<p>When did churches decide that sexy looking brides were okay? The reason there were no strapless dresses back in our day was that the church we were married in required our shoulders be covered. Usually bridesmaids wore something a little more revealing, but during the ceremony had to wear something to cover up. Now I see brides dressing in white evening gowns. Complete with cleavage and slits on the side. </p>
<p>That picture of Michelle at the State Dinner is exactly what I’m talking about. Almost nobody looks good in a strapless dress.</p>
Great insight! I see this as a good thing, though. My own dress circa 1978 had long chiffon sleeves and a high lace neckline. My mother’s dress was similar to the ballerina-length dress Audrey Hepburn wore in “Funny Face” - gorgeous! I never had a prayer of fitting into it. Even my youngest d, size 2, had trouble with the zipper when she tried it on for fun recently.</p>
<p>Has anyone out there worn their mother’s dress - or have a daughter who might wear theirs?</p>
<p>Well I think Chelsea’s fixation on weight is a little sad and a bad message to send out. She isn’t that thin either, and probably won’t stay that thin, and who cares? A girl that tall certainly doesn’t need to be a 2. She did look lovely, but she would have looked lovely fuller too.</p>
<p>And her making Bill lose weight made him look cadaverous.</p>
<p>I have no bias against the Clintons. But I really did find it a bit unseemly to spend so much money on such trivial and self-indulgent things when a mom is Secretary of State.</p>
<p>Hillary spoke at my DD’s graduation from Barnard. It was a moving address that focussed on reaching out to all the needy women in the world. I wish they had done so. With three million spent on a wedding they could have donated $500,000 to a UNESCO fund or some such. </p>
<p>Just a small point that doesn’t comment on Chelsea’s beautiful dress at all.</p>
<p>Sorry if it’s a downer and thread high jacker.</p>
<p>However, I <em>do</em> enjoy all the girl talk and watch “Say Yes to the Dress.” H even watches it with me, but he is a wedding photographer.</p>
<p>I find the dresses with the see-through corset bodices just unbelievable. I can’t believe people choose to buy them. They look like Madonna designed them for her show.</p>
<p>They had a nice party, with good food, beautiful flowers and gorgeous clothes, for their only daughter’s wedding. They invited her friends and some of theirs to celebrate their only daughter’s wedding. They had the normal wedding expenses: a tent, a band, a dinner for some guests the night before, flowers, wedding dress, caterers. Because the Clintons are wealthy people, they could afford high-end choices, but I have yet to see anything that screams ridiculously expensive. Most people don’t find it trivial and self-indulgent to have a beautiful wedding for one’s child, if one can afford it. When you were married, did you go to the registry office, and send the wedding dress/flowers/food budget to UNESCO? If not, I don’t see a reason to criticize.</p>
Personally, I don’t see a reson to criticize even if they did. People are free to make whatever choices they like as long as it doesn’t hurt others. I would have done the same thing for my only daughter’s wedding if I had the money the Clintons do. I’m no fan of the Clintons, but in this case, see absolutely nothing wrong with their choice.</p>
<p>Why? They are doing exactly what rich people should do during an economic downturn. I have no doubt that the calligraphers, florists, caterers, valet parkers, waiters, hotels, limo drivers, etc. of that area are quite grateful for the Clintons’ affair. </p>
<p>Are lavish flowers “self-indulgent”? I doubt the florists think so – that’s their livelihood. Where do flowers become self-indulgent? Is it self-indulgent if your husband gets you a dozen roses for Valentine’s Day when that money could have gone to a charity?</p>
<p>A nice gown? What, Vera Wang shouldn’t have a business? People who can afford Vera Wang custom gowns – more power to 'em, I say.</p>
<p>There was nothing here that seemed tacky or over the top, IMO. Just a lovely wedding on a large scale with some unusual security measures necessitated by who the parents were.</p>
<p>Mythmom – you said your H is a wedding photographer. What makes that not excessive? Uncle Charlie and his Kodak camera could take everyone’s picture, right? But people want nicer than Uncle Charlie on their special day. I bet your husband offers specific packages of X amount of time / X amount of photos – and you’re all delighted when someone takes the “max package.” What’s the difference? The Clintons took the “max package” on a bunch of vendors.</p>
<p>I have to wonder if Clinton’s cardiologists had been on his case to lose 15-20 lbs, but it took the bigger incentive of his daughter’s wedding for him to actually do something about it. If Chelsea was worried about her dad’s health (a few heart crises will do that) and wanted to help encourage him by challenging him (as it were) to lose the weight, maybe that is a good thing in the long run.</p>
<p>Clinton had heart surgery and was known for his love of fast food. Chelsea’s asking him to lose weight for her special day may have been her way of using the wedding as an incentive for him to get back to a healthier life style.</p>
<p>There was also extra security at Jenna Bush’s wedding, as there will be for young Barbarba Bush, and for the Obama girls. Ex-presidents and their families are under Secret Service protection for life.</p>
<p>Losing weight is a good thing for Bill Clinton–he’s got a heart condition. I don’t get why people are critical when someone sheds weight. Unless there’s an eating disorder involved (and I don’t think Bill has an eating disorder), Clinton and anyone else who makes a lifestyle change for the better should be commended. </p>
<p>Chelsea looked great too; I don’t know a bride who doesn’t want to look great for her wedding. Why should anyone think that she was “obsessed with being a size 2”? Maybe she just wanted to shed a few pounds and look terrific on her wedding day.</p>
<p>I had the same thought as roshke and jym. Chelsea probably worries about her father’s health. Bill Clinton has had a quadruple bypass; no doubt his doctors wanted him to lose weight. She may have thought that he would do for her, the apple of his eye, what he wouldn’t do for himself. I can imagine Chelsea and Hillary, or indeed any mother and daughter, plotting together to help the father of the bride follow his doctor’s advice to lose weight.</p>
<p>Ex-presidents, spouses, and children no longer get Secret Service protection for life. After 1997 there is a ten year window of coverage, then it’s gone.</p>
<p>Bill Clinton is under Secret Service protection for life, but Chelsea isn’t. After Clinton, the laws were changed, so that George W. Bush will only have Secret Service protection for ten years after leaving office.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, the Clintons paid for the extra security themselves.</p>
My own dress circa 1978 had long chiffon sleeves and a high lace neckline. My mother’s dress was similar to the ballerina-length dress Audrey Hepburn wore in “Funny Face” - gorgeous! I never had a prayer of fitting into it. Even my youngest d, size 2, had trouble with the zipper when she tried it on for fun recently.</p>