It´s all very well being seen in the latest trends in your general style wardrobe, but following fashion´s ups and downs isn´t always the best idea for your wedding.  What´s hot now might make you cringe in twenty years time!  For the day you’ll memorialize in photographs and tell stories about to your children, you want a look that is timeless.  Here are a few tips on achieving that elegant look for your wedding day.

-          The Dress:  It doesn’t have to have a frumpy-high collar number, frothing with lace with sleeves that practically reach your fingertips, but an elegant dress is one that won’t be mistaken for simply a cocktail dress in white.  Dresses which are often remembered as elegant are ones not weighed down with beads and ten-foot trains, but simple gowns, well fitted to the bride’s personal shape and that do a service to her natural beauty.

-          Hairstyle:  I distinctly remember, in the days leading up to prom, my date’s question:  “Why do girls who look fine every day make their hair look like ice sculptures for the prom?”  Same thought, of course, applies to weddings.  Namely:  your hair style should not be an extravaganza unto itself.  As with the dress, simple is best:  clean up-dos or sleek, straightened hair worn down with possibly a few small flowers or diamante barrettes for decoration will look classic regardless of decade.

-          Make-up:   Go light on your wedding day make-up.  Make-up, falling in line behind dress and hairstyle and other aspects of your appearance, makes a big difference when it comes to the final impression you leave.  When aiming for elegance, you want to access your own self-assured attractiveness, and it’s difficult to look self-assured when you’re focused on holding your eyelids far enough apart that the industrial-strength fake lashes don’t get tangled together.  Choose colors which tie in well with the season and hour-of-day of your wedding.

-          Shoes:  This is the one area where I would recommend biting the bullet on discomfort, to a degree.  I’ve known a few instances where ballet flats or kitten-heels went with a bride’s look nicely, but, in the majority of looks, a classic white high-heel is the way to go.  Elongating the leg, improving your posture and, yes, giving you that extra boost of height:  all factors which photograph beautifully.

-          Jewelry:  Take an artist’s look at yourself in the mirror once you’ve put on your dress, practiced your hairstyle and stepped into your shoes.  If any places stand out as blank, fill the canvas as sparingly as possible.

And, as a bonus touch, have your photographer snap some black and white shots; it’ll make everything look all the more elegant.