By Kate Wilson

Vintage weddings have always been a romantic and classy concept for that big day. Turning to an old retro style and creating an attractive and elegant wedding theme is always a great way to make your wedding day memorable.

For a vintage wedding, first you need to decide which era you would like to follow.  A retro styled 50’s vintage wedding brings a sense of glamour, traditional style and classiness with it.  

1. Venue & decorations

Use popular flowers like peonies.  Have fun -- put a soda fountain near the dessert section and car-decorations from the 1950s to transform your venue into a perfect retro destination.  Let your guests know about the theme so that they can dress appropriately.

2. Retro wedding dress.

Pack in the vibrant style of the 50’s with simple but elegantly-cut short dresses with volume and clean lines made from exotic silks with intricate lace detailing. Headpieces, veils, beads and jewelry details can help in completing your retro look.

3. Music.

Don’t overlook the music – play energetic retro rock. Turn to Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly.  There are great upbeat songs to choose from in the 50’s era for your first dance song.

Bring the 50s energy to your wedding and enjoy an unusual, fun vintage wedding.

Kate Wilson is a blogger at WeddingClan, a question and answer site for weddings.

By Jennifer

Last week, I featured no-nonsense, no-poof wedding dresses. This week, I found a dressing room of wedding dresses with awesome tiered skirts. Those who are opting for the sleek sheath look need not apply but those of us who love the elegance of the princess wedding, these tiered dresses are fabulous!

By Jennifer

Ying puts it very simply: less volume, please.

Have you checked out all the no nonsense wedding dresses at Shiny Orb?

By Jennifer

I'm back from a brief disappearance! I am quite excited to showcase a huge selection of wedding dresses handpicked by Eileen for Eileen's Boudoir. I found Eileen's dressing room on the list of featured dressing rooms and her room does not disappoint. I love that her wedding dress picks showcase a wide choice of big skirts. I had no idea that they came is so many styles. There's big and layered, big and poofy, big and lacy, big and satiny, big and everything. Enjoy this inspiration board!

By Jennifer

Today's inspiration board is a collection of Allure Bridals wedding dresses. I love the elegance that comes with lace details or that classic eggshell white.

Some of my favorite Allure dresses include Allure Bridals Style No. 8767, Allure Bridals Style No. 8597, Allure Bridals Style No. 8601, Allure Bridals Style No. ID8666, Allure Bridals Style No. ID8661, Allure Bridals Style No. 8820, Allure Bridals Style No. 8506, and Allure Bridals Style No. 8711. I know, the numbers are totally non-descript. You'll just have to click through to check them out!

By Jennifer

Today's wedding dress inspiration board comes from the dressing room of this bride. In addition to the fun colors and styles she picked for bridesmaid dresses, I really like the spaghetti strap wedding dresses she picked out. Strapless wedding dresses might be the most popular style but spaghetti straps offer a bit more confidence when you're running around and dancing up a storm. :) Are you considering spaghetti strap dresses?

By Jennifer

Still excited about the wonderful bridesmaid dresses with sashes that I posted about last week, I thought, why not put colorful sashes on wedding dresses?

You can add a sash to just about any wedding gown, just simply buy the sash separately. They come in dozens of colors, including Amethyst, Chocolate, Emerald Green, Gold, Lilac, Periwinkle, and more. Perfect for matching or complementing the bridesmaids in the bridal party.

What do you think about sashes on wedding dresses? Happy Valentine's Day!

By Liz

It may be a cliche to hear angels singing when on your wedding day, but there's not need to wait for them to appear if you already look like one yourself! The dresses in this collection come from divine inspiration. The draping and layers of sheer fabrics look as light as air and are every bit as sweet as an angel.

Find more angelic wedding gowns and create your own Shiny Orb dressing room!

Image Credits: Kevin Dooley, Nigel Clarke, Jim Champion, THOR

By Jennifer

Who here has Twilight fever? 2010 is coming to an end and that means it's almost Breaking Dawn time! Anyhow, Bella Swan and her vampire Edward Cullen finally make it official and get married. Which begs the question... What does Bella Swan's wedding dress look like? The book doesn't say much beyond that it's 1900s "antique" inspired, possibly a Victorian look of elegant lace, high necks, and long trains. InStyle Magazine already had 10 top designers put their imagination to paper, and Zac Posen was chosen to design the final dress? Too bad that wasn't true. We'll just have to wait for the movie to come out.

Find more possible Bella Swan wedding dresses and create your own Shiny Orb dressing room.

By Liz

Weddings are part and parcel of the fairy tale, and what little girl didn't dream of her wedding in vivid detail? All those iconic images of princess ballgowns with enormous skirts seem to have stuck with us. In fact, grown up versions of childhood fairy tales are in vogue--Disney offers couture weddings and Alfred Angleo recently launched a Disney Fairy Tale Weddings collection of bridal gowns. Even the villians are getting in on the action: M.A.C. recently hosted a collection inspired by the Venomous Villians.

For the girls who grew up but remain young at heart, a princess ballgown has to be the perfect wedding dress. Look for nipped in waists and enormous skirts made of tulle, gathered silk, and the stuff that dreams are made of, and you'll find that fairy tales do come true!

Find more princess wedding dresses and create your own Shiny Orb dressing room!