Designers are pushing wedding dresses with alternative styles and necklines, but brides still favor the strapless gown.
The biggest trend for bridesmaids’ attire is the wear-again dress.
Couples still prefer traditional white wedding cakes, but custom-designed cakes are becoming popular.
Consistently designed invitations, save-the-date cards, programs, escort/place cards, menus, and thank-you cards are becoming trendy.
Cinematic videography is a new and exciting alternative to standard photography and video services.
Online photo showcasing, which allows couples, their family and friends to view, share and purchase wedding photographs is a rising trend.
Extravagant weddings that include big gowns, multiple wardrobe changes, towering lush floral centerpieces, gilded place settings, seven course meals, and elaborate desert displays are expected for 2008.
1980’s fashion styles are popular, including textured dresses, bright colors, wide belts or sashes, big jewelry, and cover bands.
White gold and platinum wedding rings continue to outpace yellow gold.
Currently in style are antique wedding rings for men and women, as well as exaggerated, big, bold jewelry.
Destination weddings are growing in popularity due to all-inclusive packages offered by resorts and easy planning through their websites.
High-end kitchen gear and practical cooking items are currently popular wedding gifts.

Wedding Planning Tips and Tricks
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=David_Chandler]David Chandler

Planning a wedding is an exciting thing, and can be very scary. With some basic tips and tricks, you will be sure to make you day special.

Be sure to setup your honeymoon at the same time as you setup your bridal registry! This will allow your guest to be able to choose the perfect gifts for you and even help you with your honeymoon. We have put together some wedding tips and tricks to help you speed up the process a little.

Pay all deposits on your credit card. Do not give any money without a contract, and never pay deposits by check! If you paid by credit card, and they do not provide you with what they agreed in the contract, you can always have the transaction taken off your account. A check is harder to collect on you will be required to take them to court.

What to Do First

The first three things should be done right away.

1)    Choose the church, temple, or other ceremony location, and the date you want to be married.

2)    Choose the reception location, date, and time.

3)     Choose your photographer.

Most brides think they can always just choose the day they get married and that is the end of it.  Nevertheless, this is not the true in most cases, be prepared to give up the date you have chosen for your special day unless you are fortunate enough to get the reception location and church available the same day.  It is a known fact that you really are not the one that decides when you want to get married the place of the ceremony and reception halls do.

Our Recommendations

Choose at least three dates that you would consider getting married on

Choose one or two places you would like to have the ceremony and reception and book them immediately

Start on the wedding guest list as early as possible, this will then give people enough time to plan for your wedding.

Start picking out what decorations and flower arrangement at least one month before your wedding.

Arrange and book honeymoon travel as early as three or four months ahead, this will allow you the best possible price.

Prepare as much ahead of time as you can, so that you do not have a lot to do at the last minute.

Try to get your future spouse involved in the decision making process on all things, this will help you to learn to work together on things.

Do not be afraid to ask for help or designate work for others in the wedding party to do. If you choose your wedding party early, you can get all the help you need.

Remember if you need additional sources there is software that will make it easy for you to plan the most special day of your life.  In addition, there are resource links below.

For more information, visit these sites: http://www.WeddingPlanningInfoCenter.com http://www.WeddingFavorsInfo.com http://www.WeddingCakesInfo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Chandler http://EzineArticles.com/?Wedding-Planning-Tips-and-Tricks&id=64373

I just read through Susan’s blog at “http://www.perfectweddingguide.com/wedding-blog“. She has a great article on eco-friendly green weddings (read about it HERE) and gets our award for blog of the week! Her blog lists a lot of great wedding planning tips from planning, picking colors, flowers and hiring vendors. Keep up the great work, Susan!

Excerpt:  Tip #9 - courtesy of Perfectweddingguide.com-

“Weddings have a lot of waste. Check and see if your florist, caterer or reception site has a composting program, or see if you may donate leftover flowers and food to nursing homes, hospitals or food banks.”

