The Bridesmaid's Attire

I suppose I was compelled to dedicate an entire page just for the Bridesmaids gown because I'd had the most problems and regrets. Granted, in the end, the girls were really beautiful, and the colors were wonderful, but if I were one of them, I'd give myself a talking to!

All in all, I wouldv'e gone with my gut and gave myself a lot more time to discuss the dresses with my Bridesmaids.

Here's the dress as I saw in the catalog.

The Successes...

I let the color of the entire bridal party be chosen by the Bridesmaids. (Which eventually dictated the whole color scheme of the wedding.) I initially thought of a dusty rose with ivory accents and even a bit of embroidered texture, but after an evening of trying on dresses, I let them go with the flow. Any shade of pale rose or blush didn't really compliment 2 of the girls so we dumped that shade altogether. I also found out that my Matron of Honor was a month and a half pregnant, so by the time the wedding rolled around (7 months later) she wouldn't fit into just any dress! Since asking her to step down wasn't an option (she even offered & I said, "no way!") we had to take into consideration her changing size. As usual, all the girls have different complexions, body types and heights, so we needed something that complimented all of them. My initial thought was to have each girl pick out a different dress in the same color scheme (I'd always wanted to do that) so that they can be happy with their attire. I figure if they have to pay for the thing, might as well pick out something that looks good on each of them, right? We took it to a vote and the choice of looking the same won out. The reason was so that it would distinguish them as Bridesmaids as opposed to well dressed guests. It was their choice and I was fine with that. Then they chose the color. Again, majority ruled that the color would be a Smokey Heather. I never thought that purple would be a part of my wedding scheme, but as it turned out, I now think it was one of the best decisions that was made. It complimented all the girls and it looked great with the greenery of the trees and lawn. We also chose a strapless style with a tulle skirt so it would be similar to my gown. We went with a waistline that would accomodate alterations for my MatronOH, by the time of the wedding. All in all, the girls all looked beautiful! If you'd like more information on the dress, click here.

The Glitch...

We did all of the decision making in one store and in one night! Ugh! The buyer's remorse I had the next morning, let alone the following hour! (And I didn't spend a dime!) We went after work, we were cranky and hungry and I think that's why we made such a snap judgement. We never even tried another store and they spent more money on the dress than I'd hoped to. Also, we chose a store that wasn't really convenient (about a 80 minute drive for the closest one of us) and they were such a typical "Bridal Salon" that once they had your money, they could do whatever they wanted with their attitude, with the sales order and with the timing! The reason I went to this particular place was that they advertised that they had designer names and discount prices (what a slaes pitch! I fell right for it!).

Here's a small list of all the things that went wrong:  My first reaction to the dresses were: "how 50's". The dresses were much darker than I thought and my initial reaction were that my bridal party were going to look like a bowl of fluffy grapes. The tulle was really itchy right around the back & bustline. The color of the trim was white, even after I had even given them a required, written note that the choice was ivory. After "exchanging" the dresses for correct ones, we came to find out that the "new" dresses had white trim! By then it was too late to do another exchage and the sales b**ch kept assuring me it was ivory! (So I guess she was telling me that my eyes were wrong. UGH!) The seamstress was also rude to the girls. She blamed them for everything from timing their appointments (er... someone had a terrible family emergency to contend with and they'd made the appointment some time earlier with her!) to their choice in undergarments! (I'll not go into detail) She even guilted one into getting pads sewn in her dress because her bust looked too small!

Anyway, I wish we would've taken more time, and done a lot more shopping. I actully wish I took a friends' advice (but I did use his DJ!) and bought special occaision dresses at a department store. At least you can return them if you're not satisfied (as long as you keep that tag on!) Besides, it all went SOooo fast, it didn't give me much of a chance to relish the "shopping" excursion with the girls.

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