My two best friends are marrying each other at the end of this month. She will be wearing a jade-green dress decorated with embroidered leaves by Alexander McQueen and he, well, he’s so smitten that he’s practically had his suit picked out since they day they met. They’re getting married in a gorgeous bookstore, the place where they first laid eyes on each other. As for us bridesmaids, we’re allowed to wear whatever we want – literally anything.
Having been involved in and with the planning of this momentous occasion, I can already tell that it’s going to be the best wedding I’ve ever been to because it is so uniquely and wonderfully their own. It won’t be showy, but it will be beautiful and intensely personal. Nontraditional brides are having a moment. In fact, they’re redefining the way society approaches weddings entirely.
Now, instead of fields of floral arrangements, a modern bride might pick a forest of neon trees as a backdrop or may even make her vows while skydiving at 12,000 feet in the air. Lavish white gowns, tiered cakes, and bouquet tosses are being replaced with new traditions that support and celebrate the couple’s relationship together in unique ways. And we’re here for it.
Fashion designers have been paying close attention to these shifts, suiting up nontraditional brides in new, fresh, and inventive ways. While there were plenty of classic ivory gowns to gush over at the recently wrapped New York Bridal Fashion Week, there was also a bevvy of offbeat looks that honor the nontraditional bride and her unique sartorial identity. Expressed in unusual silhouettes like jumpsuits or shown in unexpected prints and color palettes, a range of unexpected looks await the modern bride in the gallery below.
