Back in March, Annika posted about a robot supermodel walking the catwalk who was threatening to take jobs away from the ranks of sniveling supermodels. Now that robot, otherwise known as HRP-4C, has gone bridal. The bride bot, who was created by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, made her blushing debut in an Osaka fashion show and wore a princess bride creation by designer Yumi Katsura. She didn’t exactly speed down the runway, but she did slowly glide down the catwalk, casting sidelong glances at the audience to the tune of Michael Jackson‘s “Billie Jean.” After the jump, check out the video of the fembot bride and her glow-in-the-dark wedding dress. [Tokyo Mango]

Wedding planning ‘tis always a bit of a hassle. Despite hours upon hours of meticulous planning something is bound to go wrong. Grandma gets drunk, the ring boy swallows the wedding band, the maid of honor locks herself in the bathroom crying about how she looks like a fat cow and won’t come out. There are so many tiny details which will inevitably get screwed up, but the hair and makeup is usually a pretty straightforward process. Not so for bride Shivani on her wedding day. It was almost lights, camera, action time when Shivani and her sister skedaddled over to the Cleopatra Day Spa Beauty and Slimming beauty parlor for their pre-arranged 3:30 appointment. That’s when disaster struck.

This afternoon, I was at my parents’ house for a family friend get-together. I always enjoy these “parties” because they are both low-key and you are able to receive an update on the lives of people that you haven’t seen for years! But, slowly the conversation always dwindles to a certain sensitive topic, or one that I am incredibly passionate about. As a single young woman, I am also a huge feminist, and I get this certain itch in my chest when I hear statements that just don’t agree with my heart.

Most of the time, we hear bad things about brides—they’re dressing their friends in unflattering polyester blends, or freaking out over a misplaced zinnia in a bouquet. But get ready for a bride who’s a real American hero. Last night, Georgette Clemons was leaving her wedding reception when she saw smoke coming from a nearby house. She ran in and saved an entire family, which included pulling a woman out from the heavy smoke who didn’t want to leave without her animals. By the time the firefighters arrived, Georgette was outside, folding up her blackened wedding dress. Okay, please tell me someone is starting a comic based around a bride superhero. Her garter belt could become a slingshot and her veil, a parachute! Seriously, we have a best-seller on our hands. [Yahoo!]

It’s been a little over a month since I got engaged, and other than securing a date and spot for the wedding ceremony (late July in a small Central Park garden), I haven’t done a thing to prepare. To tell you the truth, some days I don’t bother putting on my ring, and sometimes I forget I’m even engaged until someone sends me a link to a wedding dress or an invitation design I might like. It’s not that I’m not thrilled to have found someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, because I am, it’s just that I find this whole wedding planning process incredibly tedious. Obviously, a Knot Bride, I am not, but the thing is, I’m really not an Indie Bride or Offbeat Bride, either. Is there a site for the Indifferent Bride?

A lot of brides have already got something old, something borrowed, and something blue, but now they’ve really got something new—baby bumps!  According to the Daily Mail U.K., there was a sudden rise in maternity bridal dress sales to satisfy the estimated 20,000 brides in Britain who were with child on their big day last year. That number accounts for a record 10% of women under 45 who are tying the knot for the first time! Here in the States, one in six brides is preggers—just like Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba when they married their spouses. And these gals are not just waddling down the aisle on their wedding day wearing a muumuu; they’re going for traditional white gowns with big price tags. 

Word around the blogosphere is that The Knot, the website devoted to obsessing over wedding and engagement details, may be tanking. Though I’ve heard it’s a helpful resource for brides, I’ve never had reason to visit it myself (even if I were engaged, I’d be more of an IndieBride), but I took the news of its possible doom as an excuse to check it out and see what I’d been missing. Holy moly, you guys, the site’s better than porn…especially for its awesome message boards! After the jump, some one my favorite messages from the boards, all of which are reason enough to hope this site stays strong and survives the recession.

If you thought that Bridezillas we’re bats%&t crazy, just wait until you hear how the average engaged woman feels about doin’ it before she says “I do!” According to the New York Post, a whopping 53% of brides-to-be won’t have sex with their future spouse for at least a month before their wedding. Forty-two-percent said they have also put a stop to any hanky-panky. Seriously?! Ladies, it’s not like you’re going to get your hymen to grow back in time to wear the white dress.  You’ve already tried his family jewels on for size.  Why should you deny yourself passion during these highly romantic/stressful times? Give it up, turn it loose! No wonder brides are always so up tight about floral arrangements and grooms go nuts at their bachelor parties! Come to think of it, I guess now I know what the “something blue” refers to. [NY Post]

Hiring a hairstylist and a makeup artist used to be sufficient for the big day, but not anymore. Brides are increasingly demanding or strongly suggesting their bridesmaids, mothers and mothers-in-law get all types of cosmetic enhancements, like Botox, Restylane, and even breast implants. In most cases, the brides are replacing the customary mani/pedi bonding session with trips to an aesthetician, where she foots the bill, but some bridesmaids are actually willing to pay for these treatments themselves. I can understand a bride wanting everything to be perfect on her wedding day, but perfect to me means showing loved ones as themselves. The bride has the right to choose the bridesmaids’ dress, but she has no right to demand cosmetic enhancements. Why risk a friendship over a wrinkle, an acne scar or sun damage? The only way I’d get Botox for a demanding bride is if she paid for it and I could get it in my armpits, which I imagine is extremely painful, but I hate sweat stains. [New York Times]

Personally, I’m against cake toppers. Everyone knows they’re at a wedding, so why ruin your gorgeous, expensive cake with a plastic bride and groom who don’t even look like you?

If you think the premise of the movie Made of Honor (bride’s best friend is a guy, and bride asks him to be her maid of honor) is a bunch of hooey, you thought wrong. Non-traditional wedding traditions, including asking a guy to be the man of honor, are becoming more common, according to WeddingChannel.com senior editor Christa Vagnozzi. In a poll by the website, 63 percent of brides said they’d ask their best friend to be a bridesman/man of honor if that person were a guy. This creates an added dilemma, however. What does a bridesman wear? Certainly not a chartreuse silk dress. “When it comes to what to wear, a bridesman should wear a tie, pocket kerchief, and boutonniere to match the bridesmaid dresses and bouquets,” WeddingChannel.com fashion expert Mara Urshel said. “As for the groomswoman, it’s best if she wears the same color as the bridesmaids, but not the same dress nor the same flowers.”

A couple in Vallejo, CA, had a rowdy party after their wedding on Saturday. The police came twice and, supposedly, the groom took off his shirt and approached an officer like he wanted to fight. The cop pulled a Taser on him, the groom and a cousin were arrested, and the bride was taken into custody on suspicion of public intoxication. This sets a new standard for wedding receptions: It’s not a party unless someone, preferably a member of the bridal party, gets tased. [CNN]