The Hip Bride

 You have a style all your own. You've never followed the crowd. You love what you love. And what you love tends to be slightly off-center, slightly ahead of its time and entirely original.

 However you find your gown, it will seem somehow serendipitous. Walking past a vintage shop, you'll spot it on a dress form in the window. Or while casually flipping though a magazine. Or by wandering in a boutique on your lunch hour. However it happens, we're willing to bet it will feel like your dress found you.

We see you in a sleek sheath, à la Jean Harlow, a gardenia behind your ear and a diamond choker around your neck. We see you in a flirtatious beaded halter and white-on-white gingham ball gown, complete with white wrist gloves, white sunglasses and a white 1964 mustang convertible waiting to whisk you away. We see you perfectly poised in a chic satin pantsuit with glossy lapels, a glittering city at your feet. If anyone can pull it off, you can.

Make inspired choices with accessories. And remember that less is more. The baroque pearl pendant you splurged on last summer is perfect with the feather-trimmed mules you snapped up from an inexpensive import shop downtown. Or consider the chunky silver Mexican bracelet he gave you the weekend he proposed. Wear what you love, no matter what. It will work perfectly.

 Hip bride Lindsay Hoffman had really resisted the idea of wearing a veil on her wedding day to Jonathan James, thinking it old-fashioned and cumbersome. But tradition prevailed and she ended up with a soft and beautiful lace butterfly design that covered her face. During the ceremony, when the Justice of the Peace asked John to lift the veil, she caught his eyes glistening as if he were seeing her for the first time. After that, she was so glad she had chosen to wear the veil as part of a very symbolic and loving tradition