One question I get asked a lot from readers emailing me is 'where can I find wedding dresses that aren't white, or ivory?' or 'where can I go to buy a coloured wedding dress?'. It would seem that quite a few of you lovely readers aren't keen to follow the bridal white tradition and want to try something different, that better reflects your personality and sense of style.
The great thing about wanting to wear a non-white wedding dress, is that you can extend your field of exploration much further and wider than your local bridal boutique. A non-white wedding dress doesn't strictly have to be a wedding dress and so you can incorporate designer dresses and evening or special occasion wear in to your shortlist of potential gowns, giving you much more choice ranging from affordable high-street designs to more pricey gowns via the likes of Net-A-Porter or exclusive designer boutiques.
Whatever your budget, if you're keen to wear a coloured wedding dress, we'd like to provide you with some inspiration today by sharing a selection of gowns in a variety of beautiful shades, that have really caught our eye and typically represent Love My Dress style glamour and elegance.
All Imagery Above Copyright (c) 2013, Caught The Light
See the full wedding on the London Bride wedding blog
I simply love and adore the Temperley gown above, worn by this bride found
on the gorgeous London Bride wedding blog. I love so many things about this dress – the fact it could so easily be
worn again (glamorous evening do or laid back summer garden party
style). I love the accents of gold and the way it is cut so beautifully
it just sings elegance. A gown like this could surely have even the most die hard white wedding dress fan re-consider her options.
I adore this vintage gown that came in a pretty peach/pale pink tone, courtesy of Heavenly Vintage Brides. I also love the way that Chelsea modernised this vintage gown by teaming it with a felt flower bouquet and accessories from Etsy.
All Imagery Above Copyright (c) 2013, Lucy Turnbull
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
If making a bright and bold colourful statement is your choice, consider colours that look fabulous at all times of year and transcend all the seasons, including shades of coral, orange and red.
That of course doesn't mean you have to wear block colour. Photographer Polly Alexandre wore a Marchesa wedding dress (see top 2 images sitting side by side), with coral and orange embellishment in corset area of the dress that beautifully reflected the natural desert/outdoor backdrop of her wedding day.
You can see this wedding in full over on Style Me Pretty.
Image credit (top) – Jose Villa (see the full wedding here on Style Me Pretty)
Image credit (bottom 2 photos) – Christine Pobke (see the full wedding here on Green Wedding Shoes)
I simply cannot get enough of gold right now, which is strange because when I got married just 3 and a half years ago, the thought of having any gold featured on the day really put me off – I was a silver girl through and through back then, but my tastes have most defintely done a sparkly u-turn since and I simply cannot get enough of this gorgeous metallic shade.
I particularly adored this bride's boldness in not only wearing gold, but going for a short, flapper style frock which really worked beautifully…
Image credit Andy Gaines
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
Embellishment tends to play a key feature in metallic gowns, and none-more so than this wedding dress that was covered in beautiful sequins. Bride Cristina didn't want to wear white and opted for a dress that had originally been designed with 'ball gown' in mind…
"My dress was the ‘Wicked’ design in champagne, by Dana Mathers,
bought from the Perth shop. It’s traditionally a dress shop for school
balls so the girls in the shop were surprised and delighted when I told
them it was for my wedding!
I didn’t want a traditional white dress and fancied
something simple but that was also glamorous and special, that wasn’t
your typical simple beachy white dress but that was maybe a subtle
colour but glitzy – a bit more me. Traditional bridal shops only had
enormous dresses or boring chiffon straight dresses. Online I loved
Johanna Johnson and Jenny Packham but I couldn’t justify spending so
much money so when I found this dress it was perfect!
Image credit Stephanie Swann
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
Bride Kathryn didn't want to wear white either and found her dress whilst browsing the Issa website…
"My wedding dress is a Gold Babukshka lace dress from Issa London. It was from the Autumn/Winter 2012 collection. I bought it online in the sale in January 2013. I always knew I didn’t want a white strapless wedding dress. I
am pale with blonde hair and look washed out in white. I didn’t even go
to any traditional ‘wedding’ shops."
Image credit Caro Weiss
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
It has to be said, that blue has been a very popular colour choice for brides wearing coloured wedding dresses when it comes to our very own readers. Below I've shared some of my favourite blue wedding dresses that have graced the pages of this blog…
All Imagery Above Copyright (c) 2013, Sally T Photography
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
I loved the vintage styling and Biba wedding dress in blue chosen by the bride below. A strong red lip, pearls and very elegant vintage inspired up-do all add to this effortless and very beautiful look, with not one whiff of a white wedding dress in sight. So effortlessely glamorous.
