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11 Craziest New Wedding Trends

Out-of-control bachelorette parties, life-sized cakes modeled after the bride, extreme theme weddings excess is the new rite of passage for the bride-to-be. Here, the 11 craziest wedding trends.

By Kory Kennedy

Jul 16, 2010

Retail Weddings

For couples short on cash, but all about the sack of 10, retail weddings are a growing trend. Staging nuptials in places like Taco Bell, TJ Maxx, and White Castle could save each couple a few hundred bucks. Apparently love is far from priceless.

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Comstock Images

Bachelorettes Gone Wild, Way Wild

Male strippers, phallic cupcakes, drunk tabletop dancing.... Today's brides are becoming increasingly shameless. In fact, Katy Perry publicly asked Rihanna to strip at her bachelorette party, while some especially crazy girls' nights out have resulted in arrests (like in Kansas and Colorado).

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B2M Productions/Digital Vision

Requiring Bridesmaids to Get Plastic Surgery

From Botox to breast implants, an increasing number of brides are insisting that bridal attendants undergo cosmetic procedures in order to look perfect for the wedding. Suddenly a teal and canary taffeta bridesmaid's dress doesn't sound half bad.

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sozaijiten/Datacraft

Doggy Wedding Attendants

K9 ring bearers are a fad we'd like to see run its course. It doesn't matter how cute the dog is, he doesn't belong in the wedding party.

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David Freund/Photodisc

Themed Weddings

Is this a growing trend or is it just the fact that we're exposed to them more often on Facebook these days? Common interest and shared hobbies may have brought the bride and groom together, but a wedding isn't the ideal place to pay tribute to a mutual love for extreme sports, Disney characters, Vulcans, or The Lord of the Rings.

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photographer snapping pictures of a woman

Digital Vision/Photodisc

Boudoir Books

Before the big day, the bride and the wedding photographer establish comfort with each other during a private, "sensual" photo shoot, where the bride undresses and models lingerie. It sounds a little creepy but fear not, grooms̵, you'll be presented with the fruits of their labor — the boudoir book — on your wedding night, a constant reminder that your wifey got naked in front of another man right before she said, "I do." Hot.

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Ned Frisk/Bend Images

The YouTube Aisle Procession Dance

Post a YouTube video of ill-advised wedding procession dancing and suddenly an entire nation is inspired to "boogie" down the aisle. Ladies and gentleman, bridesmaids and groomsmen, for the sake of your own dignity, stick to the traditional march.

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Gilles Mingasson/Getty Image News

Group Weddings

Group weddings are becoming more and more popular as a way to skirt the overinflated costs of a traditional wedding. No haggling with caterers, shelling out for ballroom deposits, or skimping on floral arrangements — just you, your honey, and 60 other lovesick couples you've never met before.

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Imagewerks Japan

Robot Officiants

Kokoro Co., a Japanese company, has manufactured a robot that can legally perform marriages. Sure, this solves the rabbi/priest/justice of the peace problem — but shouldn't the officiant joining two lives actually be alive?

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Siri Stafford /Taxi

Life-Sized Bride Cake

Okay, maybe it's not a trend per se (at least, we hope not). But one woman did manage to take bridal hubris to a new level when she commissioned a five-foot-tall wedding-cake replica of herself dressed in her wedding gown for the renewal of her wedding vows. She told the UK's Daily Mail newspaper that having a cake modeled after her likeness had been a lifelong dream. Huh.

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