When looking for wedding day jewelry, check out the vendor “http://www.emitation.com”.  Why not wear what celebrities wear? Emitation has all the latest jewelry trends at very haute prices! If your man has already bought a ring, accessorize with emitations great necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. They have everything from cubic zirconium to the real deal- diamonds. Check out these celebrity rocks….

This summer peonies are the flower of choice. Celebrity wedding planner extraordinare Preston Bailey says “touching peonies is so wonderful- their fluffiness!” They’re a great choice for weddings with their medium size and their amazingly romantic petals. I love how the edges have such a soft look. They typically come in color choices of cream, pink, light mauve, deep fuchsia, peachy pink, and red. Peonies also look great coupled with hydrangeas.

photo by  Rodney Bailey

photo by  Liz Banfield

Came across this site showing some of the best wedding planning trends and resources for celebrity weddings - http://www.lovetripper.com/bridalstars/blog.html.

Haven’t you always wanted to know what was on Eli Manning’s gift registry??

With engagements typically lasting a year or more you may say - how can I plan my colors, details, and decor best to be fashionable and in season? Here’s a few tips & advice regarding flowers and colors that may help your wedding planning.

-Eco-friendly “green wedding” planning. It seems like “global warming” and “green” are buzzwords lately and have no sign of slowing down. From recyclable materials to organic flowers & earthy colors, there are several things you can do to plan a green wedding.

-Yellow was a popular color in 2008 fashion and could be a great option for your wedding colors.

-Jivin’ wedding invitations - With the resource of the internet, finding a vendor for the best invitations has never been better.

here’s a couple links I found that would be worth checking out…

http://www.veryclairedesigns.com

http://www.dauphinepress.com

*Stay Haute

As coffee shop culture reaches ever more towns and cities, so its influence over our lives increases. Choice of wedding favors has often been led by the overall theme of the wedding and this can be influenced by any number of outside influences.

So could it be that the new color taking 2008 by storm is pure coincidence or could it be that an increasing number of brides are choosing coffee, mocha and chocolate brown in keeping with new trends sweeping the nation? Is coffee shop culture really changing our behavior?

Similarly the huge growth in gardening and outdoor activities may also take credit for another popular colour - green in all its varieties… sage green, lime green. olive and spring fresh green. Our national obsession with gardening and the great outdoors appears to be breaking through to influence the entire look of our weddings this year. If a link can be established between lifestyle trends and wedding trends then the future in wedding favours may be accurately predicted.

At a national wedding show last week around 50% of brides visiting our stand requested either browns or greens when requesting wedding favors. The popularity of these colors is immense. Rich browns and vivid greens offer a variety of options when choosing wedding favors, accessories, boxes, ribbons and embelishments can all be sourced to complement these natural color schemes.

Flowers as wedding favors are one interesting idea which fits with these earthy color schemes. If you want to go a step further and really surprise your guests then chocolate flowers work a treat. You can find some lovely examples of these in many different varieties from daisies to calla lilies to roses and everything in between. These favors can be tied with a ribbon and your guest’s names attached or alternatively simply place on chocolate flower favor delicately across each guest’s place setting to add to your beautiful table decorations and to create a wonderful talking point.

Whatever wedding favors you choose your guests are sure to be delighted with their gift and keepsake of your day as they relax with a hot, frothy after dinner coffee, in the garden.

Contributed by Louise Jarman @ articlesbase.com

Congrats to wedding photographer Eddie Bojorquez from Studio 512 on his award for photo of the week! We came across this image on trashthedress.com (a site devoted to creating art from dirty dresses) and picked it for it’s composition and great black and white toning. Great work! Be sure to check out more of Eddie’s work on his blog HERE.

Today I placed an order at magnetstreet.com for some of their “mini magnets”. These are 2″x3.5″ magnets used as save the date cards! The website interface is easy to use and the prices are great too! Be sure to check out the web for any active promotional codes available. Also check out their invitations and wedding favors!