The wedding industry is basically hard hit with the global financial crisis with couples resorting to cost-cutting measures due to limited budget.

Instead of attempting to fight the crisis, a number of bridal shops in Dallas, Texas have decided to help these soon-to-be married couples an opportunity to buy quality wedding gowns and suits at lesser prices. In fact, some would say that these dresses serve a dual purpose – the something old and something “borrowed.”

“Do it yourself” has become a trend among people because it slashes off any expenditure for hiring a coordinator. Buying a wedding gown at a reasonable price can be tricky but with the emergence of wedding gown consignment shops, this is no longer a problem.

Penelope’s Bridal Boutique and Consignment gives the bride a great selection of second hand bridal gowns made by famous designers such as Alfred Sung and Maggie Sottero. These dresses were only used once so it’s not shabby at all brides get to have designer-quality bridal gowns. Of course they don’t sell second hand wedding lingerie.

Another store that offers these gowns is Anonymously Yours. Their selection includes creations by Vera Wang and Lazarro. Don’t let the cost of the wedding hinder your intentions of getting married. Have a happy married life ahead!

The couple is literally “head over heels” in love with each other in following an extravagant wedding that created a global record.

According to reports, newlyweds Noah Fulmore and Erin Finnegan got married on zero gravity, thanks to the special flight that makes it possible for people to float – the same thing that astronauts experience when they are outside of the planet.

The couple shelled out nearly $20,000 to have their wedding conducted at a Boeing 727 jet that was converted to make thrilling dives on air. The plummeting experience while passengers are inside the plane creates that zero gravity experience.

The ceremony was officiated by space tourist Richard Garriott. The flight started at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and lasted for about ninety minutes. There were about sixteen dives in the said duration.

The couple revealed that they decided to make their wedding unusual. Being science fiction fans, they decided to avail of the zero gravity flight.

Erin Finnegan donned on a designer wedding dress for the occasion. In order to hide her underwear, she wore trousers underneath the designer wedding dress. The couple expressed their happiness for realizing their dream union.

It is quite tricky to choose the best bridal gowns especially since you have a lot of choices and that there are others that “always look better” whenever you go from shop to shop. However, bridal gown designers advise that it’s always appropriate to apply a personal touch in selecting your own bridal gown. Start off by considering which design fits your personality. Here are some designs you can take in consideration before making that important purchase.

• Modern:  unexpected, fresh and revolutionary look
• Classic: demure, simple, timeless look
• Retro: inspired look in the 1960s, vintage, casual look
• Contemporary: elegant, chic, sophisticated look
• Cultural: mysterious, enchanting look
• Romantic: a combination of sweet, simple and sexy look

Now, the hard part is actually going around and choosing the dress. If you have almost zero idea as to these designs are all about, you can ask the bridal shop personnel for assistance.

Chances are, they have a pretty good idea as to what you are looking for. You can also bring a good friend along (maid of honor, perhaps) so that you’ll get an honest second opinion on what you have chosen as your bridal gown.

Brides-to-be tend to focus most of their pre-wedding time in finding the perfect bridal dress and end up ignoring what lingerie to wear during the wedding night. Of course, it gets off during the special night but sometimes a little show won’t hurt in spicing things up. Here are some tips shared by experts in choosing the best bridal lingerie:

• Select wedding lingerie that enhances your best assets. This means buying a super sexy cut lingerie that will surely get undivided attention from your husband.

• Go beyond the traditional black and white lingerie. You usually wear these everyday but during the special night, you might want to go for hot pink or red lingerie. That’s a shock factor for the men.

• For plus size women, the purchasing has just gone easy due to most of the lingerie lines offering these sizes. Check out what fits and enhances your assets.

Remember, you just got married to the man of your dreams and that your husband also feels that same – that is, marrying the woman of their dreams. At the end of the day, the wedding night will always be special so make the best out of it.

Vintage clothing collector David Tetrault created a wedding museum for everyone visiting Niagara Falls, dubbed as the “Honeymoon Capital of the World.”

Tetrault has been collecting vintage clothes for more than two decades. As of now he has collected more than 2,000 of them, including vintage wedding dresses and bridal lingerie that look absolutely great.

He reasoned that the move behind the launch is to share to the public his passion and to show the world that Niagara Falls indeed lives up to its reputation as the honeymoon capital.

The Wedding Museum just had its grand opening last weekend. He and partner Doddy Sardjito are the brains behind this unique undertaking.

Nearly 60 vintage wedding dresses are on display at the museum. The oldest gown among those displayed was the one worn in 1830. The most recent one was in 1995.

Surprisingly, not all of the dresses are in classic white. Some are in purple and blue.

Tetrault said that he managed to collect these dresses because he used to be a professional dancer and traveling the world became an opportunity for him to shop around and find great pieces.

Until now, Tetrault continues to visit vintage clothing shows in Canada.

Due to its immense popularity for the past four years, online site Cheap Chic Weddings launched for the fifth year the Annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest.

