Not so long ago, the word ‘wedding’ would conjure up images of a bride in white with a dress in a heavy fabric with elaborate decoration and a flowing train held by similarly dressed bridesmaids. She would be holding a bouquet of flowers, wearing a tiara and a veil. The groom would wear a morning coat with a top hat. This is the traditional wedding, still seen, still popular. In the 21st century, however, there are many alternatives to this vision in terms of style.

Today’s brides have a choice. The modern wedding has arrived and is well established. Whereas in the past the non-traditional wedding was confined to a secular ceremony outside a place of worship, now all styles of dress can be seen inside the church or temple as well as at civil weddings.

Let’s look at some ideas that you may want to consider for your upcoming wedding.

The first and most obvious change to white is to wear colour. By using colour this gives you enormous scope for styling and theming the whole wedding day from flowers to table cloths and, of course, all your accessories.

The next consideration is likely to be the style of dress or even considering a suit. Lengths of wedding dresses and bridal wear are changing. Today’s bride has an almost bewildering set of choices. There is a definite shift toward higher hemlines below or even above the knee.

Traditional wedding dresses use a lot of material, are often heavy with copious amounts of sateen or tulle with the bride disappearing beneath mountains of material: think Princess Diana.

Modern styles are now more fitted and sexy but also stylish and simple. These can often be strapless, halter necks or spaghetti straps.

Material is a fun part of choosing a wedding gown. For example, you can now find dresses made from taffeta, organza and silk and many other modern fabrics which are lighter to wear but still stylish. The traditional heavy materials such as sateen and tulle are still available, but today you can be conservative AND modern.

Modern wedding gowns can still look back to the traditional but with a huge variety of styles which provide a modern look whilst maintaining a traditional feel.  The choice is yours and there is a huge variety of dresses and styles now out there.