bridal

By now the world has come to expect a refined romance from Oscar de la Renta's collections, but for his Spring 2014 Bridal line, the designer turned the stuff of fairy tales into reality.

"Every woman dreams of that day," the designer wrote in his show notes. "You have to go the extra mile and fulfill that dream to make something that a woman will fall in love with."

To that end, de la Renta sent out a series of highly decorated gowns that didn't feel stuffy or heavy-handed. His first exit, a pale blue silk organza dress festooned with silver bullion and floral sequin embroidery looked like a cloud, and a dress cut from Chantilly lace and a floral corded appliqué looked light as air.

The gowns were breathtaking, but what stole the show were four young flower girls dressed in little white dresses who elicited oohs and awws from the assembled guests when they came down the runway.

Alice Temperley began designing bridal gowns after her own wedding in 2002, when friends and clients requested her help with their big-day dresses. Since then the Temperley Bridal line has grown into a much-sought-after collection, with gorgeous dresses for the classic bride, the bohemian bride, and everyone in between — her dresses have been worn by Milla Jovovich, Jacquetta Wheeler, and Sophie Dahl, among others.

For Fall 2013, Temperley Bridal launched their Florence collection — a wide variety of sleek, sophisticated dresses that are cut to celebrate the female form and flatter every silhouette. The collection includes 12 new styles ranging from timeless, Grace Kelly-inspired gowns (one of which has an overt vibe of the Duchess of Cambridge) to more decadent, va-va-voom '50s Hollywood shapes. Each one has a delicate blue forget-me-not flower embroidered on the side — a personal "something blue" from Alice Temperley herself. Click through now to enter the world of Temperley Bridal's 2013 collection.

>> Oscar de la Renta started and ended his Spring 2013 bridal show with striking red dresses, but the looks that came between them hewed to traditional shades of white.

Whether starting and ending with a flash of fire was a way to awaken the audience's senses or an appeal to a different customer wasn't clear — the white dresses that made up the bulk of the show were just as powerful. They were by turns festooned with jeweled accents, draped simply, and covered with intricate lace overlays. Like his ready-to-wear collections, de la Renta's bridal gowns spoke to a wide variety of modern women — and to modern little girls, too. Several of the dresses came down the aisle preceded by flower girls wearing younger versions of the grown-up gowns.

Photos: Courtesy of Oscar de la Renta

The dress is chosen, the flowers are picked, the perfect earrings found. Now what do you wear on your impeccably pedicured feet? We found 20 shoes that answer every bridal need: the perfect something blue, bedazzled flip-flops for a beach wedding, flats for the comfort-first girl, killer once-in-a-lifetime heels for the shoehound. Click through our slideshow to our picks, and click to shop.

Choosing a dress for your wedding is a momentous decision; you're going to be wearing it for one of the most important moments of your life, and you're going to be photographed A LOT in that dress. Those photographs will live on for a long, long time, so let's choose the best one, shall we? This week, we're all about the dress, peep our slideshow of the 25 most classically gorgeous wedding gowns around and stay tuned for more frock inspiration.

Yes, there are ways to add green goodness to your wedding without compromising even a little bit of beauty and sophistication. A crop of sites are dedicated to eco-conscious weddings, supplying sources for everything from the invitations to the flowers. We're focused on your stylish self, of course, and we hunted down gorgeously green options, from conflict-free diamond rings to a romantic hemp and bamboo dress to a recycled veil. Click our slideshow to see just how you can get hitched and help save the world — yes, help save the world — at the the same time.

Isaac Mizrahi is bringing his couture skills to the wedding gown with a series of six sophisticated gowns exclusive to wedding site The Aisle. The gowns, which will range in price from $2,200-$4,500 will be available to The Aisle New York members starting tomorrow (this might be a good time to sign up if you're a bride-to-be) for a six-month period. For those who want their gown to fit perfectly — which is everyone — the collection will be available custom made-to-measure and delivered to you within two weeks. Check out the six gorgeous dresses here.