After talking so much about men’s attire last post, I just felt the strongest need to talk about women’s attire! So that’s what’s about to go down.
It’s been a long time comin’, but I can thankfully say that I (or we, really) am done bridesmaid dress shopping. The dresses are here, they are beautiful, they are accurate, and everything is right in the world. Praise baby Jesus.
However, it was not a smooth and happy road to finding these dresses. When faced with the idea of selecting bridesmaid dresses, here’s the reality: you must find a style of dress that six different girls with very different personalities, body types, and tastes will willingly put on their bodies and take pictures in for hours in front of hundreds of people. Now yes, yes you might say “who cares what they think because it’s your wedding and they should wear whatever you tell them to”. And to that I say “I CARE”! These are my friends and sisters, they are not slaves who I hired to follow me around for a day. If I have to ask them to give up an entire day and dedicate it to me (and not to mention drop some cash throughout this whole process), I at least want them to feel good about themselves while doing it. Other brides might have other opinions on that. (See below)
Just take that in for a moment. Those women probably held that against that bride for years after.
Concerning my journey to “saying yes to the bridesmaid dress”, I took a very unconventional and challenging path to the perfect gowns. I could have easily taken a selection from my color palette, slapped it on a solid floor-length piece of chiffon, and called it good. And yes, it would have still been perfectly lovely. But did I want “just perfectly lovely”? No. I wanted stunning….glamorous…..elegant….WOW. Basically, I never make things easy for myself.
I had a very specific idea in mind for the dresses. A vision, if you will. (No surprise there.) But I also had the body types and personalities of the bridesmaids as well as the style, season, and color palette of the wedding in mind. I used my ideas as a basis of searching and allowed the bridesmaids to give input and do searching of their own. I wanted it to be a team effort. The problem with the style I wanted was that it doesn’t exist in “bridesmaid dress stores”. And for the price point we had, it didn’t exist in any store. Despite the efforts of my sister (the MOH) and myself, not a store we looked at carried anything even remotely close. We had to turn to the internet.
I spent hours…..SO MANY HOURS…..scouring the web for the perfect dress. I tried every website under the sun, it seemed, until that one fateful day. I was chatting with my MOH and it seemed that all hope was lost. How could I please the very strong personalities of six different girls? How could I find a single style that would make all of them look stunning? How could I do that all within a tight price point?!?!
And then it happened.
Shortly after a chat with my sister, I visited dresswe.com. Yes, it sounds kind of fishy, and it is based out of China, but what isn’t these days, right? Believe it or not, I found the perfect gown through that site.
Reasons why this was a good move:
1. The dresses are custom-made and could even be made to fit each girl’s specific body. This leaves less possibility for needing alterations.
2. The production time was remarkably short and they were good about communicating during the process.
3. Their prices were lower than any other site I had found for the styles they carried! And for ordering so many dresses, they even gave me a discount and a free gift.
Now I knew that I couldn’t physically touch it, I didn’t know what the top layer of fabric was made of, and I didn’t know what it would look like in the color I wanted it. But miraculously all of the girls loved it (really, a true miracle) and were willing to pay for it without trying it on first! They each got sized and sent me their measurements, and I harassed the dressmakers through the entire process to make sure everything was perfect, but they came out beautifully and ahead of schedule on my timeline!
As you might have guessed, I cannot show any pictures of the dresses. However, as per usual, I can show some pictures that inspired us on our hunt.
Note: NONE of those are “the dress”. I promise.
And now, my tips for successfully finding the bridesmaid dress:
1. If you can buy your dresses in a shop, DO IT. If you can get at least your MOH, if not a few of your girls to go with you, DO IT. Do you have one girl with a stronger opinion than the rest? Maybe try shopping with just her at first so that you can set everything straight. Always keep in mind that you are the bride and YOU have the ultimate say in the matter, and no one should ruin that for you. Of course, online shopping does work on occasion, too. 😉
2. Stick to the set budget. Chances are, your girls are not going to willingly want to drop $300 on a dress that they could potentially not wear again. Keep it reasonable and stick to it no matter what. (Think of the movie Bridesmaids!)
3. Consider if YOU would want to wear it. This was key in my selection process. If I looked at it and thought “wow, I wish this was in my closet”, then there was a better chance that my girls would think the same thing.
4. If you choose to be so kind and open, then take into consideration the body types of your bridesmaids. There are so many styles that flatter many body types. A modern trend is to pick a single color or pattern and allow each girl to choose the style that best fits their bodies in that color/pattern. Some styles that flatter most body types are long a-line dresses, shorter empire waist dresses, and long flowing sheath dresses.
5. Coordinate with your venue, the style of your wedding, the time of day, the time of year, and your men’s attire when choosing the dresses. It also helps to imagine what they would look like standing next to you in your dress. The whole picture has to flow.
Then once it’s all done, and you have six happy girls with six pretty dresses, be sure to sit down and have a glass of wine. 🙂
❤
500 Days of Wedding 