Ask an economist what 2008 holds for the American high rollers and you will hear predictions of market slowdown, credit crunch and the gathering storm clouds of recession. It will certainly be a tough year for many.

The market may be in a turmoil, but the brides seeking for a couture look is booming, with private customers doubling or even, in some houses (Dior, it is rumoured), trebling sales. Nobody in this self-indulgent world has any qualms about ordering clothes at any prices. However, in LipStick Jungle, latest TV series, thinks differently about couture dresses as quoted from the show, “There’s no money to be made in couture dresses.” With couture dresses becoming less expensive these days and the average price of a wedding dress being much higher then before, I think the mass are buying couture wedding dresses.

Singer Kelly Rowland in a beautiful red dress

Today is the last day of Black History month. Make sure to make the time to commemorate African-Americans who have changed the world.

Photo source: blackbridalguide.com

African American in this beautiful bridesmaid dress which can be used also as a destination wedding gown

Designer: Elon Michelle
Photo source: blackbridalguide.com

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com

Strapless A-line dress with embroidery and beading on the front and the back.

Kids are adorable, especially when dressed up in a red dress like the bride. Say it with style by having your flower girl look bold in fashion just like you. A flower girl’s dress should complement the bride’s. It can be white, or the same color as the bridesmaids dresses. A young flower girl can pull anything in terms of colors and style. The white dress with a red accent will look adorable.

At what age do you become too old to be a cute flower girl?

Young girls look up and admire the bride at a very young age and often participates in being a part of the wedding party. Plenty of kids are looking up to Miley Cyrus. Imagine if Miley Cyrus gets married in a red wedding dress. It will change a red wedding dress from becoming trendy to mainstream wear.

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com

Red Apple iPhone skin - Photo source: istyles.com

The modern brides today are using laptops to plan for their wedding. A simple 3 ring binder with dividers no longer is enough to handle the amount of informations a bride needs to keep track of. There are a few wedding planning software out there, but for practicality and flexibility, Microsoft Excel is probably your best bet. Some new online document share tools such as Google Documents also works great.

Couple things to keep in mind of what you need to keep track of:
Guest List
Wedding Budget
Wedding Vendors
Wedding Timeline
Wedding Music

Use your laptop or an iPhone or combination of tools to make it easier for yourself. Another possibility could be Wedding Wire. It's a free online service pretty much designed to help with the whole process. Not a bad service, and continually evolving. However you cannot drag an Internet website while meeting with vendors or out shopping. Whatever tools you end up using to plan for your wedding, keep it interesting and make those tools styling too! Have you considered a red colored laptop or a red iPhone before? Many people purchase a laptop looking at their technical specifications but that is just plain boring! No wonder Apple is doing so well these days with their stylish looking laptops.

Make sure the daily things you use in your life represents you. Let me know what the modern daring brides are using these days.

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com

It can be stressful enough planning a wedding. You may get added stress just wanting to wear something different then white on your wedding day. What is a distress bride to do? Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is here to help the distressed red hot bride monthly. Feel free to contact her for her expertise.

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway will answer your questions and help relieve wedding stress. Please e-mail your questions and wedding challenges to The Wedding Goddess.



Dear Wedding Goddess:

Do you believe astrology be used as a tool for assessing the best times and dates for a wedding and wedding related activities? I just got engaged and I am sort of interested in this and wonder what you think of it. I understand it is a practice in other cultures. – Stars in My Eyes

Dear Stars in My Eyes:

Selecting an auspicious wedding date and time is always a great idea. Just be aware that the reality is it can be challenging to arrange schedules to take full advantage of favorable times. For example, you may want a Saturday night wedding but the best time is 6 am in the morning.

Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese cultures in particular consults with astrologers or seek most auspicious days for weddings.

In some cases these decisions are based on a session with an astrologer who takes the groom’s birth information and the bride’s, and figures out the best date for them personally. In some cases a date is selected from a calendar or book of auspicious days or because of an auspcious number. Or it may be done in a more auspicious time of year. I have seen it done in many ways.

I have married a number of couples who ask me to perform their spiritual ceremony at night, after having gone to the justice of the peace in the morning or on another day, because it was deemed more auspicious then the day they selected for their public wedding. I have also had couples who’ve asked me to perform spiritual and legal ceremonies months before their wedding date, to take advance of a favorable time of year – or at the urging of their parents. This is not at all unusual in Asian cultures.

Shelley Ackerman, who in my estimation is New York’s best astrologer (she’s also a columnist and President of the New York affiliate of the American Federation of Astrologers), says YES. Every couple should look into finding out the best astrological time for their wedding, she says, pointing out that the trend has caught on in the west.

“It is important for modern couples to consult an astrologer to find a perfect date, time and place – which is different from having a great party,” Shelley tells us. “The mistake couples makes when planning a wedding is they are trying to please everyone but themselves.”

In any culture or time zone … your marriage has an astrological birth time based on the time of your ceremony, which is why it is important to pick a time and date that will bring your union plenty of luck and support from the stars.

