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Looking for the perfect Wedding Dresses or Gowns for your special day? (I suggest pressing the play button below for the video now, to give it time to load...)
Are you thinking Vera Wang but the house is already mortgaged for your shoes? DONOT PANIC! Brasilian seamstress of wedding dresses and gowns, designer Rosa Almeida might be just the ticket. A consultation is obviously a must, so please leave your contact details in the form to the left to secure an appointment. If you have pictures (or a mosaic of different wedding dresses) great! To save time, be sure to have the photos in easily managed file sizes to send to Rosa.
To get you started, I can suggest you check out some of the 2011 wedding dress designs that are popular overseas in this video sample. For more from this great fashion house to see- Vestidos de novia y vestidos de fiesta - BALL GOWNS · COLECCIÓN 2010. VESTIDOS DE FIESTA. COLECCIÓN COCKTAIL 2011 · COLECCIÓN MADRINA 2011 ·
The happy bride.
When Yanna Elfes was planning her ultimate big fat Greek wedding in Sydney, she never imagined it would be virtually attended by millions of people around the world or become the subject of a vicious email slur campaign and a police investigation.
But that's exactly what happened after she married her husband Kosta two months ago at the Greek Orthodox church in Kogarah, not only was a big greek wedding but it became a big headache too.
Her friends published photos on their Facebook pages and within days the images were appearing in nasty viral emails that quickly spread across Australia and to workplaces as far flung as London and Dubai.
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Of course, this was no ordinary wedding. The theme was black and hot pink, with Yanna, 25, wearing a pink crystal-encrusted white dress complete with mini-skirt front and tulle train. It was inspired by the Guns N' Roses video clip for November Rain.
The groomsmen wore tight black tops with pink braces, which matched the bridesmaids' gowns, spotted wedding cake, Playboy-tagged champagne flutes and satin table decorations.
To top it off, some of the 220 guests were ferried to and from the wedding in three stretch Hummers with fur interiors, and the bride and groom were introduced for their bridal waltz with WWE wrestling-style fireworks.
The photographs made the perfect recipe for a viral email hit, but as it spread people began adding their own nasty captions ridiculing the wedding and guests.
One Yanna found particularly crushing: "Dad: `sure am glad to be giving this away'!"
Yanna said she left to go on her honeymoon - a month visiting the USA and Mexico - a few days after the "big greek wedding" and a week later received a frantic call from her sister, Leah, informing her of the emails.
"I've had calls from people in London to Dubai that have got these emails, it's just gone viral crazy," said Yanna.
"It's sad that someone can stoop that low to actually do that. Like, why would someone want to trash someone else's wedding day?
"It's supposed to be a personal and private thing - at the end of the day, I've just got to not let it get to me."
Yanna said her sister called police, who attempted to track down the person who started the vicious email campaign.
She said they initially suspected it originated inside St George bank but further inquiries led them to conclude "a couple of days ago" that it just passed through the bank's offices and probably originated from a Facebook user.
"Once it goes on to Facebook it's public domain they said at the end of the day," she said.
Yanna said she could understand why people would perceive the wedding as outrageous but "at the end of the day all of my family and friends know that's Yanna, I don't want to change it because people will think different of me".
"Everyone walked in there and saw me and said Yanna, this is you, no one could pull this off like you have," she said.
"From day one I said to my mum, `this is how I want to do it' and my mum was like, `that's great, that's you', why would you want to change that?"
Yanna said she knew who took the photos but she had no idea which friend or acquaintance took them off Facebook and spread them across the internet.
The photos have even been published on websites and blogs including Office-humour.co.uk with headlines such as "tacky big Greek wedding" and "Greek wedding of the year".
Yanna said she was even offered money to appear on A Current Affair but turned it down because she did not trust the show's producers and did not want to be perceived as opportunistic like Clare Werbeloff, the "Chk-chk Boom" girl.
"My brother had people who he hadn't spoken to in five years that live in another state call him and say `hey, I saw you in a wedding!'," Yanna said.
