Fashion Designer and Project Runway winner Christian Siriano featured five of his glamorous designs on ABC’s television show, “The View,” yesterday morning. One of his designs was the fuchsia dress, featured here, that he also created in white for his sister to wear at her wedding. Christian says he does a lot of custom bridal gowns which, he said, are all about “the fantasy.”

You can see this episode of “The View” on the ABC website.

Experienced wedding planners offer wedding dress shopping as a service to their brides. Whether this is a service you want to offer or if you just want to give tips to your brides, you might want to catch episodes of the television show, “Say Yes to the Dress,” on TLC, which features brides shopping at Kleinfeld in New York.

In the latest episode, Kleinfeld Fashion Director, Randy Fenoli, offered “The Cardinal Rules of Wedding Dress Shopping.” Here are his rules, you might want to pass along to your brides:

1) “Don’t try on a dress that is outside of your budget”

A bride will inevitably fall in love with one she cannot afford and will be very disappointed when she cannot have it.

2) “Don’t keep secrets from the bridal consultant”

If the bride has already seen something somewhere else that she likes, she should let the store consultant know so she can work with her.

3) “Leave the entourage at home”

It’s ok to bring a friend or family member but the more people a bride brings, the more opinions she will hear and the more confused she might be.

4) “Once you find a dress, stop shopping”

Some brides keep shopping because they are afraid they will miss their “perfect dress.”  According to Kleinfeld’s, 90% of the brides who keep shopping actually stick to their original choice.

5) “Don’t get your heart set on a dress you saw in a magazine”

The bride should keep an open mind and try on a few dresses. The one she saw in a magazine might not suit her when she tries it on.

Watch a video of a bride who wanted a particular dress in this clip from Say Yes to the Dress.

6) “Always wear underwear (when trying on wedding dresses)”

Kleinfeld Manhattan is having one of their famous Big Blowout sales on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. You can read about it on their website.

(My blog has been down due to a hacker attack and technical difficulties – thanks for your patience. I’m happy to be back.)

The latest episode of the WeTV show Platinum Weddings featured a bride as she chose, with a the help of a personal jewelry consultant from a local jewelry store, $150,000 worth of jewelry to wear with her three wedding dresses and for her family and her attendants to wear at the wedding. Most brides you plan weddings for won’t have access to a personal jewelry consultant or a six-figure jewelry budget so, as a wedding planner, you might have to help your bride select the right jewelry and accessories for her wedding day.

Seven things to remember as you help a bride:

1. Simple dresses with simple necklines look better with ornate pieces of jewelry than heavily beaded gowns. Jewelry should enhance, not distract from, the design of the dress.
2. Think beyond a tiara and have the bride try jeweled hairpins.
3. Don’t feel limited to white diamonds and pearls, brides and bridesmaids now also wear colored stones, such as emeralds and sapphires, if they blend with the color and theme of the wedding.
4. A bride will be walking, dancing, hugging and kissing, make sure the jewelry that she wears is secure, does not inhibit her movement and looks good from every angle because she will be captured in photos and video all day.
5. The florist can add crystals or pearls to a wedding bouquet for extra sparkle.
6. Bridal consultants where the bride purchased her dress can help with jewelry selection and often have may options available to brides.
7. Also, check for wedding jewelry of all types at wedding accessory stores online and in your local area. I dropped into my local wedding store, Unveiled Bridal, this weekend and they have a fabulous new display of wedding jewelry in their shop which is also available online.

Don’t forget to tell your bride to try on the jewelry with her wedding gown and wedding day hairstyle before the day of her wedding.

And it doesn’t hurt for you to have an extra necklace, pair of earrings, pair of cuff links and adjustable wedding bands in your wedding planner emergency kit, just in case your bride and groom forget their jewelry on their big day.

Fashion and bridal designer Carolina Herrera, showed one of her wedding gowns on yesterday’s episode of ABC television show, “The View”. The wedding dress was ivory and navy with a large blue bow in the back. The dress was actually made with the wrong side of the fabric on the outside.

