Unconventional celebrity wedding dresses

Gone are the days of ful-length white gowns and over-the-top meringue frocks, as more and more people are swapping the traditional floor-sweeping white number for a cool and quirky take on the wedding dress – especially celebrities.

Just last November Solange Knowles tied the knot to music video director Alan Ferguson and completely passed up on the tradition of wearing a white gown by rocking a cream jumpsuit designed by Stephane Rolland.

Other stars are sticking to the custom of a dramatic dress but offering their own twist; actress Shenae Grimes married model boyfriend Josh Beech back in 2013 and although the Canadian starlet wore a celeb favourite – Vera Wang – her dress was black. The striking gown consisted of a lace halter-neck bodice with a tulle skirt that featured a grey to black ombre effect.

It’s not just the colour that celebrities like to mix up; Piper Perabo chose a metallic, leopard print slinky dress for her marriage to Stephen Kay last summer, complete with a yellow veil. The Michael Kors creation was most certainly a brave choice but showcased Piper’s individual sense of style and had everybody talking.

Aside from modern celebrities who have embraced the unconventional wedding dress, Hollywood icons Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe all went down the alternative route when they married.  Monroe wore a simple dark suit for her nuptials to baseball player Joe DiMaggio and Hepburn picked a Givenchy mini dress for her 1969 marriage to Mel Ferrer. Admittedly Taylor’s first wedding to Nicky Hilton back in the 50s featured a classic, white wedding gown but by wedding number eight she had worn two yellow dresses, two green dresses and an A-line skirt with matching jacket.

Unconventional dresses are slowly becoming the norm; perhaps in 20 years’ time a white gown will be so unheard of it will be see as the alternative.

Emily-Rose Vierke