We are so delighted to present to you the newest addition to our roster of designer bridal couture, Rania Hatoum Collection. This luxury brand, with its designer (in photo below) as its namesake, boasts of a perfect mix of “refinement and sensuality” expressed through the use of luxurious fabrics and through intricate embellishments.

Don’t get us wrong though, this brand may be all about class, but you’ll notice, as we have, how each of its pieces yell out individuality and uniqueness. Its designs are not cookie-cutter for sure.

We would absolutely recommend this brand to brides who prefer to make a statement of their personality through their wedding dress. So brides who are edgy or whimsical or minimalist or uber romantic, meet the Rania Hatoum Collection:

The piece above is LUMIERE. It showcases a bodice with Swarovski crystal embellishments and a tulle ball gown skirt.

RADIANCE features a V-neckline and scoop back. What we love about it is how it is intricately beaded throughout, with the beads embroidered to form geometric patterns.

REGAL has deconstructed French Alecon lace applique covering its bodice. It is made of charming crinkle silk organza and adorned with pearls throughout. Its mermaid skirt ends with a train having scalloped hemline.

PROMENADE is a lovely tea-length tulle piece with a dainty uneven hemline. It showcases a French Guipure lace top with cap sleeves.

DUNROBIN is a silk duchess satin and organza ball gown with a sheer top covering a sexy sweetheart neckline. The cap sleeves and organza band are embellished with silver appliques and beads.

This fashion forward bridal piece is COLETTE. It is a body skimming trumpet shape gown made of silk satin sheath in ivory. The freshest thing about it is the silk crinkle cape made of chiffon which is long enough to serve as a train, and is detachable.

For more of the collection, visit MissesDressy.com.

Source: raniahatoum.com

We chanced upon Twigs & Honey in one of our favourite wedding websites.  And, to make the long story short, let’s just say, we fell in love.

Twigs & Honey, a Salem-Portland, Oregon based company, has for its founder and designer a former bride with an M.A. in Geography-Environmental Science, Myra Callan. Though not an obvious career path for a scientist, Myra Callan ventured into bridal fashion when she got so inspired with it while planning her own wedding in 2007. She’s still able to use her education though as she “experiments” with colors, forms, and textures to come up with her now famous brand of  hair adornment perfection.

Myra Callan’s Twigs & Honey creations are made with love. Each piece is painstakingly made by hand, with “full attention to details and an interest in fine craftsmanship”. The line includes hair adornments, headbands, birdcage veils, traditional veils, and other wedding accessories. The brand’s trademark is the use of “fine silks, feathers, laces, and vintage bits that result in completely unique adornments”. This brand has been featured in various top bridal magazines and notable TV shows, which just proves how much it has made a lovable impact on the industry. So, without further ado, here are some of this designer line’s best pieces.

Photos: Elizabeth Messina

Sources: Twigs & Honey, Etsy.com, WeddingChicks.com

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On the coattails of box office hit The Dark Knight Rises, Anne Hathaway is showing no signs of slowing down. From her recent wedding to the highly anticipated Les Misérables hitting theater’s this Christmas, the starlet is just getting warmed up. As the December cover girl of  Vogue, Anne stuns wearing Ralph Lauren and Valentino.

Take a look at the spread, shot by Annie Leibovitz, along with snippets of her chat with Adam Green.

On her audition for Les Misérables: “Sometimes you leave a room and you feel like maybe you’ve left the door open a crack. This time, I knew that I had slammed it shut behind me.”

On her wedding night: “Oh, my God, I had a blast. Our friends stayed and partied and danced till really late.”

On her friendship with designer, Valentino: “…family—like some wonderful, non-age-specific sibling.”

On creating her wedding dress: “The memory of creating it with him [Valentino] is something that I will treasure forever. He somehow read my mind and designed the dress that I’d always wanted.”

On her new haircut:  “I love the short-haired lifestyle. But I’m turning 30, and—I hope this isn’t obnoxious to say—I feel prettier, and much more myself. I guess I just feel much more satisfied with less now.”

“I’d feel a little silly and overly dramatic to say that this feels like destiny, but to have this come full circle in such a spectacular way—it’s making me very happy. OK, it feels a little like destiny.”

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Sometimes it’s hard to remember Dakota Fanning as the adorable seven-year-old in I Am Sam, isn’t it? Now 18-years-old the talented actress is still precocious, witty and an absolute beauty. On the December cover of InStyle UK Dakota looks elegant and stunning wearing Chanel Resort 2013 and Roberto Cavalli Fall 2012 dresses.

Glance over the spread, shot by Karen Collins, along with Dakota’s take on dating and her defense of friend and co-star Kristen Stewart. 

On the final Twilight film: “There’s a sequence in it that will really trip people out. It’s so crazy! They’ll be shocked. But they’ll recover. You’ll see.”

