<p>I love weddings, too! I don’t mean to divert the thread, but this account of another wedding brought tears to my eyes this morning:</p>
<p>[Weddings</a> & Celebrations - Fashion & Style - The New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/weddings/index.html]Weddings”>Love - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Can’t wait for the strapless wedding gown fad to end.
Wow – even very expensive designer strapless gowns on thin brides are hideous. That dress has some very beautiful details – think how much more beautiful it would be if it had a flattering neckline.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of strapless, either, but I thought the dress looked great on Chelsea. I think strapless look absolutely grotesque on busty brides and I can’t stand to see such brides spending their wedding days pulling their dresses up.</p>
<p>I’ve never worn a strapless gown - when I was young they were not in style - and now that they are everywhere, I wonder whether women wearing them worry about them falling off? There must be a good technique now to make them stay up. </p>
<p>I did not notice it until someone pointed it out, but Hillary is in the background of the photo of Chelsea and Mark after the ceremony, and you can get a blurred look at her entire dress. Very beautiful!</p>
<p>I hope they don’t release photos of the wedding party.</p>
<p>First, not everyone has bridesmaids and groomsmen these days–maybe they didn’t.</p>
<p>Second, if they did, I hope some were friends of the couple. I’m sure if the photos were posted on line, the papparazzi would be scouring facebook for info about each of them and waiting outside their apartment buildings to snap photos and shove mikes in their faces. </p>
<p>Maybe a compromise would be a photo of the bridesmaid dress itself–without the bridesmaid in it.</p>
<p>D had a strapless prom dress. She could get away with it because she is the opposite of busty, and as she discovered strapless dresses usually have a life of their own. Hers could have been dropped in a heap on the floor and the top half would have stood up and kept it’s “figure.” It was actually much more flattering on her than the V-necks, which just flattened her out.</p>
<p>So the top of a strapless dress is more or less a shell? Are they uncomfortable?</p>
<p>My daughter opted for a halter style dress for her wedding 2 years ago, as did I and the groom’s mother. My daughter wanted to be comfortable and the strapless dresses didn’t look as good. </p>
<p>Chelsea looks gorgeous and so do her parents. Bill looks REALLY thin, but that is not a bad thing- especially in his case. I worry about his health. Good for him. (My sister saw Hillary up close during the campaign when she stopped at a deli next to my sister’s office in PA. My sister said Hillary looks MUCH better in person and is very attractive.)</p>
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I can attest to that. I met her a couple of times when she was my Senator and I don’t think photographs catch her warmth and animation. Which I think are good things (the attributes, not the failure of pictures to capture them).</p>
<p>MOWC (and Zoosermom, just saw your post), I have heard the same thing about Hillary, from several people, that she looks much prettier in person. (And I think she looks incredibly good in photos - I wondered how she did it during the campaign, when she kept up a grueling schedule.) I have also heard that she is incredibly charming.</p>
<p>I agree that it is probably best that Bill watches his diet carefully. My husband just read that Chelsea asked him to lose 15 pounds for the wedding, and he lost 20.</p>
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<p>I think that’s true for many women “of an age.” There may be a few too many wrinkles and pounds for us to photograph like a model, but hopefully personality adds charm that influences how people perceive our appearance.</p>
<p>strapless gowns:
First: I wholeheartedly agree that they are NOT (or shouldn’t be) for every bride.</p>
<p>At a recent wedding in which a bride very successfully wore what appeared to be a flowy (is that a word?) strapless gown: I learned that under that flowy exterior were 2 layers: one was laced like a corset and one was buttoned. The bride also used some sort of dress adhesive to make sure everything stayed in place.</p>
<p>Now this was not a particularly buxom bride. It worked for for her and worked beautifully.</p>
<p>And now I repeat my opening admonition: strapless gowns are NOT (or shouldn’t be) for every bride.</p>
<p>missiepie #112: having seen recent photographs of myself, I can only hope that what you say is true!!!</p>
<p>I agree that strapless doesn’t work on everybody. I always watch Say Yes to the Dress, and some people look a lot better with some sort of straps or sleeves (which can be hard to find).</p>
<p>IMHO, it’s not that strapless “doesn’t work on everybody” – it’s that it rarely works on ANYbody. Seriously.</p>
<p>Take a good hard look at any wedding photos (or prom photos, etc.) you can find – and ask if the dress wouldn’t be MUCH improved (and flatter the wearer’s face and figure much more) if it had a v-neck, or scoop neck, or sweetheart neckline, or off-the-shoulder style, or halter style, or little straps…</p>
<p>D’s prom dress had optional straps. When we put them on it made her look like she was in 8th grade.</p>
<p>I agree strapless isn’t for everybody… but if you’ve got beautiful smooth skin and toned shoulders and arms, and aren’t overly busty, strapless can be very elegant and beautiful.</p>
<p>Although I am considered slim, I don’t look good in a strapless gown. They don’t feel right on me anyways. They are the fad right now, and though they can be beautiful as Chelsea Clinton shows us, the wrong body stuffed into it can look bad. But that is the case for many gowns.</p>
<p>When I shopped for my wedding gown, I wanted something very plain and simple. Everything I found looked terrible on me. Like I was wearing a nightgown. In my case, what I hated, lots of lace and ruffles was the most flattering dress for me. My close friend who got married the same summer insisted on getting the plain white dress, and to this day regrets it, because it really is too plain. The pictures show it even years later. </p>
<p>When we toured college, I noticed that the short dress with low neck and high bodice was the fad for college gals. Does not look good at all on short, big busted, short legged girls. My son who rarely notices any attire, said that one of the tour guides who had a big round face and was wearing that dress really looked like a carnival mirror image. And she did. Different attire would have made a big difference since she really had attractive feature. The dress did nothing good for her.</p>
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<p>Depends on the dress. If the bride gets a custom-made dress from a good designer, it will fit well and she will have no worries about having to hike it up during her big day. Both of my Ds who are married had strapless gowns and they fit perfectly, that’s the whole point of fittings! Neither was uncomfortable in her gown. </p>
<p>Strapless isn’t really a “fad”. Of all the weddings I’ve been to in the past ten years (probably between 25 and 30), only one bride had a gown with sleeves and that was a vintage gown. There are definitely non-strapless dresses available but they’re in the minority, probably 1 in 10 with many designers. Wedding gown shopping is such fun!</p>
<p>I just noticed Hillary’s dress in one of the wedding pictures and I have to say it’s not my cup of tea. Neither was the one she wore to the rehearsal dinner. Too billowy for me. Love Chelsea’s gown though. The beaded belt is stunning.</p>
<p>So now I’m wondering… Did Chelsea and Marc look through the photos on the photographer’s camera and pick out the ones for release to the public? Or did they say, “Just pick 4 or 5 good ones” and leave it at that?</p>