"I didn't start this, I didn't even want this to happen, I just wanted a normal wedding day like everyone else."
Preeti Punamiya is a young and excited bride-to-be, preparing for a traditional Indian wedding which usually features days of lavish celebrations.
But the global economic downturn has made her rethink the extravagance, following a trend that has seen many Indian families scale down celebrations.
"It's our families who wanted to make it a grand affair," said Punamiya, a biotechnology researcher in her early 20s who is marrying a US-based software engineer.
"I have wanted it simple, keeping costs under check," said Punamiya, who cut back the customary five days of festivities to three and also slashed the number of ceremonies to three from nine.
India's wedding seasons from mid-October to January and April to July bring with them street drummers and
musicians, processions and open-air ceremonies. The statement often seems to be: the bigger and louder the better.
The industry is estimated to be worth 1.25 trillion rupees (27 billion US dollars) a year. One leading wedding website Shaadi.com put the average cost of a high-end marriage at 44,000 US dollars.
But wedding planners say that as the worldwide recession hits exports, imports and the service industry, India's wealthier urban upper classes are cutting back on costs.
"People are curbing expenses", said Tejal Kadakia, who founded Knot Forever, a Mumbai-based wedding management firm.
"For Indians, a wedding is a one-time event. People want a stylish, quality event, but they are trimming catering costs and even those on the guest list," she told AFP.
A traditional big Indian wedding is lengthy and elaborate, starting with a trip to the astrologer or family priest who chooses the auspicious day and time of the ceremony considering phases of the moon.
Rings are exchanged at the engagement, followed by the "mehndi" ceremony, where the bride's arms and legs are intricately painted with brown henna dye to ward off evil and strengthen love.
The next day sees an elaborate "sangeet" -- a musical, dance or even Bollywood-style extravaganza. The wedding itself usually comes 24 hours later, followed by cocktails and a lavish evening meal.
Moroccan- or Turkish-style weddings -- with billowing tents, vast pavilions, hookah smoking pipes and finely-upholstered, low-slung divans -- have proved popular with expat Indians who travel home to tie the knot.
But Tejal said: "These themes are vanishing. People prefer Rajasthani or Luckhnowi themes which are traditional and cheaper.
"Until three years back there was a certain childishness, an urge to show wealth. That has gone. Now it is not who beats whom. I would say we all seem to have been beaten by recession."
Candice Pereira, creative head of "Marry Me" wedding consultants, said: "Some people do prefer to combine the 'mehndi' and 'sangeet' events."
Tejal also said families are choosing to skip the music and dance altogether.
"Earlier there was a demand for only well-known singers or bands," she added. "The musical event is becoming optional or is personally choreographed. A lively family dance is considered enough."
Nevertheless, Bollywood song-and-dance events remain hugely popular with overseas Indians, particularly those from the United States and Canada.
Compared with many Western countries, Indian wedding planners like Tejal and Pereira, whose firm charges upwards of one million rupees per event, are a new breed in India.
Wedding management firms have mushroomed in recent years across India's big cities, attracting clientele from medical doctors like Punamiya's family to industrialists and construction firm bosses.
But this year, Tejal said she has organised weddings for just six to eight clients, compared with 10 to 12 in 2008.
Many overseas-based Indians or people of Indian origin choose to get married in India due to cheaper costs and its cultural significance. Overseas, the cost of hiring venues, catering and ethnic Indian wedding wear quickly adds up.
India's urban middle classes are also learning to streamline costs, amid concern for their jobs.
One recently-married Mumbai media consultant, who asked not to be identified, said he had been under pressure to have a traditional "multi-function" marriage -- but was worried about the cost of a big indian wedding.
"At one point I considered a court (civil) marriage, but the process is complex," he told AFP. "We finally did a two-day event, skipping the 'mehndi' and 'sangeet'."
The couple printed few cards, sending out most invitations by email or mobile phone text messages.
"My honeymoon will have to wait. I had to be back at work," he added.
