Wedding Dress

There's an adage that finding the perfect wedding dress is like finding a perfect partner: You want one that hugs your body, offers support, lifts you up and makes you feel beautiful. So wouldn't it be great to get a dress from a brand that, like your future spouse, you trust to give you these things on an average Wednesday as well as on what's supposed to be the most memorable day of your life? That seems to be the philosophy behind the slew of major mass-market retailers now offering bridal gowns.

NEW YORK -- A New York woman who received a free wedding dress, free honeymoon tickets to Aruba and a host of other lavish gifts from well-wishers who were told she had just months to live apparently had longer than people thought. She's been arrested and faces grand larceny and other charges for allegedly faking the illness. Jessica Vega was arrested in Virginia and extradited to New York's upstate Orange County, where she pleaded not guilty last week to six felonies and one misdemeanor.

For eight years she has kept her wedding gown neatly folded in a worn and faded blue box. "I was saving it for my daughter," she says, "but now that I'm getting divorced . . . . " The woman has come to 2nd Look, a consignment store in Tustin's old town that specializes in bridal attire, to see if she can sell the dress she no longer cherishes. Bobbi Lane, owner of the boutique, has grown accustomed to stories of wedding bell blues or bliss.

The Forks of the Kern, where the rapids line up one after another - as white as your mother's wedding dress - is among the finer river runs anywhere. Beneath the white water? Granite boulders, large and larger. Wedge your foot beneath one of these beasts and the Kern River will slam you to its basement. Conk your head. Fracture a collarbone. Burst an aorta. No 911 here. It's just you and God and a $4 plastic paddle. "You're in the wilderness, a long way from help," a guide warned us. The knock against California is that it's overrun.

Apparently, Ed Massey is not a superstitious fellow. The old saw about it being bad luck for the groom to see his bride in her gown before the wedding goes right out the window when the groom is the one who sculpted the gown. That's right--sculpted. Massey, 35, a Los Angeles-based artist whose reputation for creating public art pieces is on the rise, decided he wanted to do something wildly romantic to show Dawn Harris how much he loved her.

Barbra Streisand's grand wedding to James Brolin a few weeks ago inspired a comprehensive, photo-filled People magazine spread, which, in turn, prompted us to think about that Donna Karan gown she wore. It was long, white, had a veil, showed a lot of cleavage, and got us wondering: Was it the best look for La Streisand? So we solicited your opinions on this extremely important matter. Responses were pretty evenly mixed, pro and con, with only a few catty comments.

Six months before my wedding day, pawing through racks and racks of white dresses, one thing became perfectly clear: I would never find anything to match my mother's 1956 silk wedding dress. Its simple lines and understated detailing were nowhere to be found in the 1990s. Instead, there were beads, sequins and enough tulle to tie up an altar-full of brides. Maybe a 20-year-old bride liked this look, but not this 30-year-old. I have loved my mother's dress since I was a little girl.

Ostentation is out, minimalism is in. That's a credo that applies to many things these days, including one of the least likely suspects -- the wedding dress. Pouf is passe. Slim is stylish, and so are soft lace, flowing fabrics and focused embellishment. The everywhere, over-the-top beading and embroidery of recent years? That's gone, for the most part, in favor of simple adornments on a shoulder, sleeve or waistline. The look these days is "a little more classic.

NEW YORK -- A New York woman who received a free wedding dress, free honeymoon tickets to Aruba and a host of other lavish gifts from well-wishers who were told she had just months to live apparently had longer than people thought. She's been arrested and faces grand larceny and other charges for allegedly faking the illness. Jessica Vega was arrested in Virginia and extradited to New York's upstate Orange County, where she pleaded not guilty last week to six felonies and one misdemeanor.

When last we saw Benjamin Braddock and Elaine Robinson, they were sitting in the back of a Santa Barbara city bus, flush with the excitement of escape. That's one of the defining pop culture images of its era, made iconic by Mike Nichols' 1967 film "The Graduate": Benjamin in his torn Windbreaker and Elaine in her wedding dress, the troubled past behind them and their lives together about to begin.