All Imagery Above Copyright (c) 2013, Lucy Turnbull
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
If a paler shade of blue is more up your street, consider having a dress maker create re-create one of their designs in this pretty pastel shade, just like bride Vita did, who commissioned designers Belle & Bunty to produce one of their most popular-selling bridal gowns in her preferred colour choice.
All Imagery Above Copyright (c) 2013, Photos by Jessica
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
This gorgeous Ghost wedding dress is just the most beautiful and gracious 1940s inspired design and I honestly couldn't imagine this pretty blonde bride looking better in any other colour.
You can see this wedding in full here, or by clicking on the image below.
All Imagery Above Copyright (c) 2013, Christopher Currie Photography
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
Once again, going colourful doesn't mean having to wear an all-out block colour. Clever use of jewels and coloured embellishment can completely change the look of a wedding gown. The 'Joy' design was one of Jenny Packham's best selling gowns of 2011 and 2012 – here it is featured with emerald green embellishment – an incredible wow-factor of a dress!
You can see the wedding in full here on the photographers blog.
Image Credit – Caught The Light Photography
The super talented bespoke dress maker Joanne Fleming has recently been experimenting with tinted French lace in the prettiest pastel shades – take a look at some of the outcomes of her experimentation below – you can see more tinted French lace wedding dresss over on this post.
Image Credits: Jacqui McSweeney, for designer Joanne Fleming
And I couldn't not feature a post about coloured wedding dresses without sharing this glorious silk, green State Of Grace design with you – see the full wedding here.
Photography Credit – Tobiah Tayo
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
Love pink? Take a peek at these frilly, tiered, 50's vintage modern replica dress designs…
Photography Credit – Adene
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
Both styled shoots, these gorgeous dresses demonstrate how as a real bride you can step away from tradition and do something fairy-tale inspired that isn't too twee – just utterly beautiful.
Photography Credit – Kristen Booth
See the full wedding here on Love My Dress
I hope this feature has inspired those of you brides who are keen to explore non-white wedding dress options.
You can explore more via our PInterest board that has been dedicated to coloured wedding dresses. You might also want to explore our colour pages; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, gold, silver, grey and black where you can find much more inspiration than I was able to fit in to this feature (click the image below).
Are you planning on wearing a non-white or coloured wedding dress? We'd love to hear from you if so – have you got your gown yet? What colour are you going for?
With much love,
Annabel
I love green ones! Recently I was photographing a wedding where bride was wearing a red one;
I’d love to see those photos Anna! x
Love all the photos!
Hi Annabel, the stunning coral orange dress is from an Aussie wedding featured on Green Wedding Shoes –http://greenweddingshoes.com/an-orange-wedding-dress-kirsty-matt/. I love it too!
xx
I’ve found my dress! It’s a gorgeous, vintage-looking Spanish lace creation in pale gold and I adore it. I was drawn to it in the shop and once it was on I didn’t want to take it off (a sure sign!). After that, ivory felt boring and not ‘me’. I love that my fiance won’t be expecting a coloured dress – yet it’s still pale so has that traditional feel.
Gorgeous pictures on this post Annabel – I love that green State of Grace number xx
I’m so grateful for this feedback Koren, thank you so much! Will add credits now xXx
Thanks so much Kate, I loved pulling this post together and could have added hundreds more images! Hence our beautiful new Pinterest board.
I too adore that State of grace dress, it’s stunning!
I’d love to see your dress – email me if you like! [email protected] xXx
I’m having my wedding dress custom made in deep purple silk and lace. Can’t wait to see the finished product!
Good to see the focus on non white dresses.
Nice tips. Thanks to share with us. For color full bridal dress, visit carlyna.co.uk.I assure you it’s really a good online shop where I brought my wedding dress. It’s completely different and fabulous. Thanks to Carlyna.
I have always been a fan of white wedding gowns and somehow never liked any other colour option. You have shared some truly nice pictures but I still cannot get over my inclination for white. Great pictures and definitely an interesting blog post. Thanks for the share. Hope to read more from you.
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Wow that deep purple dress sounds divine! I’m having mine custom made in a red silk… had my first fitting last week and am so excited! Love this post.
Elie Saab has some AMAZING pale pink, mint green and baby blue dresses. I absolutely adore them! They’re all over my wedding Pinterest board!
3 years ago I got married in a blush colored gown at the beach. We got spectacular pictures! Some of these gowns are fabulous! Glad to see so many people interested in fun colorful wedding dresses.
Great!
I will be renewing my wedding vows in a cobalt blue Mori Lee prom dress.
I was married in a red prom dress and thought with white blonde hair needed a major colour for my vow renewal. I can’t wait
Dee
I am getting married august 2016 I need help as I will be 66 in may and I just have no idea what I should be wearing, I don’t think it should be white as I have two grown up daughters and I wore white the first time and I feel old.