Choosing a Mother of the Bride Dress For 2009

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This year turning Mom into the Mother of the Bride comes with one important prerequisite. Talk to the bride. She'll appreciate you listening to her input for years to come. Don't be afraid of this exercise - there are plenty of color and style options to accommodate not only your look but her preferences as well this year. You might even be pleasantly surprised with what you discover and relieved to have a place to start. But don't start shopping yet. Next consider the key attributes of color, length, style and body, which when combined successfully will ensure you and your dress are a spectacular hit on the bride's big day.

Color

The two aspects of color that you want to reconcile are simply 1) the color theme of the wedding and 2) the colors that looks good on you. En vogue dress colors especially for Mother of the Brides this year (and especially for outdoor weddings) include "apricot, peach, lemon and golden olive hues" reports Hanna of Here Comes the Guide. If the wedding is taking place later in the year, get more vivid with amethyst, mahogany, or rose. If none of these colors will do, then take your queue from the bride, who may elect to step into 2009's trend for lots of bold, saturated colors like green, lavender or blue, but especially blue, with all of its brilliant peacock splendor including deep violet blue, clear bright blue, green blue, cobalt blue, turquoise, and palace blue. If the bride's theme is blue, but blue doesn't work on you, trying choosing from among the many delightful accent colors you will see in a wedding regardless of its color theme, like champagne, cream, bone, taupe, tan, silver, shimmering light gold, or beige

Selecting colors around a wedding's theme is only the first step. Ask also what colors look good on you. If you are unsure, it's best to keep two or three neutral colors in mind while you decide what looks best against your natural coloring. As you shop, hold clothing items of differing colors up to your face and judge for yourself. You can even go so far as to invest in a professional style guide, like the ones available at istylista. When you look back on wedding photos years from now, you will not regret the investment!

In all cases, stay away from white, ivory, and black. And interestingly, even though blue is "in" this year, one of its shades definitely is not - navy. Don't be caught wearing it! Just remember to pick a color that coordinates well with the wedding theme or its bridal attendants - you don't have to match exactly! - and one which looks great on you at the same time.

Length

The Mother of the Bride's dress length should be similar to the bridesmaids' dresses, within Mom's comfort zone. Tea length (a gown hemmed to end at the shin) becomes an acceptable compromise when bridesmaids' dresses measure LA knee length or shorter.

Style

Continuing the trend from last year, stores are stocking Mother of the Bride dresses in youthful styles. No more stodgy lines and drab tones. This is Mom's year for satisfying a little chicly red carpet fantasy of her own! Take your queue from designing leaders like Karen Miller, Scala, Ursula and Cachet. Also look to bride styles for inspiration, who will be more angelic this year in soft fabrics like chiffons and drapings. But don't go overboard. You'll be safe in simple, graceful lines with little frill and appropriate accessories which compliment, rather than compete with, the bride's wedding dress. A perennial favorite for Mom, especially petite moms, is the two piece skirt suit. These separates are popular because each piece can be ordered in different sizes for a more tailored fit.

Your Body

Be comfortable in your own skin, and in your dress. This means understanding your body shape, your natural colors, owning your age, and putting a dash of your personality into your ensemble. iStylista has an excellent blog article on this topic which you don't want to miss.

The author is F Kapri of Venus Shoe, a unique online store specializing in sexy and exotic designer shoes and boots, and Fifi's Lingerie [http://www.fifislingerie.com], a sexy leather lingerie store for sexy men and women.

Fun and Games Played in Indian Marriages

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Fun and love is the essence of marriage. The marriage is the most important and the happiest moment in one's life. It is the time, when a person gets to enjoy the most precious time with the family and friends. All those moments and pranks are such which cannot be rejoiced again. The games played during the marriage ceremonies are said to be a life time opportunity for the couple. Though, one can see a number of couples playing those games, but to actually practise that joy themselves is during the only time of marriage. Marriage is the time, when one goes through many changes; many ceremonies are practised, but the things, which one remembers all his life time is the games and pranks played with the relatives and the bride or the groom.

Everywhere, marriage is related to the element of seriousness and the responsibility, one gets after getting married. Marriage is always considered to be bond, which burdens the bride and groom, with a number of responsibilities and roles to play to keep the family and their life partner happy forever. A factor of contentment is something, which needs to be maintained and hence sustained in the married life of the couple, and the contribution has to be made from both the sides. Though it's true, that the overall routine of the person changes in a great way after getting married, but the support, love, contentment and the confidence shown by the life partner are the things which are in a way are the four pillars of the married man, which helps him in leading a happy married life.

Marriage without the mixture of fun and nok-jhok, is like a flat coke, having no excitement in the drink, therefore the element of jolliness has to be in the married life. In fact, at the time of the marriage even, the bride and the groom are made to play loads of games and pranks, which makes the marriage more lively and happening. These things, helps in actually bringing the element of naughtiness and excitement in the marriage environment. The dull and the boring rituals can be made interesting and appealing with the addition of those games in the marriage.

Some of the games played after the marriage ceremony, when the bride comes to her in- laws house, with her husband are:

Find the ring:

This game is played to check, who will rule the married life among the couple, the bride or the groom. In this, they are required to take off their rings and are pour in a vessel full of milk and both the bride and the groom are asked to locate the rings in the vessel, whoever finds the ring first, is considered as the leader of the married life.

Jutta Chuppai:

Joota Chuppai is a very popular ceremony played in the Indian marriages. It is the game, in which the friends and the young children primarily the sisters of the bride, hide the footwear of the groom and in lieu of which they demand a huge amount of money as shagun. The ceremony is witnessed with a lot of tantrums and arguments, at the end of which the groom gives money to his salees.

Knotted Strings:

Sacred knots are ties in the hands of both the bride and the groom, which they have to open of each other, with the use of only one hand. The easiness, with which they open the knots, corresponds to the lifestyle and the smoothness they will have in their lives.

Thus, with the help of these entertaining rituals and ceremonies, one can make the wedding a joyous ceremony with a lot of chirpiness around.

Few useful links:
http://www.jeevansathi.com/
http://www.jeevansathi.com/matrimonial-matrimony-gender-bride-matrimonials

Gurleen Kaur writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India's fastest growing matrimonial website, provides online Indian matrimonial classified services. Jeevansathi.com enables users to create an Indian matrimony profile on the website and allow prospective grooms and brides to contact each other. Users can search for profiles through advanced search options on the website. Users can avail free registration and make initial contact with each other through services available on Jeevansathi.com via Chat, SMS, and e-mail.