Tag Archives: wedding dress

Eye On Design: 13th Annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest!

TP Wedding Dress Contestants 2016
2001 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contestants with Judge Mikie Russo (All Images Courtesy of Direct Contact PR)

Planning a Wedding can get pretty expensive; it is just a fact. Wedding dresses, especially, cost thousands of dollars for an outfit that (if you are very lucky) you will wear just once in your lifetime. That does not seem terribly cost effective to me. For some, saving money on weddings is more than a hobby, and barely less than an obsession. Laura Gawne and Susan Bain, the ladies who operate the popular websites Cheap Chic Weddings and T P Dress Contest have a few hints to help you save money on your wedding, and on the dress in particular. If you have a flare for design, why not consider making your dress out of Toilet Paper? Yes, I just typed that.

The 2017 edition of the annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest is now open, and Cheap Chic Weddings is thrilled to welcome their new Presenting Sponsor, Quilted Northern Toilet Paper! Since 2004, the Cheap Chic Weddings Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest has challenged creative minds from across the country to create a wearable, on-trend wedding dress and headpiece from only toilet paper, glue, tape and needle and thread.

TP Wedding Dress Winner 2016
2016 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest Winner by Van Tran

Wedding Dress Winner Detail
Detail from 2016 Winning Design By Van Tran

Quilted Northern® is excited to supply toilet paper that has been crafted with the highest attention-to-detail for over 100 years – making it luxurious enough for a wedding dress. Contestants have until June 5, 2017 to submit their paper masterpieces. The Top Ten entries will be chosen, and then online voting will be open to the public.

The top ten dresses and their designers will be flown to New York City to participate in a live fashion show finale event at a fabulous Peerspace Event Space in New York City on July 20, 2017, where the top three winners will be chosen!

At the Finale Event, the dress entries will be judged by Cheap Chic Weddings founders, a representative from Quilted Northern®, a representative from Sponsor Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and celebrity guest judges Actor, Singer, Producer and Author Jenna Ushkowitz,  as well as Mikie Russo, Celebrity Party Planner and Lifestyle Expert!

TP Wedding Dress Judge Mikie Russo
TP Wedding Dress Contest Judge, Mikie Russo

“We are always excited to see what our talented contestants dream up.” says Susan Bain, Co-Founder of Cheap Chic Weddings. “We can’t wait to see how our contestants will work with the meticulously designed Quilted Northern® Toilet Paper! “We know it will be a wonderful match!” added co-founder Laura Gawne.

The Grand Prize winner will receive $10,000, the second place winner will receive $5000 and the third place winner will receive $2500.

Here’s How to Enter:

First: Plan your design.

Second: Grab some Quilted Northern Toilet Paper (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush or Quilted Northern Ultra Soft & Strong, or Both), tape, glue and/or needle and thread (that’s all you can use)! To help offset the cost of designing these memorable creations; Quilted Northern is providing coupons by request by emailing TPDresscontest@gmail.com.

Third: Make the dress and headpiece on your model or mannequin and take a few clear, well-lit, unaltered digital photos (front, back and side). The dress must be able to be worn by a human!

All photos and an Official Entry form are to be submitted to Cheap Chic Weddings at TPDresscontest@gmail.com by June 5, 2017 at 11:00 PM EST. There is no entry fee. The Judging Panel at Cheap Chic Weddings will judge the initial digital photo entries.

View the complete contest information at: This Link. Official contest rules along with lots of other wedding cost saving tips and information can be found at This Link. Good Luck!

Pink Thing of The Day: Wedding Ensemble By Yves Saint Laurent

Wedding Ensemble By YSL
All Photos By Gail

This whimsical Wedding Ensemble from the Yves Saint Laurent Summer/Spring 1999 prêt–à–porter collection consists of two well positioned wreaths of flowers: a bikini-like bra top and hip-hugging bottom with a long train attached. For the ultra-confident bride! Continue reading Pink Thing of The Day: Wedding Ensemble By Yves Saint Laurent

Pamela Bennett Ader, Legal Vows at Phoenix Gallery

Legal Vows
All Photos By Gail

One of the most fun and unique exhibits I visited during last week’s Thursday night art crawl was Pamela Bennett Ader’s, Legal Vows, which I stumbled upon at Phoenix Gallery while running between shows at Emmanuel Fremin and Joseph Gross (fortunately, all of these galleries happen to be in the same building).

Installation View

White and Black Barbie

What I caught my attention when I walked by the gallery were little vitrines lining the walls, with Barbie and Ken Doll Couples in them! In celebration of the Supreme Court’s decision for the legalization of same sex marriages, Ader created these mixed media vignettes of same sex couples on their wedding days, using Barbie and Ken dolls that she bought on eBay. “With or without the permission of Mattel,” she offers, “my Barbies and Kens are a happy and legal lot!”

David and Hakim

This one reminds me of my friends David and Hakim, who got married over Easter weekend this year. When I tagged them both in a FaceBook post of the above photo, Hakim commented “We need to have this in our house!” I can imagine many couples might want to own one of Ader’s works to celebrate their happy unions!

Two Barbie's

In the exhibition’s press release, Ader reveals her motivation behind the artworks. “This body of work is in celebration of same-sex marriages. I believe in love and I believe in marriage. I also must confess to have had no feeling about the need for these legal marriages until 9/11. Compounding the horror of the day, I was horrified when I learned that many couples, some of which were life partners, were denied any benefits as surviving mates. In some cases, unknowing or unfeeling parents did not even include these loved ones in funeral arrangements not to mention the many who were evicted from their homes and questioned about possessions.” You can see there is deeply felt compassion behind this project, which makes it even cooler.

Two Kens

Legals Vows is only up for a few weeks, so don’t miss it!

Two Barbies

Pamela Bennett Ader’s Legal Vows will be on Exhibit Through November 28th at Phoenix Gallery, Located at 548 West 28th Street, Suite 528, In the Chelsea Gallery District.

Two Kens

Legal Vows at Phoenix Gallery