Not the best pic (blame Dlisted) but I love Milla’s wedding dress (which she designed herself) along with her hair and headpiece.

A million years ago, I posted a design contest regarding making a wedding dress out of toilet paper. Well, here are the finalists. Six dresses were displayed at the Times Square “odditorium” Thursday and three winning designers squared off for the top prize of $1,000.

The judges from Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, Charmin and Cheap-Chic-Weddings crowned this year’s winner, Katrina Chalifoux.  She apparently spent two weeks creating a sheath dress with a raised flower pattern from molded toilet paper.

Junko Yoshioka will be hosting a sample sale at her flagship bridal salon in New York on June 19-20-21. They are having many styles and sizes marked down to as low at 75% off and this is their first sale at their newly opened atelier.

Junko Yoshioka Flagship Bridal Salon Sample Sale
Thursday, June 19th till Saturday, June 21st<

Junko Yoshioka Bridal Salon
580 Broadway (Prince-Houston St)
Suite #210
New York, NY 10012
By Appointment Only. Call 212.206.9302

Can you use rolls of toilet paper to make a beautiful wedding dress?

Everyone likes to save money here and there. And for some, saving money on weddings is more than a hobby, and a little less than an obsession. Cheap Chic Weddings’ fourth annual “Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest” is Proudly Sponsored by Charmin Toilet Paper and Ripley’s Believe it Or Not!

First Prize Winner Last Year

The prizes are bigger and better than ever. The Grand Prize is a $1000 American Express Gift Card. Second Place will receive a $500 Gift Card. Third Place gets a $250 Gift Card and Runners Up will receive $100 Gift Card. All entrants will be reimbursed for the toilet paper with a Free Charmin coupon and the winners will receive the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not 2008 book.

Here’s How To Enter: First: Enlist a friend’s help. (optional) Second: Plan your design. Third: Grab some Charmin Toilet Paper, and Tape or Glue (that’s all you can use)! Fourth: Make the dress on your model then take some digital pictures. All photos are submitted to contest@cheap-chic-weddings.com. There is no entry fee. The contest will run from April 28, 2008- June 2, 2008. The digital photo entries will be evaluated by the Official Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Judging Panel at Cheap Chic Weddings. $1000 First Prize and other prizes will be awarded!

Second Prize Winner Last Year

“Last year’s contest was the biggest to date and many readers could not wait for the contest again this year.” Laura Gawne said. “The gowns turned out so lovely and our readers really showed their talents. We look forward to seeing the new entries this year.”

Official contest rules along with lots of other wedding cost saving tips are available at www.cheap-chic-weddings.com.

Weddings may be the last bit of tradition we have in our society of apathetic views towards religion.  As more religious traditions have become jaded by commercialism and fraud, getting married denotes a need to give in to the old school, suit up, and walk the aisle.  But, a new batch of designers and indies are giving the wedding a bit of a shake up.  Weddings are being streamed virally online, receptions are getting replaced by all night dance parties with rock bands and DJs, and the wedding dress is getting a fresh makeover.

We’ve begun to see a trend towards dresses that are shorter, less frilly, and even, gasp, ones that are not white!!!  (Guess we know who did and didn’t wait till the Honeymoon).  At left is one perfect example from WWD. It’s a wedding dress inspired by the Mad Hatter (I guess we know who plays Alice in this relationship).  Whether these dresses hit the mainstream is anybodies guess, just be glad that you can finally have a wedding that will keep you looking like the most unique bride in the world.