There is nothing as joyful as planning a wedding. Today the bridal business is great. Bridal apparel is a multi-billion dollar industry. According to The Wedding Report (www.theweddingreport.com) there are 2,130,238 first-time brides in the United States alone. Bridal Apparel I recently helped plan my son and daughter-in-laws wedding and we had a blast picking out wedding gowns and visiting some of the shows put on by the wedding gown distributors and taking in all of the bridal apparel and gifts offered for sale. The DressWhen it comes to a wedding the single most important decision to make is what bridal manufacturers you are going to look at. There are tons of bridal apparel and gift ideas to choose from. A good place to start is with a couple of the wedding magazines that are on the market. If you’re looking to save money visit www.all-freemagazines.com/Free-Wedding-Magazines/ for a list of the many wedding magazines you can subscribe to for free. Go through the magazines and find the gowns that just take your breath away and then start searching on the Internet for boutiques that carry that bridal manufacturer or look for some bridal wholesalers in nearby cities. TheKnot.com The Knot is a great place to start. Their website is www.theknot.com/?MsdVisit=1 and all brides and grooms should visit this website and register their big day there. The Knot’s ultimate gown guide has a lot of resources for wedding gown distributors and designers, personalized bridal wear, and any other bridal business that you can imagine. Whether you are planning a small intimate event or a lavish event, The Knot is a great beginning point.Personalized bridal wear and personalized wedding wearPersonalized bridal wear is a big business in itself. A few years ago you started seeing the t-shirts that have bride, mother of the bride, groom, etc. on them. Now you can have customized under panties made for the bride that has her new married name on them. Not to mention the personalized bridal wear for the wedding party. There are wedding party apparel such as hats, shirts and even cozies for your favorite friends to enjoy and feel special to the big event. Many of these gifts are embroidered bridal wear and the good news is that you can even find some of these treats at bridal wholesalers around the world. Advantage Bridal (http://advantagebridal.com/index.html) offers many different personalized bridal wear and their prices are pretty good too. Other personalized goodiesBridal manufacturers have gotten smart over the years. They now cater to the entire event. At my son’s wedding they had personalized petit fours with both of their initials on them. They wrapped them up in Tiffany boxes to compliment the ring that he had chosen for his bride. Not to mention the personalized M&Ms (available at http://www.mymms.com/) which display any short message the couple desires on them. The M&Ms are not only a treat for the wedding guests, but because they are available in so many different colors they make a great decoration for the reception tables too. If you can imagine an item you want for your wedding, get on the Internet and you can find many bridal manufacturers who make it. Start a new traditionMake your special day an event for everyone that comes to remember. Go to several bridal shows and learn what’s new and exciting this bridal season. Just like the season itself, new trends come with each new wedding. Start a new one yourself by being the first one to decorate the reception tables with personalized photo tiles of the bride and groom that guest can take home to treasure. They are very personalized and a gift that lasts a lifetime. They will be cherished by anyone that’s lucky enough to get one. Visit www.imagesnap.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=149&F_ID=imagesnapm to order your personalized photo-tiles. They were the most talked about feature at my son’s wedding!