Contestants need not spend a lot on fabric and other accessories because the main condition of the contest is that they need to only use toilet paper, glue or tape in order to complete their creation.

The designer with the most attractive toilet paper wedding dress will win a generous cash prize worth $1,000. The contest period runs from April 17 to June 5 this year. This gives contestants enough time to layout the designs and implement it using toilet papers. The website is currently maintained by Susan Bain, Laura Gawne and Roxie Radford.

The runner up prize is $500 while the third placer will get $250. The site announced that “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” signed up as a sponsor of the event and there’s a high possibility that the winning wedding dress could be featured on the show. Gawne said that they’re looking forward to great entries this year. For brides-to-be this dress may be the answer to your tight budget!

If you are not affected that much by the global financial crisis and willing to spend a lot to make your wedding day special, then you can get and wear this peacock-design dress worth a whopping $1.5 million. It will surely catch everyone’s attention.

According to reports, this designer wedding dress took eight workers to sew together. With 2009 feathers stitched, the task took these workers forty days to finish. Fortunatly they didn’t have to design matching bridal lingerie.
The feathers have a design that resembles the eye thus making it a great choice. A male peacock usually sheds about 200 feathers annually so designers would have harvested the feathers from nearly 15 peacocks within a year.

The dress was sewn and assembled together at a wedding dress factory in Jiangsu Province in China, in a town called Nanjing. The intricately designed dress was shown to the public recently.

However, some cultures may not accept the idea of having prospective brides wear this wedding dress. Some consider peacock feathers bad luck and placing these feathers in your home could invite sorrow, grief and trouble. Live peacocks, on the other hand, are considered to bring good luck.

Did you know the wedding dress has not always been white?  And the veil only came into fashion half way through the 19th century. Here are some more facts on the history of the wedding dress.

White dresses

In the early 19th century, the Empire Mode was in fashion. Straight Chemise dresses inspired by Greek antiquity. The colour was white because it was thought that women in Greek antiquity always wore white, because the sculptures from that time were white. Later it was acknowledged that the sculptures used to be painted with bright colours.
The brides at that time wore a bridal robe in the most expensive material they could afford. One advantage was that the dress was not only for the wedding, but could be worn at all official occasions in the first wedding year.

Dream dress

In 1854 Sissi married the emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I. She wore a dream dress of white silk with a long veil side. From that day on, every bride who could afford it tried to follow her example.

The hippies

In the 60s came the big turnaround. It was the time of the flowerpower and the Beatles.
Coloured hats and dresses with a hippy look were popular, but also dresses with a Courège-like design.

Fairytale princess

In 1981, Lady Diana, on her marriage to Prince Charles, set a trend with her ivory-colored dress of dream taft silk and lace with a veil of 7.6 meters long and enormous puffed sleeve. (it was the time of the shoulder fills). From then on everyone wanted to look like a fairytale princess.

The veil

Halfway through the 19th century, the veil came into fashion. Until that time, other ornaments were worn in the hair. The veil was the symbol of innocence and virginity. Resting on the veil the bride wore a crown that was decorated with ribbons, flowers and pearls, which were a symbol of the fertility of women. Later this crown was replaced by orange blossoms. The orange tree blossoms and bears fruit at the same time, this is a beautiful symbol for marriage.

Personal style

These days, each bride chooses her personal style. Never before were weddings that individually.

It’s a fact, women with larger breasts often have more difficulty finding a bra that will fit properly. Your wedding day is the day when a good fitting bra is essential. You will probably be spending well over 14 hours on your feet so the last thing you want is the aching feeling of an ill-fitting bra.

The difficulty with bridal lingerie is that you need to find the perfect compromise between comfort, attractiveness, and the look of the garments through your wedding dress. It can sometimes be the case that the bra is too tight and causes lines to appear through the wedding dress as it cuts into you.

Preparation is the key when choosing the best wedding lingerie. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’. Well this couldn’t me more true when it comes to buying your bridal underwear. Make sure you add it to the list of things you need to do in preparation as it is often overlooked as an essential part of the big day. Shop around as many boutiques as possible and try lots of things on. You’ll know when you find the perfect one.

Preparing a wedding can be very stressful considering that there are a lot of factors to consider such as bridal gowns, bridal lingerie, catering and many more. These have contributed to the ever-continuing increase in wedding expenses for the past decade, according to a leading insurance company.

According to Weddingplan, the expenses for wedding cakes, videographer, photographers and others have remarkably increased over the past 10 years.
In fact, even invited guests have to spend more just to attend the special day where they can shell out up to £1,500 ($3,000).

Despite this development, the number of people getting married continues to increase, bringing a smile on the faces of wedding companies. Berketex Bride, a company that provides bridal gowns, reported that there’s an increase of 10 percent in orders just for the past month and other competing companies have reported full bookings for the next two years.

According to Weddingplan, a wedding package in 1999 was only about £9,380 or $20,000. However, this year, it has ballooned to £21,089 or $44,000. This is due to rising inflation every year for the past ten years.

In the end, if the couple is bent to spend a lifetime together, then spending this much on one special day is totally worth it.