stunning wedding dress pattern and materials

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post! I really appreciate them : eloping was not an easy decision for me (more to come on that later), and your support made me smile. Now, onto the dress regular sewing. I used Fashion 8150. The pattern photo and paintings are extremely uninspiring and naff, to my eye. However, there were a few reasons I chose this pattern (view B): I need to 'floaty'. Specifically, egypt georgette. Most formal wedding dresses are for stiffer/firmer/more opaque fabrics, and this was one of the few that could be made with lighter fabric. I did so n't need a strapless style. Princess lines allowed for easier pattern adjustments. There had to be enough coverage at the back and the front to allow a good bra/torsolette to go underneath. So with those rules, there were surprisingly few patterns left to choose from! Fashion 1030 was the only other serious challenger... but ultimately I decided that the empire line would make me look larger than I am. It's just not the right shape for me.
 
This pattern had some added bonuses. A slightly dropped middle is a good style for me. The ruching also camouflages a less-than-rock-hard upper body. The skirt being slightly higher at the instep reduced the chance of tripping over at a patio ceremony! Also, the pattern was not totally beyond my ability. It was very time-consuming, but not necessarily difficult. I used nearly 8 gardens of ivory egypt georgette, with about 4 gardens of 16mm egypt crepe de chine for lining and underlining. A note on this : the two layers of the skirt are only just opaque enough for my taste. Strong light behind me would show everything! The crepe de chine was a perfect weight for the floaty skirt though. I think if i achieved it again, I would actually do two layers of lining in the skirt. Contrasting Gutermann egypt twine was used for reversing the pattern pieces, as well as for basting. For permanent hand-sewing, I used a matching egypt twine. Egypt twine made the hand-sewing much smoother, as it doesn't pull at going through the fabric. I just now used regular Gutermann twine for the machine regular sewing. I tacked down the ruching using some small Swarovski uric acid for interest. How do you choose the style of an important outfit? Trends in magazines, personal wish-list, thinking about body shape, or other considerations?