Dress of the Week - Mary's Bridal Short & Sweet

This Dress of the Week is the whole package - only shorter!

This a-line dress from PC Mary's Bridal is perfect for an informal or garden wedding.

The sweetheart neckline (with detachable straps) tops a jeweled bodice with a lace-up back. The ruched empire waist band gives a flattering look to the waist and allows the skirt to flow out from underneath.

The skirt, a knee-length iridescent organza, has beautiful embroidery over it, flowing into a lovely scalloped hem with pearls, beads and sequins.

There is a lovely organza bolero jacket with lace accents on it, and a matching handbag too.

This dress is available in white or ivory, in sizes 4 through 30!

Perfect for an outdoor affair, this dress will carry you from ceremony through the reception in style and comfort.

Paper Doll Formals has this dress in stock for try on and it is priced so that you could even buy it for your second, "Reception Dress" if you wanted! Come in and see our lovely Dress of the Week.

New Contest...

I got nuttin'.

So, we're leaving it up to you, intrepid readers, to come up with a contest for the summer. So far we have two suggestions over on our Facebook fan page, but we could use more. Simply leave a comment here with your suggestion (or riff off another one) and we'll choose the one we can put into action.

The winning selection's suggester will win a prize. Then we'll run the contest for all to participate in from June 21st til September 20th.

Get your friends to like our page and they can add their suggestions here too. For every 50 new likes, we give out a wee prize. We're at about 310 now, so when we hit 350, that person gets their prize.

We're on Twitter too, so check us out @paperdollformal. I try to tweet once a day, and who knows, one day, it might be a free somethin'-somethin' for our followers.

Dress of the Week - Nina Duong's Lucille

This week's DotW is a little cutie.

Lucille is her name and fun is her game! This darling a-line in shantung silk starts with a flattering sweetheart neckline and adds some wow to the bodice with black hand-sewn lace around the bodice.

The skirt looks like two layers with strategically placed pickups near the bottom, and ends around the knee for the bride to show off her fabulous legs.

This dress is couture, but at an affordable price. Lucille is created by Nina Duong Couture, now celebrating their 10th year in business.

Lucille joins her friends Coco, Victoria (our first DotW), and Janet in store at Paper Doll Formals - the only retailer outside of Ontario who carries this exclusive Canadian designer.

Come in to see how affordable couture can be for your wedding!

Dress of the Week - Forever Yours with Colour!

This DotW is perfect for the bride who wants to add a splash of colour to her wedding.

From the top to the bottom, this gown is designed to WOW everyone who sees it, including the bride!

The curved strapless top (straps included if you desire) has a delicate coloured embroidery with a line of colour below it. This colour is available in 66 shades of Lamore Satin.

The bodice is gathered and rushed to the side, flattering all body types and giving a lovely sillhouette.

The embroidery and colour then carries down on an angle on the princess-cut/a-line skirt to the bottom hem.

As you can see, the zipper back is accented by cloth-covered buttons in the accent colour from top to bottom as well.

This gown is perfect for an outdoor wedding as it has no train behind it, and the simplicity of the back lends itself to a long cathedral-length veil if desired. Colours range from white to black for the accents, and sizes range from 2 through 30.

There is a matching flower girl gown available from the same designer, and the price will surprise you for such a lovely, quality gown. Paper Doll Formals had this gown in the store for less than 24 hours before it was sold off the rack! The next gown is scheduled to arrive at the end of May, and once it does, we'll make sure it's announced on our Facebook Fan Page for you to come in and try it on... before it leaves the store again!

Dress of the Week - Beautifully Modest

This week's dress is so beautiful, that the photo does not do it justice at all!

The sweetheart neckline is beaded with three rows of delicate clear beads. These catch the light and draw the eye down to the bodice.

The bodice is covered in lace and is closely fitted through the hips. The lace sparkles and glitters as the light plays across it.

A loose satin sash with a delicate flower (which can be removed if desired) sits at the hip and starts the full tulle skirt.

The tulle has lovely lace appliques over it, and it sits on a light, full skirt of satin.

The train is a small, chapel length train of tulle and satin, perfect for outdoor or indoor weddings.

The small cap sleeves are perfect for the bride who is a little self-conscious of her shoulders and wants a more modest wedding dress. It is a very elegant gown and suits many different body types, but would look the best on someone with a long torso.

This dress has a modest price-point too and is available ONLY at Paper Doll Formals. Our sample size is 14, and can be seen on our dress form once you enter the store.

Come see all the Beautifully Modest gowns we have if you're looking for an option to a strapless gown.

Just Be Yourself

Now that Kate and Wills are back at their little cottage in Anglesey, the furor of the Royal Wedding has died down (especially given the events of the weekend!). But I wanted to talk about the dress for a bit... of course!

I've done a lot of reading up about this gown, and what seems to be the theme I'm spotting is the "get your OWN Kate dress!" that a lot of manufacturers are touting. It's like jumping on the winning team's bandwagon, if you will (go 'Nucks go!).

The thing with this dress is that it was designed for Kate, not for a million other brides. It was definitely a nod to her new station in life, as she may be the future Queen Consort of England (if the monarchy isn't abolished by that time). Therefore, it was fitting for her to have a modest yet stylish gown.

True, it didn't reflect the current fashion of ruffles, feathers or flowers. It wasn't strapless, ruched or corsetted. It wasn't slinky, shiny or a sheath (mermaid).

It was a gown befitting a Duchess who knows that she is no longer anonymous (not like she really was once she started dating Wills), a gown that speaks of tradition and elegance, with the originally designed lace pattern, the four flowers of the United Kingdom embroidered on the skirt, and the sleeves and collar over the bodice of the dress.

Within 24 hours there were copies out there, hitting the high street in Ireland. It's a beautiful and elegant gown too, but it's not the dress for everyone.

Every North American designer is touting one of their recent gowns as "royally inspired" or similar to the royal gown, even if the only thing similar is a bit of lace around the neck or some embellishment along the hemline. That's not 'inspired', it's a stroke of luck on the designer's part when they drew it up last year.

The Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen dress was designed for the Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Baroness of Carrickfergus, Catherine Wales.

She was a size 6 and ended up a size 4. If your body type is different than hers, this dress will do nothing for you.

Your dress should reflect YOUR personality, YOUR individuality, YOUR relationship and YOUR wedding. Not anyone else's, no matter how breathtaking it was.

Like the Bishop of London said during his wedding sermon, "Every wedding is a Royal Wedding", and yours will be just as moving, just as beautiful, but more meaningful.

Make sure the dress suits your occasion, no one else's. Appreciate the gown for the beauty that it is, but wear what suits you and has you feeling like a princess.

Dress of the Week - 2Be Redux

Here's our DotW. This gown is spectacular and here's why.

This 2Be gown by Kathy Ireland is quality from the inside-out. It starts with an internal corset and waist cinch that holds the dress to your body perfectly, giving you a sleek silhouette.

The light crinkle taffeta glistens softly when it catches the light in the side draped bodice.

The sweetheart neckline is very flattering on busts of all sizes, and due to the fitted interior corset and special fabric along the top, the strapless bodice fits closely to the body without drooping. There are removable straps if a slightly different look is desired.

The dropped waistline is accented with hand crafted flowers and feathers, leading the eye to a bubble skirt with pickups and a chapel-length train.

This gown can be purchased in natural or ivory taffeta for a very surprising price point, or for a higher price, can be ordered in silk shantung in natural, ivory, or blush.

Paper Doll Formals is the only store on Vancouver Island that carries Kathy Ireland 2Be gowns and we have this gown in the store to try on.