After weeks of speculation that at times verged on the absurd, Catherine Middleton emerged Friday for her wedding in a gown by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. The gown is classic-looking, in silk gazar with long intricate lace sleeves, and it will probably be a force of pop culture for years to come, influencing fashion trends and reinforcing the sociological significance of the white wedding gown. "We knew she would wear something classic, but having Sarah Burton as the designer added something modern," said Darcy Miller, editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine.

We decided to finally put Christmas away when the little guy directed his remote control Apache chopper into a trio of ceramic angels his mother loved. Angels are pretty defenseless in such situations, singing "The Messiah" with their chins up. The little copter's rotors caught them right in the songbooks. Ouch. The angels ? I named them Curly, Moe and Larry ? could only fire back with their dark ceramic eyes as the little chopper plowed into them, accidentally, we think, though the investigation is still in progress.

Nordstrom Inc. is stepping into the bridal business for the first time in the company's 109-year history. Over the next six weeks the upscale retailer is opening 14 bridal salons nationwide, including in its store in Canoga Park. This might not be a big season for weddings, but it's one of the most popular times to get engaged, and the chain has gotten an indication that a move into the bridal area could boost business. In a pilot test at nine stores in March, Nordstrom experienced a 30% boost in new customers to the store, company spokeswoman Brooke White said.

Finally, after eight years of courtship, Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton are engaged, and the fashion world has a new icon in waiting. When the engaged couple met the media for the first time Tuesday, Middleton's sapphire blue Issa dress matched her sapphire and diamond engagement ring. Of course, the ring once belonged to William's mother, Diana, and sapphire was also the color she wore on the day her engagement to Prince Charles was announced in 1981. Copies of the ring were sold then, and they are being sold now. By Wednesday morning, HSN was hawking a similar style by Carol Brodie, and Issa had sent out a news release bragging about its famous fan. Will Kate's style influence be similar to Diana's?

As if marriage weren't crazy enough, every year couples say "I do" in exotic, unusual and, yes, even strange places and situations. There was the couple who had elephants as attendants. There was a twosome who wanted to be married underwater. There was even the couple who wanted to take the leap while taking a leap. Aren't weddings stressful enough? Why would you book a wacky wedding? "There are several reasons," says Anne Chertoff, editor in chief of http://www.aisledash.

There's an adage that finding the perfect wedding dress is like finding a perfect partner: You want one that hugs your body, offers support, lifts you up and makes you feel beautiful. So wouldn't it be great to get a dress from a brand that, like your future spouse, you trust to give you these things on an average Wednesday as well as on what's supposed to be the most memorable day of your life? That seems to be the philosophy behind the slew of major mass-market retailers now offering bridal gowns.

Academy Award-inning costume designer Albert Wolsky may not want to see another wedding dress for a while. He designed five for the new romantic comedy "Runaway Bride," which opens next Friday and stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The film follows the escapades of Maggie (Roberts), a young woman famous for getting cold feet at the last minute by running out on her wedding ceremonies.

Nelson Rodrigues' "The Wedding Dress" at Theatre 40 runs like the nightmare wedding that everyone dreads attending. It's tediously long, full of embarrassingly insipid moments that only an indulgent grandmother can appreciate, and the moments of inspiration are alarmingly few.

To hear Summer Brown and Briana Biddle talk about it, their upcoming wedding and civil commitment will be a fairy tale, complete with happily ever after. But fairy tales can turn dark pretty quickly, and a look at the couple's finances shows that the poisoned apple in this story could be money. Let's start with the wedding: Brown has a $986 wedding dress and a $2,600 engagement ring, both bought on credit. Then there are older debts: a $20,000 time share on which Biddle is not making payments and $17,000 in student loans for Brown, among others.

Ostentation is out, minimalism is in. That's a credo that applies to many things these days, including one of the least likely suspects -- the wedding dress. Pouf is passe. Slim is stylish, and so are soft lace, flowing fabrics and focused embellishment. The everywhere, over-the-top beading and embroidery of recent years? That's gone, for the most part, in favor of simple adornments on a shoulder, sleeve or waistline. The look these days is "a little more classic.