their special needs daughter.
“Your whole life becomes taking care of this child,” she said of her youngest daughter. “You don’t notice how much time is fleeting, and although your life becomes taking care of this child, you need to practice self-love too.”
“We don’t really have time to go on dates or things like that, so for us, this shoot was just a time for us to take a step back and really, you know, practice self-care,” Genesis said.
Wedding dresses seem to have transcended all boundaries. There’s nothing it can’t be. Wild colours, short dresses, dresses made from recycled material, dresses made of paper, even jumpsuits which aren’t dresses at all! If you can pay, you can have it all.
One of the most beautiful trends we have seen, though, are light-up dresses. Think fairy tale meets the finest Milan runway. These dresses are exquisite and magical. We found a few we can’t keep our eyes off of.
We love celebrity weddings not only for the wow-factor and all-round glamour, but for setting trends that will have us looking back at them years, and sometimes decades, later. This time, we take a look at some of the most iconic veils celebrities wore on their wedding day:
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly was the epitome of elegance in her intricately detailed veil. The veil consisted of a lace headband, covered in layers of sheer tulle with embroidered trims. It was created out of 82.29m of tulle and skimmed the actress’ elbows before dropping down to the floor. The design was covered with appliquéd lace lovebirds and thousands of seed pearls.
Gwen Stefani chose the non-traditional route and opted for a floor-length veil dipped in pink dye to match her ombré wedding dress. The ensemble was custom dip-dyed and hand-painted, designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior. The veil also featured rose patches delicately scattered at the top.
Bianca Jagger swapped the wedding dress for a white YSL smoking jacket and long skirt. Not one to stick to conventions, the traditional veil was also replaced by a sun hat draped with white tulle and trimmed with rosebuds. It is speculated that this non-traditional veil was to keep all guests’ eyes focused on her face and not her expanding midsection. At the time, she was four months pregnant with her and Jagger’s daughter, Jade.
Priscilla Presley’s wedding look was topped off with an extravagant amount of tulle and a crown. The crown was adorned with crystals, while the veil was waist-length and 3 feet long.
The People’s Princess wore an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown with a 7.62 m train and a 139m tulle veil. The veil was studded with thousands of hand-sewn sequins. The dress and veil combo has become one of the most famous bridal looks in history.
Priyanka wore a Ralph Lauren designed dress that was hand-embroidered and hand-beaded with more than two million mother-of-pearl sequins sewed into it, but it was her veil that truly stole the show. A 22 m veil, that is! Chopra’s veil required assistance from five people to bring to the altar where Nick Jonas was awaiting her.
The Duchess of Sussex wore an unforgettable Givenchy gown and a 5m veil that featured gorgeous, intricate embroidery. Adding a personal touch, her veil was embroidered specifically with the signature flowers from the British Commonwealth.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt wanted their children to be heavily involved in their wedding, but Angelina took it to the next level. Colourful drawings created by the couple’s children featured on her wedding dress and veil, making it a truly unique work of art. Her wedding look was designed by Luigi Massi of Atelier Versace.
Creativity is always encouraged and being inventive is cool. But this guy might have just taken it too far. A Japanese man collected his fingernail clippings for a year, then ground it to a powder and baked it to create a “stone” for an engagement ring. The end result is a pitch black, rock hard stone. If you didn’t know, you would probably never guess that’s it’s made from human nails.
He created the silver band himself too, baking and filing everything from scratch, and filming the whole painstaking process. The video went viral and has over 5,593,473 views. The internet is not quite sure how to respond, ranging from disgusted to amazed!
We’re not sure if he actually proposed to someone with it yet, but we do think he would be a very hands-on husband.
Black is not just a colour for mourning. For decades, white has been synonymous with weddings for its symbolism of purity. White is traditionally expected. However, while many are afraid of including this dark-hued colour in weddings, black can actually bring much class and sophistication to your big day. Take a walk on the dark side and think of bringing this dark tone into your wedding.
Here are a few way to incorporate black into your wedding that won’t look morbid.
All engagement rings are unique in some way, sure. But some are more unique than others! Since it’s something you’ll be wearing for the rest of your life (hopefully), it’s quite a big deal that you love it. Some leave the ring-choosing to their significant other, while some make it very clear that if they are ever being proposed to, they want to choose the ring themselves.
We found some not-so-traditional rings. And you won’t believe your eyes.
1. I will rock you
This unpolished, earthy-looking ring has a very magical charm to it. Enough to melt a heart of stone.
This one is inspiring for many reasons, but mostly because it doesn’t try to outshine everything else. We love the way it catches the eye and the design truly complements the hand.
Every couple has a love story. All the moments in life come together to create the now. When a couple decides to get married, they bring with them all their histories. That is exactly what this British couple did.
Becky Brotherhood, 43, and Lee Markham, 45, have not had the easiest path in life and in love. To honour their journey and the past that made them who they are, Becky decided to don a wedding dress with patches made by her friends and family.
Becky and Lee met five years ago. At the time, Becky had just completed her battle with breast cancer that made her leave her past career of nursing behind to focus on her health. She began training to become a massage therapist to help people who felt that their body was turning against them.
Both Becky and Lee had children from previous relationships and had gone through difficult experiences.
