Jennifer’s dress and flowers were clean-lined without being stark or spare. Her bouquet was a simple construction of lillies, gathered with plain satin ribbon. The flowing ends of her halter-style gown ties gave just a hint of a train. At the last minute, she decided to tuck two simple orchids into her loose updo, which I think was the perfect touch. The groom wore a yummy blue chalk striped suit. I think his suit /tie combo said “stylish” as much as it said “getting married”.

Shortly after arriving, the guests gathered in a lower meadow for a short ceremony. Since nature’s decor is pretty darn spectacular, the only set up required for the ceremony was about 50 white resin chairs for the guests. As the sun was setting, the wedding party and guests strolled up to the larger medow for wine under the trees, followed by a wonderful family style meal beside the lake. The caterer set up the meal on one long table, making the evening friendly and conversational.

Perhaps you’d like a simple lakeside dinner as your wedding celebration?

As photographers, part of our job is to really look at people. I’ve noticed that some brides really seem calm and comfortable on their wedding day–others not so much. Being comfortable in her wedding dress seems to play a pretty big role on how a bride looks in her photos. It’s hard to look radiant when you are constantly tugging up the top of your 12 pound strapless dress.

Of course, the tone of your wedding ceremony and the formality of your venue should play the largest role in what kind of dress to wear. For example, you wouldn’t want to wear a long beaded train at your simple beach ceremony. Likewise, you’d probably feel under dressed in a chiffon slip dress at a Catholic church. Beyond matching the style of your dress to the tone of your event, I think there might be a couple more strategies to help you find the perfect dress.

If you are busty

you’ll probably want to wear a bra. A deep V-neck keeps a dress like this from looking too covered up. Likewise, a halter style dress can look plenty bare, while still allowing you to wear a supportive and pretty halter style bra.

Consider strapless if

you are pretty darn thin and your arms and shoulders are fabulous. To stay put, the bodice of a strapless gown needs to be snug, snug, snug. Even the skinniest girl can find herself with some poochy bits near the armpits and back. If you are soft and squishy like me, think about something with straps for a smoother look.

Strapless alternatives

There’s a reason strapless gowns are so popular–they are so pretty. But let’s say you refuse to be tugging on your top all day long. Here’s a couple examples of dresses that are near to strapless. The advantage is that you’ll look bare and pretty, without all the structure of a strapless bodice.

If you’re hippy

And really, lots of us are. Two great shapes for your figure are A-line and Empire. Both of these silhouettes will glide over your middle parts and make your hips and thighs virtually disappear. Consider an A-Line if your waist is small, and Empire if not. Each of these examples above are strapless, but you’ll find A-line and Empire waisted dresses in a large number of styles.

Focus on shoulders or back

Let’s say your best features are your shoulders or your back. Here’s a few other dresses that look stylish, soft and very feminine. The dress on the right would be a great choice if you were on the flat chested side–the ruching adds a little extra oomph in the bust area. The dress on the left would be perfectly suited to a small chested girl would can go braless or for a b-cup with some stick on silicon cups.

And if you’ve got a rockin’ bod

Lucky girl! Or maybe you’ve been working out like crazy. Whatever reason: this is the va-va-va-voom dress. On some girls, the mermaid cut looks demure. On other girls, it can look super sensual. Some versions have a train, which, when bustled, make the dress even more spectacular.

Terri’s dresses looked so amazing on the inagural day of Portland’s Fashion Week. She was nice enough to get John and I passes so that he could shoot her portion of the runway action. And that’s her, in the orange sweater in frame 8. If you’re a bride looking for something unique and individual to wear, check out both of Terri’s websites.

Recently John photographed some fashion pics for the Portland boutique, Aubergine. The store carries clothing with a modern sensibility and sophisticated edge. Typically we don’t share our commercial work on our wedding style blog, but one of these dresses would have made a marvelous wedding dress. It was this one:

The cool thing about this dress was that despite that it looked really constructed, it was gossamer light to the touch. I imagine it would feel like wearing a cloud. Here’s a couple more that I thought were lovely:

If you’re interested to see more of these fashion photos, we’ve got them at our other website, johnvalls.com, under the “recent work” link.

My dear friend, Terri Spaeth-Merrick, sews amazing dresses under her label, Embellish. (My plain silk satin column was magnificent.) A couple of months ago, Terri launched a new companycalled Oliva Luca. Here’s what is cool about Olivia Luca: using the web site tools, you can design just about any dress you can dream up, including something sleek and modern. Then pick from a whole bunch of high quality fabrics in yummy colors. She has recently “green” fabrics for ecologically sensitive brides. Although a typical floor-length wedding dress will cost somewhere around $500-700, the fabric and quality will be far beyond what you would typically find in that price range. Here’s a couple of examples of Olivia Luca dresses. The photos are by Aisha Harley, another very talented wedding photographer.