AisleDash

We took a peek at super-luxury weddings to create this inspiration board: From record-breaking bouquets to Indian weddings that are truly over the top, we found that you don't have to be an LVMH heiress to add a few luxurious touches to your real life wedding.

However, it doesn't hurt to dream, does it? So let's get to it!

If you are lucky enough to plan your wedding without a budget holding you back, you can splurge on every last detail, right down to your shoes (to match your couture gown, perhaps?). There are plenty of reasonably priced shoes that are beautiful to boot but there are also those shoes we all drool over when walking through Neiman Marcus -- the ones that cost almost as much as the average monthly mortgage.

Take this sparkly pair from designer Alexander McQueen. For just under $1700 you can complement a beautiful antique-colored wedding gown. If your dress is a bit more modern, this is the perfect bright white pair from Stuart Weitzman.

Check out the rest of the high-priced and eye-catching styles in the gallery.

When an Indian-born billionaire steel tycoon's only daughter marries, you can expect nothing but the best. And then some. Vanisha Mittal, daughter of tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, married Amit Bhatia, an investment banker, in a lavish ceremony in Paris.

Like most Indian weddings, nearly a week of festivities and parties preceded the wedding. A modest thousand guests -- the weddings of Indian mega-rich are usually 10,000 -- were flown in to Paris from India on 12 Boeing jets, where they were put up at a 5-star hotel in Paris. Sources weren't clear on which hotel, but since the George Cinq was one of the party venues, we suspect that's where they were housed. Not too shabby...

Bulgari is synonymous with Italian luxury. It was started in 1884 by a Greek immigrant named Sotirios Vulgaris (he later changed his name to Bulgari) and the flagship store (pictured above) opened in Rome in 1905. Bulgari jewelry is not for the meek - it's a greco-roman fantasy of precious metals and large stones. They're known for bold designs and old-world decadence, so we thought it would be fitting to highlight them during Aisledash's luxury week.

Long a favorite of movie stars and the jet set, Bulgari has designed a line of engagement and marriage rings perfect for the bride who's not afraid to dazzle.

Luxury is in the details, and what is more luxurious than a perfect flower submerged in champagne?

Wild Hibiscus flowers in syrup are grown and hand-made in Australia, and will add a glamorous touch to the champagne toast. Each flower is hand-selected and preserved in sugar in preparation for the eventual champagne bath. The flower arrives closed, and when dropped in the bottom of a champagne flute slowly "blooms" as the bubbles gently free the petals from their sugar coating. The flowers are fully edible, and taste of raspberry and rhubarb for a tasty finish.

They're a decadent feast for the eyes and palate - and surefire conversation starters.

For most of us, 400-count cotton sheets is decently luxurious. And then there are those who shop at Charlotte Thomas. Bedding of 150's Merino wool, woven with real 22-karat gold thread, and backed with Indian hand-loomed silk jacquard, accompanied, if you wish, by silk or 1,000-count Egyptian cotton sheets. Bedding which can cost up to $2400 per sheet.

But we're wondering: with sheets that expensive, would you -- could you -- actually sleep in them? And risk crumpling them? Or, heaven forbid, sweating? Never mind attempting anything that might actually, ahem, make a mess?

These are shoes fit for a (very rich) fairy-tale princess. Designed by Stuart Weitzmann, these gem-studded confections would make any woman feel like magic.

This first pair, purportedly inspired by Dorothy's ruby-red slippers, are made from platinum thread and hold some 642 rubies. They were stored in a bullet-proof case and sold for a million pounds, about two million dollars. That's a heckuva pair of shoes for a kid from Kansas!

Here's a wedding and a half. Eleven thousand guests (yes, you read that right) were taken on 26 planes to Lucknow, India, to a lakeside venue with replicas of a fairytale castle, a fort, a Greek temple and even the White House on its shoreline. More than 100 different types of cuisine, a 120-piece orchestra flown in from England, four dance troupes, tons of flowers (literally), and a company of acrobats were only part of the entertainment for the guests over six days of celebration leading up to the wedding.

In India, of course. Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest areas of the world, is also home to billionaire industrialist Subrata Roy, one of the richest men in the world. His two sons, Sushanto and Seemanto, were wed four days apart during this week-long extravaganza. So elite was the guest list that Bollywood shut down filming for the week: all their best stars were attending the wedding!

And as for the starving masses in the dirt-poor province surrounding the revelers? 140,000 of them were fed for a day, and 101 local girls were given $5,000 (an unimaginable sum for people who earn less than a dollar a day) toward their marriages. So there's that.

According to a recent interview with fashion designer Vera Wang, the most expensive wedding dress she's ever created is never going to be worn. In her recent chat with Michael Eisner on CNBC, Wang said she designed an 18-tiered couture fabric wedding gown for Jennifer Lopez when she was engaged to Ben Affleck.