On dating: “I’m not the kind of girl who really wants boyfriends in my life. I’m very black and white in what I feel and I don’t wanna be with someone that I don’t foresee spending a long time with.”

On Kristen Stewart’s recent scandal: “Well, I just think that media frenzies like that… Everyone thinks they have the right to, you know, publicize the struggles and sadness and heartbreak and all of that. It’s like, ‘Why do you think you are the authority to judge people’s experiences?”

Make sure and get your December copy of Vogue and InStyle UK hitting newsstands soon!

Image Sources: Vogue and GotCeleb

The 21st century bride no longer abides to customs and traditions of old, well at least, in terms of style. We see that she asserts herself, speaking her mind through fashion, and daring to show who she is by telling her story through unconventional styling. With that in mind, our trusty designers put twists to bridal gown designs to convey the differing personalities of their ultimate muse: the rebellious bride.

Here are our top 8 bridal dress trends, perfect for the modern brides.

1. Rouged, etc. Brides just wanna have fun; and fun they find in cheery colours: red, pink, blush, even greens and blues. The fierce fearless bride wouldn’t settle for white, and instead, would choose to be bright and beautiful in a coloured wedding dress.

Vera Wang

Mark Zunino

Douglas Hannant

Oscar Dela Renta

2. But wait ’til you see the back. For a quirky surprise and sexy drama, especially for the long walk down the aisle and the pictorial, brides put attention to the back part of the dress with beautiful lace, intricate embroideries, bold peekaboo, and detailed embellishments.

Claire Pettibone

Elizabeth Fillmore

Marchesa

3. High Fashion Neckline. Extremely high and low necklines are favored by the rogue brides to frame their face to perfection. It is also a great way to balance the amount of skin they want to show-off.

Badgely Mischka

Oscar Dela Renta

Vera Wang

Vera Wang

4. One-Shoulder Treatment. The Ms. Independent bride would most likely go for the one-shoulder design for it gives that structured geometric aesthetic while baring some sexy skin.

Amsale

Douglas Hannant

Marchesa

Monique Lhuillier

5. Lace, Lace, Lace. The classic and timeless lace gets an edgy upgrade due to its head-to-toe usage in most of the current designs. Uberly romantic brides can add a touch of whimsy to their styling with these pieces.

Yumi Katsura

Monique Lhuillier

Marchesa

Amsale

6. Trick and Treat. Illusion details in dresses are for the brides who want to give a hint of skin while staying covered up with the use of sheer materials. These also create additional graceful movements and allow a more unpredictable placement of accents like applique, sequins, lace, and beads.

Reem Acra

Rafael Cennamo

Monique Lhuillier

Marchesa

7. Flattering Peplum. Clever and courageous brides opt for this haute detail to define the waist and create a vavavoom silhuoette.

Ines Di Santo

Amsale

Alfred Angelo

Junko Yoshioka

8. Transform. The smart convertible dresses are for the brides who want to make an impact on her walk down the aisle, then be able to dance without any constraint at the reception dinner. These are dresses with removable skirts, capes, and trains. Genius, right?

Oscar Dela Renta

Monique Lhuillier

Ines Di Santo

Reem Acra

Quirky, zany, edgy, mysterious, sensual, artsy, whimsical, old-soul, whichever type of rebellious bride you are, we are absolutely certain that there is a perfect wedding dress for you. For more options, check out our vast collection of bridal dresses here.

Sources: flash-screen.com, whitebowevents.com, brides.com, bridalguide.com, onewed.com, bridalmusings.com

Ooooh yah, it’s Thursday! And, we are so excited to perk up the week with our colour trend feature: Lemon Zest! Bursting with sunshine and feel good vibes, this PANTONE® colour for Spring 2013 won’t stop at  inspiring lovers of style to come up with fun and cheery things. Check-out our Yellow Belle post last July which featured happy yellow dresses, and these two design sketches featuring the hue.

Bright and lovely, aren’t day? These two outfit sketches, particularly, remind us of romantic styling, perfect for a lady honeymooner we picture strolling on the streets of Paris or Tuscany with her darling, unmindful of much, but drawing attention because of her glow from love, and of course, her dress.

Since when has yellow been a colour of love? Perhaps, since folks felt its whimsical yet uplifting effects — so much like love. And many bride and grooms have opted to use the colour to convey their love story on their wedding, may it be on the invitation, the bridesmaid dresses, the flowers, the decors, and even the cake. For our Colour Trend Thursday series, we decided to feature our favorite yellow-themed weddings so far. See our top 3 below.

1. RETRO 1950′S WEDDING WITH COMIC BOOK GRAPHICS: KATIE + MARK

This wedding according to Green Wedding Shoes, is “a true reflection of them – fun, clever, gorgeous + artistic“. We especially love the comic book graphic details on the invitation which featured the colour, yellow.