Shelley also supports the idea of getting to know each other even-better-than-before by having a consultation with a professional astrologer.

“An astrologer can cast a chart comparison between the bride and groom (known as “synastry”), a composite chart, or a relationship chart, as well as select an all important wedding chart,” Shelley says. “This would help you to understand why you are together in the first place and clarify what the real strengths are in the relationship; it will also provide language and tools to better grasp the challenges and obstacles that need to be overcome.”

“The reason this is invaluable is that once you have language to understand the specifics of what each person has brought to the relationship (background, ancestry, intimacy requirements, etc.) that’s half the battle in resolving those issues early on, thereby insuring a more peaceful and enduring marriage.”

This kind of astrological assessment is much deeper than the surface kind of treatment astrology gets in magazine and newspaper columns.

As Shelley surmises: “Astrological insights can help you go into the marriage grounded. It will deepen your readiness and enhance, through understanding, the next part of your journey together.”

For more information, contact Shelley Ackerman at www.KarmicRelief.com.

Many blessings,

Rev. Laurie Sue

© 2008, Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway, editor of www.Wedlok.com, is a leading interfaith and non-denominational wedding officiant. She creates unique ceremonies for couples of all backgrounds and faiths, and is also widely recognized as a relationship coach, bridal stress expert and columnist. She is author of YOUR PERFECT WEDDING VOWS: How to Write, Find and Select the Words that Express What is in Your Heart and WEDDING GODDESS: A Divine Guide to Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss. To help reduce wedding stress, get your personally autographed copy at www.WeddingGoddess.com.

Tomy Mariage - Vasile

White is out!
A black-as-night wedding dress is drop dead sexy for many occassions. Is it right for a wedding as the main wedding dress? In fact, with the independent spirit of contemporary women in mind, black may very well be a more suitable hue than any other of the color spectrum. Take a look here at Parisian Party and see that the Parisans are calling black wedding dress the trend for 2008.

I still find red to be the color of choice but having the choices and varieties is what is really wonderful in this world. This is your wedding. What will you choose? A red hot wedding dress or a dead sexy black wedding dress?

There are sure to be those friends and families at your wedding which are going to condemn of your not-so-traditional black dress or red hot wedding dress, but remember it is your wedding, and so whatever makes you happy is what matters, regardless of what anyone else says.

Cymbeline Paris

Where to find the stunning black wedding dress of your dream? Where to find that burning red hot wedding gown?

“I am getting married in October and decided I wanted to wear a red dress. I might as well have said I wanted to fly to the moon on a rocket when I mentioned it to a few friends. It’s hard to find the styles online. My fiance is thrilled that I want to wear red; now, if I can just find the styles I like to try on!” says Melinda, an avid reader of RedHotBrides.com

Its not easy to find colored wedding dresses on at your local wedding boutiques. That is what is going to make you even stand out so much more. Once you find that beautiful and hard to find colored dress of your dream, your guests will be awed and inspired not just by the air of love but your styling fashion statement. Whether you choose red or black wedding dress, you will be different from the millions of brides wearing a white or off-white wedding gown!

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com
Married in red, set yourself apart
Photo Credit: TomyMariage.com / Cymbeline Paris

Photo from The Heart Truth

Photo from The Heart Truth

The Red Dress Collection 2008 Fashion Show is presented by Diet Coke with national sponsors Johnson & Johnson and Swarovski and make-up partner Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

February is American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day is on February 1st. National Wear Red Day—February 1, 2008— is a day when Americans nationwide will wear red to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness. Join with thousands of women, companies and organizations and cities across America on National Wear Red Day. At RedHotBrides.com, its Red Day everyday!

“The Red Dress—the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness—was designed to build awareness that women are at risk for heart disease, and motivate them to take action to reduce their risk.” – The Heart Truth

Each February in the last 4 years, the fashion and entertainment industries’ most recognizable faces have joined The Heart Truth to model Red Dresses in the Red Dress Collection fashion shows. The fashion shows would not be possible without the women who generously participated in this spectacular movement to raise awareness about the #1 killer of women.

2007 Participants:
Lauren Hutton for Narciso Rodriguez
Mae Jemison for Lyn Devon
Marlee Matlin for Douglas Hannant
Mary Hart for Carmen Marc Valvo
Natalie Morales for Tracy Reese
Paula Zahn for Bill Blass
Phylicia Rashad for Alia Kahn
Rachael Ray for Donna Karan
Sheila Johnson for Bob Mackie
Zuleyka Rivera for Gustavo Cadile
Alek Wek for Ellen Tracy
Angela Bassett for Carmen Marc Valvo
Betsey Johnson for Betsey Johnson
Billie Jean King for Gustavo Cadile
Camilla Belle for Oscar de la Renta
Danica Patrick for Jovovich-Hawk
Helena Christensen for Calvin Klein
Jane Krakowski for AlidioMichelli
Katharine McPhee for Daniel Swarovski
Kelly Ripa for Diane von Furstenberg
Kim Cattrall for Carolina Herrera
Kimberly Guilfoyle Villency for Nicole Miller
Kristen Chenoweth for Rebecca Taylor

