Integrating some culture through a second dress

In a lot of Asian American weddings, the bride wears the western-style white dress for the church ceremony and the culturally-traditional wedding dress for the reception.  I hadn't really imagined myself doing something similar, mostly because I'm not really a fan of the Vietnamese ao dai.  But I got excited about wearing a bridesmaid saree to my girlfriend's Indian wedding, and started thinking about it.  Then I saw some modern, sleeveless versions of ao dai recently that made me love the idea.  It's elegant, sexy, and more casual. 

Unfortunately, it's hard to find sleeveless, wedding ao dai online.  So I'm going to post up photos of non-wedding examples that are sleeveless and might eventually inspire a wedding version (either gold/yellow or red).




I love the "halter top" style.

Also, I like how a lot of ao dai layer fabrics with sheer embroidery on top.


Basically, I think what I'm looking for is an ao dai with a strong western spin to it (without just making it white because of the whole "white's for funerals" thing).  That would be an ao dai to best represent me.


Also, because of the nature of this dress, I'd probably have to make it a summer wedding or have it somewhere really warm.  I'm okay with that.  But I kind of wanted an off-peak month so venues and other bookings would be less expensive. :P