2. A BEAR AND BEE WEDDING: DEBRA + BEAU

“Debra + Beau based their entire wedding around their nicknames – his is “bear” and hers is “bee.” They have little bear + bee cartoons of each other that they’ve drawn for years, so they used them in their wedding stationary and as the cake topper. The color palette for the day was black + yellow – so all of the groomsmen wore black tuxes (with black and yellow striped socks) and the bridesmaids wore yellow dresses. The bridal party was transported in a black + yellow school bus and did a choreographed dance to “Black and Yellow” during the reception. They had honey jars as favors and one of the cutest details – the flower girl was dressed up like a bee and the ring bearer like a bear! So cute!” ~Green Wedding Shoes

3. A WHIMSICAL DIY WEDDING: ANCA + MARC

On planning for a wedding, the bride says, “Don’t settle for a ”cookie cutter” wedding! Every love story is unique, so should your wedding. A lot of things can go wrong or in different ways you would have wanted, but it’s important to remember the most important thing is love, so relax and have fun planning your wedding because regardless of details, you will be marrying the love of your life.” This whimsical wedding is done on a budget, but the photos would show otherwise. The yellow DIY details on this wedding gave it a happy jolt, much like the bride and groom’s feelings that day.

These weddings are featured on our favourite wedding blog, Green Wedding Shoes. See the full article when you click on the titles. Cheerio!

Sources: etsy.com, animondays.blogspot.com, pantone.com, greenweddingshoes.com

Channeling nineteenth century style, Keira Knightley graces the October cover of Vogue with her usual quiet charm. Photographer Mario Testino captured the elegant confidence of the actress while dressed as the lead character from her upcoming film. The new movie, Anna Karenina, is an adaptation of the 1877 Leo Tolstoy novel of the same name. In other words, that means vintage fashion mixed with a star-studded cast, including Jude Law and  Aaron-Tyler Johnson (swoon). We’re in. Set to debut in theaters all over the US this November, the film is a highly anticipated tale about the toils of love. Not to mention it’s directed by the great mind behind Pride and Prejudice, Joe Wright.

As her fifth cover, Keira is an official Vogue veteran and had no problem flexing her muscles in the spread. She was graceful, statuesque (nearly “porcelain-esque”), and all but teleported us back to high society Russia. With each image I grew increasingly curious about this Anna Karenina’s story. Judging from the shoot, she is certainly a woman of mystery. Enigmatic, to say the least. We’ll be biting our nails until the films release!

Inspired by the romanticism of nineteenth century fashion, take a look at a few Allure Bridals Couture wedding gowns available at MissesDressy.

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

No matter how simple the silhouette of the dress, lace adds the texture needed to give the whole look richness and luxury. Lace gives out a vintage feel as well as character to the styling. If you love lovely lace as we do, get yourself an Allure Bridal dress. We have below just some of the romantic and beautiful Allure wedding gowns, available at MissesDressy.com.

Are you the fearless bride who could go over the top just to make your wedding style exciting? Then, a whimsical wedding is for you. If you are not the boring type, we have here some cool tips and tricks you might find useful.

First, consider donning exuberant artsy accents like butterflies or flowers on your head or dress. This is going for a fashion editorial effect.

Second, try using large pieces of jewelry.

Third, try to use your veil as a fashion piece.

Fourth, choose a wedding dress in your favorite color.

Or fifth, pick specially textured dresses, like the following.

If the fifth option is your choice, you may also consider the following couture wedding gowns by the brand Mori Lee available at MissesDressy.com.

Allure Joy Shoes

Allure Shine Shoes

Not only is choosing the right wedding dress is important but choosing the right pair of wedding shoes is just as important.  You would like to choose a pair of comfortable but stylish pair of shoes for you big day, your guests might not always be able to see your shoes depending on what style your dress is you still want a pair of beautiful shoes under that dress.  MissesDressy might have what you’ve been looking for.

Allure Star Shoes

Benjamin Walk 779 S

Allure Frost Shoes

Taking the charm of a beach wedding up a notch is the nautical theme with the “shipwrecked” concept twist. Imagining that the bride and groom are shipwrecked and stranded in an island, they create their own private little ceremony with charming little details like ropes, twines, drift woods, and tattered delicate textile. Could this be more romantic?

Aye, aye we do thinks that the perfect setting for this dreamy concept is the small quiet island Anguilla in the Caribbean. Lacking casinos and nightclubs, the local vibe of this beautiful island remains intact, therefore ensuring that privacy will not be a problem for the couple and their guests. The tropical climate and flat low-lying terrain filled with coral and limestone makes it ever more exciting a wedding venue. And the abundance of lobsters and fish is an added treat.

Now to zone in on the wedding fashion, with the above inspiration in mind, we at MissesDressy.com, present the following dresses ideal for the beach. These dresses are light and airy, with very minimal embellishments and details.  These are by bridal brands Allure, Mon Cheri, and La Femme, all available at MissesDressy.com.

Photos by: Jen Huang, Swoon by Katie (as featured by greenweddingshoes.com)