2006
Kelly Rowland for House of Dereon
LeAnn Rimes for Zac Posen
Lee Ann Womack for Carmen Marc Valvo
Lindsay Lohan for Calvin Klein
Michelle Phillips for Tracy Reese
Natasha Bedingfield for Esteban Cortazar
Nelly Furtado for Betsey Johnson
Patti Hansen for Oscar de la Renta
Sheryl Crow for Ralph Lauren
Thalia for Vera Wang
Yolanda Adams for Luca Luca
Amerie for Tommy Hilfiger
Audra McDonald for Richard Tyler
Bebe Neuwirth for Narciso Rodriguez
Cheryl Bentyne for Jay McCarroll
Christina Milian for Max Azria Atelier
Deborah Harry for Donna Karan
Eartha Kitt for Kai Milla
Elaine Stritch for Charles Nolan
Emmylou Harris for Kenneth Cole
Fergie for Daniel Swarovski
JoJo for Nicole Miller
Jossie Perez for Diane von Furstenberg

2005 Participants:
Lara Spencer for Diane von Furstenberg
Lauren Bush for Tommy Hilfiger
Mariel Hemingway for Richard Tyler
Mickey Sumner for Carolina Herrera
Mikki Taylor for Shannon Stokes
Patti Hansen for Michael Kors
Paula Abdul for Esteban Cortazar
Phylicia Rashad for Alia Khan
Rachel Hunter for Badgley Mischka
Rosanna Arquette for Zac Posen
Sarah Ferguson for Ralph Lauren
Sheryl Crow for Narciso Rodriguez
Shohreh Aghdashloo for Cynthia Rowley
Sophia Bush for Vera Wang
Vanessa Williams for Kenneth Cole
Venus Williams for Luca Luca
Ujjwala Raut for Baby Phat
Alexandra Richards for Betsey Johnson
Candace Bushnell for Oscar de la Renta
Carly Patterson for Cynthia Steffe
Carmen Dell’Orefice for Carmen Marc Valvo
Christie Brinkley for Calvin Klein
Debi Mazar for Marc Jacobs
Elaine Irwin Mellencamp for Donna Karan
Elettra Wiedemann for Catherine Malandrino
Irina Pantaeva for Nicole Miller

2004
Leticia Birkheuer for Luca Luca
Linda Vojtova for Cynthia Steffe
Liya Kebede for Proenza Schouler
Mariacarla Boscono for Carolina Herrera
Natalia Vodianova for Calvin Klein
Theodora Richards for Alice Roi
Tiiu Kuik for Oscar de la Renta
Trish Goff for Tommy Hilfiger
Ujjwala Raut for Baby Phat
Vanessa Williams for Carmen Marc Valvo
Ai Tominaga for Badgley Mischka
Alek Wek for Diane von Furstenberg
Alexandra Richards for Zac Posen
Amanda Hearst for Bill Blass
Ana Beatriz Barros for Betsey Johnson
Angela Lindvall for Marc Jacobs
Beverly Johnson for Nicole Miller
Caroline Winberg for Catherine Malandrino
Daria Werbowy for Narciso Rodriguez
Erin Wasson for Donna Karan
Euguenia Volodina for Ralph Lauren
Frankie Rayder for Michael Kors
Hana Soukupova for Matthew Williamson
Isabeli Fontana for Kenneth Cole
Jessica Miller for Esteban Cortazar
Kamila Szczawinska for Vera Wang

RedHotBrides.com salutes the brave women of this movement to raise awareness about women and heart disease.

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com

Be honest, there will never be a dress that will look good on every woman. With varying heights, sizes, shapes and style taste it will be impossible to please all your bridesmaids. Have you thought of letting your girls pick out the style and you pick the color of the dress. Its very popular these days to allow that these days. Try not forcing your bridesmaids to wear something they hate as you want them to smile as bright as yours on your day. Suggest them red hot as the color theme and let them pick the style!

Dessy Bridesmaid Style 2059

Katherine Heigl in “27 Dresses”

Red bridesmaids dresses

The ladies in red

Red dresses are hot!

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com

Red wedding gown in a white world

Wedding fashion continues to evolve. Women have more freedom to allow full rein for their imaginations to run wild. Every girl wants her day in the sun. No doubt the wedding gown will carry on changing in fabric and altering in form and colors. However, there is no doubt that white wedding gowns will remain with us for a while.

Be daring, wear red. Not only the wild outrageous women wear red, it is a color that is adorned by women all over the world. Red lets everyone know you’re a force to be reckoned with. Head to your local wedding boutique and try on a red wedding gown and see how it feels like.

-Karen Vander, Copyrighted RedHotBrides.com
Married in red, set yourself apart.