We all know how that ended.

"It was really, probably far and away, the most expensive and time-consuming to sew," Vera Wang said of the dress. She didn't mention what became of the dress -- we hope she didn't get rid of it. Maybe one day we'll see the dress on an auction block somewhere, where we're sure it'll fetch a handsome price -- not just because of its materials, but also its history.

If you are planning your wedding without the restraint of a budget, the sky really is the limit when it comes to what gifts to buy for your bridesmaids. A few things to choose from when it comes to spoiling your favorite women include the dress they will wear in your ceremony, travel accommodations to the wedding (flight, hotel) or a day at a local spa (pedicure, manicure, facial -- the works!).

But if you're looking to splurge on a thank-you gift that not only shows your gratitude but is also original -- something she is sure to get use of and be stunned by, check out the gallery for a handful of lavish gift ideas your bridal party won't soon forget.

If you're going to make sure the flowers, cake and decorations are all the cream of the crop, thank your bridesmaids with the best of the best, as well.

Oscar de la Renta's 2008 bridal collection reiterates what it is that makes the de la Renta name synonymous with Old Hollywood glamour: these gowns are over-the-top elegant, with lavish embellishments and huge silhouettes. They are classic extravagant bridal attire, the kind that every little girl dreams of wearing, and every grown up girl aspires to afford.

In the face of a recession, Jenna Bush's decision to have Oscar de la Renta design her wedding gown is an important statement about money and power and place of couture in our economy. We love the idea of the designer gown, created by the designer himself; we love the idea of a style that is simultaneously timeless and of the moment. And perhaps just now, when we are watching the price of gasoline rise and rise and rise, we love the idea of a gown that is entirely frivolous and beautiful and not intended to be utilitarian at all.

Here, a wedding is a day. Sure, there might be showers, but as far as extended wedding partying goes, we're small potatoes. You want wild wedding partying? Head to India.

Indian tradition dictates that in the days leading up to a wedding, there be parties for the bride, the groom, the families and friends. A family might throw five parties in a week, each of them as opulent as the family can afford. Or more. Families have been known to go bankrupt financing a wedding. Tens of thousands of dollars are spent, more if you have them -- and that's before the wedding even happens!

Many Indian wedding are planned according to the bride and groom's astrological signs. There will be auspicious and inauspicious days. Add to that India's super-hot summer weather, and what you get are quite literally thousands of wedding happening on an auspicious day at a cool time of year. In Delhi, a city of 14 million, there can be as many as 15,000 weddings happening on certain days, causing "dusk-to-dawn gridlock". Fifteen THOUSAND weddings in one city on one day? Now that's over-the-top wedding mayhem!

What's better than a soap opera wedding? You are guaranteed a glamorous dress, bitter guests, and, of course, all kinds of drama leading up to the couple actually making it to the altar. It's kind of our idea of heaven.

Next month, not only will ABC's All My Children have a big, fabulous wedding between Angie and Jesse (who, according to TV Guide, were first married in the 1980's, before Jesse disappeared and was presumed dead) -- superstar Ne-Yo will be there to perform his hit songs Closer and Stop This World.

We're wondering, though -- if singing at weddings doesn't do much for one's street cred, what does singing at a fake soap opera wedding do for it? We're still going to watch, though. Guaranteed drama!

Let's be honest: at SOME point during your wedding planning, you've wanted, secretly or not so, to have a completely over-the-top blowout wedding, the kind that leaves guests gushing for YEARS about the flowers! and the dress! and the food!

You know you have.

Most of us are constrained by real-world budgets when we plan our weddings, but it's fun to dream, and to draw inspiration from people like Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar (who had THREE weddings, complete with elephants and multiple couture gowns). Because if we could, most of us would totally go for that kind of excess. Or at least a little bit of it.

This week, AisleDash will bring you the best of super-luxury weddings, with a peek at what an unlimited budget can get you. We'll look at venues and gowns and gifts and anything else that strikes our fancy, because of course we're not paying for it, we're just writing about it!

And we love an over-the-top wedding as much as anyone, even if it is only theoretical.

The National Cathedral in Washington, DC is a beautiful venue that you don't have to be Catholic -- or even religious -- to appreciate. The incredible architecture and stunning stained glass windows make this one of the most gorgeous churches in America. How would you like to have your wedding there?

If weddings at the National Cathedral were available to anyone who wanted them, there wouldn't be time for any of the cathedral's regular services or tours! There are strict requirements for anyone who wishes to marry at the National Cathedral, so before you start daydreaming about walking down those aisles, make sure you can meet at least one of these guidelines: