You can’t wear a white dress to a wedding. It’s just not a subtle enough method for stealing the show. Turn up at the ceremony wearing a floor-length cream silk number, and suddenly everyone’s muttering insults about how you’re the “Inappropriate One.” Instead, walk in looking a level of gorgeous that diverts attention without being completely trashy. Kate Bosworth’s Met Ball hair and makeup (and dress) absolutely slaughtered the competition, and we show you how to steal her look after the jump.

If your friend’s getting married at City Hall, she’s probably a no-nonsense girl. She wants to get the job done and she wants it done now. This doesn’t mean you can put in zero effort just ‘cause it’s not a big ceremony and the selection of groomsmen is tiny. We love Cynthia Nixon’s look for its sophisticated prettiness and tell you how to get it after the jump!

Beach weddings, much like daytime weddings, are not a time to go crazy with the makeup and prom-like hair. Keep it lovely by working the bright eyes and clean-looking skin. And, because you’re going to look naturally-pretty instead of hooker-hot, pick a dress with a fun neckline or a statement necklace to add a little something-something to your look.

It’s easy to be cynical about attending a wedding, and unfortunately the recession has only made it easier to begrudge those who bask in true love’s light and make us schlep out to some random country club in the middle of nowhere. I actually love weddings, but celebrating the chubby-cheeked cupid is expensive. The outfits, the gift, the travel—it all adds up! Before you start getting all anti-wedding, here are seven easy ways to save this season.

On Sunday, my sister is getting hitched. Lizz is the exact opposite of a bridezilla, but because she’s a professional event planner, she sent me an amazingly precise document laying out exactly what time everything will be going down on the big day. So I know that at exactly 3:45 p.m., it’s time for me to give a toast.

I’m very excited about giving the toast. Public speaking doesn’t phase me much, and I kind of like the rush that comes with lots of people staring at you, hanging on to your every word. I want my toast to be semi-brilliant. I want people to laugh, I want people to cry. The thing is—I’m not exactly sure what to say. I have lots of ideas swirling about, I just haven’t settled on the right one. And so, I consulted Tom Haibeck, who wrote the book Wedding Toasts Made Easy. Here are his five tips for creating the perfect toast.

Wedding season is upon us. And I don’t just mean that wonderful time between March and September when thousands of men and women dress up, say “I do,” and watch as friends and family get pleasantly drunk on the couple’s tab. No, I mean that four to seven year period during your 20s and 30s when destination weddings become proxies for summer vacations, and where a church service doesn’t seem complete without a big kiss and some wild applause to wrap things up. Since most guys don’t dream of their big day from the time we’re 8 years old, this big day baffles us a bit. But, by following this handy-dandy program, every dude can successfully navigate perils of the season. Begin the regimen, after the jump.

Getting laid at a wedding is even easier than getting drunk at one. While holding onto Johnny Walker is a good time, you can get your rocks off, too. The key elements are there: dudes are lookin’ their finest, love is in the air, and you definitely wore cute underwear (unless you’re wearing Spanx to fit into your dress). Hey, the bride and groom shouldn’t get to have all the fun! So here’s how you can get a piece… of cake at a wedding.

I’m on the borderline of sizes between plus and misses—a 14/16 that can easily fill an 18 after a Snickers bar. So, every time one of my friends takes the plunge, I have to try to squeeze into dresses that look great on all the other, thinner girls. I get to sport that skin sausage look, which, although unflattering, helps me get lucky with the single groomsmen—they look at me and can tell I’d do anything to get out of the tight dress.

For once, I’d like to wear a dress that fits me and doesn’t cause post-traumatic dress disorder. It’s not any of the brides’ faults, they are true friends. Most boutiques and designers only go up to a size 8, 10, or 12 at best. What am I supposed to do, sew two dresses together?! Or, the shops are strictly for big beautiful women and they only go from 14 up. What are those skinny girls supposed to do, cut the dress in half?

When I got engaged about a week ago, the questions, inevitably, came pouring in: What’s the date? Where are you registered? Are you planning a shower? My answers were: No idea, I’m not, I’d rather be attacked by a hive of angry bees with no EpiPen nearby. People were aghast. No shower?! Why wouldn’t you want a shower? It’s a party in your honor! Espresso machines as gifts! Enough wine glasses to last through forty years of snapped stems! Expensive-ish linens!

So, I surveyed a group of friends about the shower phenomenon—some of them had been through their own showers, others who had been forced to buck up and attend about 84908923290123 of them like me. Here’s what I thought (and they agreed) would make a bridal shower vaguely tolerable, brides listen up!

If you show up at a daytime wedding caked in makeup with a prom-style updo, you’re going to look like a moron. There, we said it. Daytime weddings aren’t always casual, but they’re definitely more chill than nighttime weddings. Your hair and makeup should match the minimal-fuss attitude of the event. After the jump, we tell you how to get model Jacquetta Wheeler’s smartly laid-book look.

Simcha, Kate, what’s the big deal in going to a wedding sans date? I’ve gone to several weddings solo, and it never occurred to me that I should: A) feel offended that my invitation didn’t include a “plus one,” or that B) I should feel the least bit insecure that I didn’t have a “plus one” to invite anyway. One of the weddings I went to solo was shortly after a bad breakup in which I found myself truly single for the first time in several years, and it was for a snotty cousin who was five years younger than I and who positively delighted in “beating” me to the altar. But, so what? I had plenty of family to catch up with, enough cute boys to smile at, and an open bar to make even the most mundane of weddings tolerable. And even if I had thought to invite a guest (and had gotten the okay from the couple), I can’t imagine a more awkward date than dragging some poor guy I was just getting to know to a boring wedding (and come on, they’re all mostly boring) where he’d be forced to schmooze with my entire extended family and answer questions about when he planned to put a ring on it. Sure, the alternative meant being questioned about my single status, but I doubt any of the old ninnies who pressed me about it really spent more than a few minutes worrying about the state of my love life. After the jump, the seven reasons you’re better off going to a wedding without a date.

Ahh, marriage. Certainly men think long and hard about whether they want to get married right? Or maybe the answer is a no brainer, requiring very little obsession and thought and magazine purchasing? Being that it’s Wedding Week on The Frisky, and because I’d hate to leave the fellas out of such a sexy topic, I went to the guys on our IM to find out how they feel about marriage, weddings, and everything in between… Prepare to be touched!

After my engagement ended, my tolerance for weddings was low. Very low. That first week spent on my couch in pure misery saw me turning my eyes away from any and all wedding references. The wedding book I was given by my almost-mother-in-law got hidden in the back of my closet, along with our engagement party invitations and, of course, my engagement ring (now out of sight in a locked safety deposit box!). Anything of a romantic nature in pop culture repulsed me, and for awhile all I watched was the news. It was depressing, just like me!

On Sunday afternoon, my little sister Lizz is marrying one of my best friends from high school, Pat. They’ve been together for 11 years, and are the kind of couple that looks alike, talks alike, and compliments each other in every way, giving me a touch of faith in this whole crazy love thing. I am pumped for the ceremony, which will be held in my favorite park in New York City, right under the Brooklyn Bridge. I am pumped that Pat will finally be my brother-in-law, a term I’ve used to describe him for years anyway. I am pumped for the reception, which will feature barbecue and cupcakes, and a “Celebrate Good Times”-free wedding dance mix created by yours truly. Heck, I’m even pumped to wear my bridesmaid dress. But there is just one little thing I’m dreading about Sunday: I have no date.