The most common fabric for wedding dresses is satin. Satin is at once both shiny and sturdy. It's also easily produced, as, in today's world, most wedding dresses end up being made of polyester satin because of cost. The thing about most satins is that they wrinkle easy, although the polyester satin probably wrinkles the least of any other type.

Satin used to be made exclusively from silk. These days, most satin is made from polyester, nylon, rayon and acetate.

Satin is usually easily known because it has a shiny, glossy side, then a dull side, which is always on the inside of the dress, but there are many different types of satin. Some types of satin include:

Duchess satin, the most common type of satin, shiny on one side, dull on the other; Satin Faconne, satin with patterns woven throughout; Slipper satin, sturdy and shiny, usually used for shoes; Delustered satin, less shiny satin, usually the same on both sides; Sateen, actually made of cotton, but looks like satin; Satinet, a mixture of synthetic fiber and cotton; Silk Satin, the most expensive kind; Crepe back, shiny silk fabric usually twisted into patterns, with both sides being glossy.

Lace is the next most popular fabric for wedding dresses, and there are hardly any wedding dresses that don't have at least some bit of lace on them. That's because lace makes the patterns for wedding dresses, and there are multiple styles of lace patterns.

Lace can be anywhere on a wedding gown, which is where its value comes in. Lace can easily be woven in around the silhouette and bodice. Most wedding dresses with high necklines are made up of lace. Lace works well because it's not only pretty, but very light and airy, which allows the skin to breathe underneath it.

There are tons of types of lace, but most companies that talk about lace, including wedding gown makers, instead describe it by how it's made. With this description instead, it leaves four distinct ways of talking about lace; these are:

Needle lace, which uses a needle and thread to make multiple patterns that end up being lace; Bobbin lace, which is a type of weaving and braiding of lengths of thread by using bobbins; Crochet, which is indicative of regular crochet in that it leaves open, airy patterns; Tatting, also known as knotted lace, which isn't used all that much anymore, as it creates a bulky type of lace that is more indicative of old, Victorian age styles lace. Satin and lace make up the bulk of the fabrics of almost every wedding dress. There are other fabrics, of course, but these two overwhelm the market, not only because of costs, but because they are the easiest to work with.