When it comes to choosing your wedding dress, the options are endless. You need to consider the length, the cut, the silhouette, the fabric, the train and that’s just the beginning.
Some choices are a little simpler to make. For example, if you’re looking for a sweetheart neckline, you might go for a Maggie Sottero or a Pronovias. Both offer sexy bust lines, though if you’d like ‘the girls’ a bit covered up, there are dresses with raised neckline. Bridal Secrets stock multiple sweetheart styles that include delicate lace overlays.
Other decisions are harder to make. For instance, most brides know they want to wear white. What they might not know is that there are several shades of white. Your dress could range from fully bleached to beige and still be described as white, so you need to be sure what you’re getting into when you order your bridal gown.
First, let’s look at some of the variants of white. The most traditional one is referred to as bright white or stark white. It needs special care because anything can spoil it, from dust during the six months of storage to an energetic sneeze.
Champagne white sounds like it should have a hint of gold, just like the sparkling decadence in a champagne glass. In reality, champagne white has just a hint of pink. It still looks white in the low light of sunset, and it’s quite white in your wedding photos, but it makes you feel a little more elegant to wear a dress with ‘champagne’ in it.
Ivory may be socially unacceptable in modern jewellery, but in wedding dresses, it’s universally approved of because it flatters almost every bride’s skin tone. This might be because it’s such a versatile shade, but it might also be because there are so many versions of ivory.
Ivory is almost a blanket term, ranging from luscious cream to egg-shell pink. And as we move further on the cream to beige curve, we find candlelight white. It looks white in candlelight, sunset, and twilight, so it’s a good choice if your wedding is early evening. It’s a suitable selection for the romantic bride.
Right on the edge of the white spectrum is ecru. In many collections, it’s still classed as ivory though it’s visibly closer to tan. Ecru is the colour of raw linen and can be appealing in Chantilly lace. If you’re unclear about the best white for your skin tone, here are a few tips.
There’s a category sometimes referred to as cool whites, which includes champagne whites and pink undertones. Other hues that get thrown into this mix (but that we haven’t mentioned so far) include rum white and silk white. The pink undertone is good for brides with olive skin since it brightens up their skin tone.
If the bride is a little fairer in her complexion, warmer whites with yellow undertones are more flattering. She should avoid bright whites that will wash out her skin. If the bride is dark skinned, she can wear any white she likes, though if her skin undertone is sunny, Ivory might be less appealing to her.
All this theory can be confusing, so try holding a swatch against your skin to see how it looks. Better yet, call our Bridal Secrets experts on 02 9635 3311 and we’ll help you find the right size, design, and tone for your white wedding.