Carolina’s most famous wedding dress is probably the one she designed for Caroline Kennedy when she married Ed Schlossberg in 1986. She said she had been asked by Caroline’s mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, to design the dress and Caroline was in charge of the way she wanted to look, her mother never got involved (which is what Carolina thought should happen).

You can see the entire episode of the March 12, 2010 show on the ABC website.

Oscar de la Renta, fashion designer to America’s First Ladies, Hollywood celebrities and brides showed two wedding gowns on this morning’s episode of ABC television show, “The View”.

His comments on wedding gowns:

• He likes traditional white wedding gowns
• Every girl today wants to get get married in a strapless dress
• Brides know what they want to wear at their weddings, its the day every woman dreams of
• When a bride shops with her mother, he reminds her mother that this is her daughter’s day and he wants to hear what the bride wants

You can see the full January 29, 2010 episode of “The View” on the ABC website.

The back of this beautiful wedding dress.

Wedding gown and fashion and jewelry designer Vera Wang appeared on the ABC television show “The View” this morning. She spoke about her work and showed two wedding dresses from her Fall 2010 collection.

Some interesting facts about how she designs:

• She finds inspiration in film, ballet and pieces of art (think about these sources when you need to create a new wedding theme)
• She finds the design process difficult and works hard at being creative (if Vera Wang works hard at being creative, never get down on yourself when it takes you a while to come up with a styles or themes for weddings.)

What she said about wedding gowns:

• She designed her wedding dress when she got engaged at 40 and there were few dresses for brides who weren’t in their 20’s. She decided it would be a good opportunity for a business.
• She doesn’t think wedding gowns need to be white. She designs in blush and pale gray and would love to do black for a wedding.
• Brides like strapless dresses because they show off the shoulders and make them feel glamorous.

The two wedding dresses she showed on “The View”, pictured here, are from the Fall 2010 collection. Both have a diaphanous and tumbled look. The one above about $3800 is not white and is a little more artistic. The one below, with the black sash and a modern take on lace, was a big hit with the audience. Vera said Danielle Deleasa wore a version of it when she married Kevin Jonas of “The Jonas Brothers”.

You can see the full episode of “The View” on the ABC website.

Learning to be a wedding planner is more than learning to plan and organize weddings.  You also need to understand how brides think, what motivates their choices, and how their families impact their decisions.  One television show that will give you some insight into the minds of brides is The Learning Channel’s (TLC) show, Say Yes to the Dress.  They just started a new season last week but often replay the episodes so you won’t have trouble catching it, just check the listings on their website.

In case you haven’t seen the show, it takes place at Kleinfeld, the famous bridal gown store in New York.  You’ll see interviews with the brides, with the family members and friends who accompany them to the store, and with the Kleinfeld bridal consultants who help them.  You’ll share in the joy and the pain of the consultants as they help the brides and you’ll get to see some beautiful wedding gowns too.

The same magazine has photos of recent television’s Bachelorette, DeAnna Pappas, trying on Monique Lhuillier dresses for her May 9, 2009 wedding to fiancé Jesse Csincsak. Both dresses are strapless, one is of Alencon lace with a drop waist and bustier bodice. The other is of embroidered silk caricata satin and has a bronze sash.

If you pick up a copy of the magazine, don’t forget to save the wedding article and add it to your clippings file. (Read my blog post from Tuesday, April1, 2008 about setting up a clippings file.)

• Short, knee-length or above dresses
• Color – mostly pastel pinks, blues and greens but also deep purple and teal
• Asymmetrical necklines
• Romantic embellishments – sashes, beads, bows and vintage lace
• Bows or large fabric blooms accenting the shoulder, waist or neckline

Check out the designs of Reem Acra, Oscar de la Renta, Monique Lhuillier, Melissa Sweet and Vera Wang for a look at these trends.