They quickly fell in love and brought their families together, however, Becky never thought she would remarry. It was after Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding that she had a sudden change of heart.
“I’m not an avid follower of the royals, but something about their story – how sections of the establishment were sniffy or judgemental about Meghan, or the fact that she’d been divorced made her somehow less worthy – just really hit home on that day,” she explained to Metro UK.
“I felt that perhaps my decision to not marry was actually more about what people might think, and less about what I actually wanted, or how I felt about him.”
She then took the initiative and asked Lee to marry her over Facebook Messenger.
“So I asked him – and that fact that I asked means so much to me now: to hell with rules and tradition and what people think.”
When it came to planning the big day, Becky knew she wanted her wedding dress to tell a story, one where her closest friends and family could be a part of the creation.
“Standing in front of my soul mate at the age of 43, knowing that we both have rich histories and six children between us, it felt wrong to buy something new and off the shelf,” she explains. “It didn’t feel right and didn’t fit us as a couple.”
“One of the most special things about our love is that we love each other because of our pasts. They’re not something we have to look beyond or gloss over, and the family home we are both building right now is open and welcoming to everyone. We both have scars and losses – physically and metaphorically, and I wanted that to be reflected and held in every part of my dress, bravely, unashamedly, and with love.”
Becky, a skilled sewer, began designing and sewing her own wedding dress from an old sheet she found in her attic. Some of Becky’s clients gave her scraps of fabric and buttons that were sentimental to them for her to use on her wedding dress. This inspired Becky to ask her bridal party to make their own patches that she could then sew on to her wedding dress.
Friends and family came together to create patches. Credit: Becky Brotherhood/ Lee MarkhamThe patches all told a story. Credit: Becky Brotherhood/ Lee Markham
“I wanted it to feel like a tapestry of our lives… our children, our friends, and our families, and everyone who had made us into the people that we were – standing face to face vowing to spend the rest of their lives together,” she told HenHeaven. ” I wanted it to feel new and different … almost tribal, a coming together of everyone’s love and blessings for us, to hold me with every stitch.”
She hosted sewing lessons to show those less-confident how to do it. This recurring sewing session quickly became special bonding moments for those involved.
“It ended up being almost like a month-long hen do, where friends would come up, and we’d catch up, and spend quality time together too and with such busy lives, when does that ever happen? And it really felt like the dress captured that energy of reconnection too.”
She sewed the patches onto an old piece of welsh slate from the quarry next to where she had grown up. Also attached to the wedding dress were Lee’s father’s wedding ring, Becky’s mother’s wedding ring, the buttons from Becky’s sister’s gown, and from her mother’s jewellery box.
In the end, they created a unique dress with immense sentimental value.
On the wedding day on September 28, all her loved ones were around to see their creation and to celebrate the union of Lee and Becky.
“Seeing everyone that loves us, and supports us, and who have been there for us through tough times, and good times – seeing all those people rally round and just love getting involved, and creating such wonderful, heartfelt pieces of art, essentially, it’s like I felt lifted up on their shoulders and carried to the day.”
Recently, it’s become almost like a fun guessing game: Does the bride have decor on the soles of her shoes? Does the groom? Some couples have taken to writing messages for each other there, some brides have inspirational words and some just want a fancy decoration. We have some brilliant ideas that will sweep you off your feet.
Messages to each other
Reading a heartfelt letter from your soon-to-be spouse just before the wedding is a special moment. Save the trees and write it on their shoes.
weddingforward.comweddingforward.com
Matchy-matchy
These are especially great for pictures. If there are song lyrics, quotes or anything else you like, you can split it so that both of your shoes complete it together.
weddingforward.cometsy.com
Personalised stickers
There might be a specific theme you want to carry, or something that’s meaningful or beautiful to you that you want to use. It could be your new surname, the date of the wedding, anything really. The options are endless.
Bridesmaid dresses are a tricky one. There’s a delicate balance between wanting them to look gorgeous, and not wanting them to upstage you on your big day. Here’s some good news: You can get both. The latest trends for bridesmaids are absolutely stunning, but not at all overpowering and will complement your bridal party perfectly. Your bridesmaids will feel great and love you for it. Here are some non-traditional outfits that are stylish, classy and sweet.
The two-piece
Two pieces can be just as beautiful and formal as you want them to be. Long skirts with halter tops are very in, especially loose fitting pieces that have a soft, flowing effect. Opt for a darker colour at the bottom and a light colour at the top. The top can be either tucked in or not. Lace is popular, and will fit in nicely if you have lace in your own wedding dress.
theknot.com
hebedress.com
The embroidered dress
Embroidery is one of those things that used to be old-fashioned, then everybody realised how beautiful it is and brought it back big time. It has a feminine touch and goes well with pastel colours. Florals are always a favourite, but it doesn’t have to bind you. We’re loving this blue mullet dress with netted under layers.
storenvy.comtheknot.com
The tiered dress
Layers are good on everyone if you do them right. Tiered dresses are super fun and work well with short or midi dresses. It has a fashionable vibe and depending on the material you opt for, can be elegant or playful.
theknot.comprettylittlething.us
Remember, it’s your day and your bridesmaids should make your day more beautiful, not take the attention off your dress. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be stunning too!
