There's an element of surprise in wedding dresses for spring; new developments in color and fabric that allow the bride to have her cake and eat it, too.

In true pre-millennium style, bridal designers have cast their eyes across the last 100 years of fashion and incorporated a modern take on the best inventions, giving spring brides a selection ranging across hundreds of styles, fabrics and accessories.

The look can be fun, flirty and feminine; sleek and sexy, or ornate and embellished. The only rule of thumb: Whether you choose a traditional shape or a modern sheath, make sure it's sweeping the floor.

Thanks to fabulous fabrics like liquid satin and silk winning out over tulle, this season you'll wed in total comfort. For every fitted bodice, there's a tank-top-style dress; for every strap there's a super-gorgeous sleeve; for every bustle there's a slim sheath.

This is the season to be yourself - but better - on your wedding day.

AMAZING LACE Ever since Victorian times, lace has been a staple of the wedding dress. This spring designers give lace a new face: Catch lace creeping over shoulders as an overlay accessory for strapless gowns. Or, to create an embroidered top layer of fabric, lace bonds with silk crepe and is used all over the dress. Sheer lace sleeves complements the look. Lace also peeks, petticoat-like, from underneath full satin skirts and lingers like lingerie at the neckline.

SHINING STARS Liquid satin and silk charmeuse have spurred a bridal take on the Hollywood starlet. These flowing fabrics skim the hips and fall into luxurious folds to create slim column silhouettes. Think Jean Harlow, sizzling in a next-to-nothing siren gown, and then check out Carolina Herrera or Yumi Katsura's versions of the Harlow look.

THE NEW WHITE If gray is the fashion world's new black, then look out for silver and platinum on an aisle near you _ it's the bride's new white. In silk or satin, beaded or left beautifully bare, silver and platinum are elegant, sophisticated hues in which to say "I do." Check out designs by Wearkstatt and Yumi Katsura's Erisa line.

FAIR BIAS Madame Madeline Vionnet pioneered the bias look just after World War I, and its flattering lines still give today's bridal designers some of their best ideas. The bias cut crosses the body with a diagonal line, allowing fabric to flow with the curves of your own shape. Dresses at Yumi Katsura, Les Noces, Suzanne Neville and Ulla-Maija were seen flowing out from bias-cut bodices, doing it diagonally on the hips or dipping downward in a layer to the knee.

GET BACK The look is deceptively downplayed from the front and bustling with accessories on the bride's back. Monique Lhuillier does it with beautiful buttons and beaded butterflies. We saw the most subtle bustles, some adorned with spring flowers and others sitting below bared backs. Sequins and well-placed satin folds add glitz and glamour to the season's most backward trend.

WRAP PARTY If your religion requires covered shoulders, you'll be pleased to know that this season designers are listening. The options include wonderful matching wraps in sheer organza (Yumi Katsura and Domo Adami), soft white duchess silk-satin (Carolina Herrera) and spider web beads (Erisa).

PEEK-A-BOO PIECES "Now you see it, now you don't" is the motto of some of spring's most interesting designs. In a move away from the solid skirt, a front or back slit showing contrasting lace inserts (check out Helen Morley, Acquachiara Sposa and Carolina Herrera) were everywhere. Others indulged us with glimpses of rich contrasting embroidery (Reem Acra and Les Noces).

GOLDEN DELICIOUS Gold makes a bold statement this season, adorning more than your ring finger. Dresses are embellished with ornate, old-world embroidery (think Arabian princess) in stripes from neckline to hem (Les Noces), gold beautifying the bodice (Reem Acra), and along a strapless sensation (Mika Inatome). Also seen on glowing brides: top-to-toe gold (Helen Morley).

ARM CHARM Leave it to the sleeves to dress up the simplest sheath or the most uncomplicated column gown. This season's sleeves are pearled to perfection (Reem Acra), finished off in racy lace (Seabrook Bridal and Les Noces), or softly swirling around the wrists (Ulla-Maija).

PICK POCKETS For a totally modern look (and a subtle place to stash a handkerchief), wear a dress with some perfectly placed pockets. Designers (Domo Adami and Erisa) have added them to the seams of the A-line silhouette, but you won't notice them until you slip your hands inside.

GOODBYE TULLE, HELLO SILK Ulla Maija gives tulle a totally awesome 'til-we-meet-again send-off with her frothy, floaty Tulle Cloud creation. But silk takes center stage creating the same traditional gown silhouette at Acquachiara Sposa and Carolina Herrera.

BLOOMING BRIDGES Spring has sprung! Flowers adorn the freshest designs. We saw them shooting up the center panel of a double organza gown at Birnbaum & Bullock, appliqued in vines on a romantic peach organza jacquard gown at Yumi Katsura, and blossoming at the waist of a gorgeous Max Chaoul ball gown.

ROOM TO MOVE You like your space, and getting married is not about to change that. If corset-style bodices make you hold in your breath, heave sigh of relief for the deconstructed shapes seen out and about. Erisa introduces the tank-top wedding dress with a sporty edge; the loosely fitting Mika Inatome sheath is perfect for a plainly elegant look; and Carolina Herrera provides a twist on the puffed skirt by pairing it with a sequined sleeveless T-shirt. For the daring bride (and those blessed with a toned torso), there's the barely-there slip of a dress (Erisa).

(Nadine Rubin is a writer atTheKnot.com.)

(c) Scripps Howard News Service