Bridesmaid Dresses: Mission Complete

A few weeks back, I decided to change up the bridemaid dresses and find an alternative to David's Bridal. (Read all about that here.)

I loved this picture I found at explore.dream.discover. (formally From Portland to Peonies).

{image}

The dresses all went together without being too matchy-matchy. It didn't look cookie cutter bridesmaid and I really loved that. My girls are all different and I didn't want to mold them all into one bridesmaid look.

This picture found at Love and Lavender was really inspiring!

{image}

Seriously, how beautiful are these dresses all together?! I found the dress on the far left (in the picture above...it's the middle dress in the picture below) at Charlotterusse.com for only $36.99 . This gave me hope that I could find cute dresses for my girls that wouldn't break the bank.

{image}

I love the combination of fabrics and the addition of lace into the mix. Jacin over at Lovely Little Details (if you don't already follow LLD you really should!) came across these lovely vintage looking dresses at Forever 21 for under $30 each. The dresses are all very different but they really go well together.

{image}

I found that I could easily find inexpensive vintage looking dresses in a blush or nude color palette. Finding dresses in shades of grey was a more difficult task and I was afraid that I wouldn't find what I was looking for. This picture I found at Ellie Loves caught my eye.

{image}

After a little searching I found the dresses at J. Crew. Unfortunately the dresses were each around $230 and that really wasn't the price point I was looking for. I kept searching and finally came up with this little combination:

I was super happy with all of the dresses and loved the way that they looked together. It had a little bit of everything; a little lace, some chiffon, and a variety of grey hues. The best part about the dress selections was that each dress was less than $50. (In fact, the lace dress on the far left (found at Dorothy Perkins) was only $18.00!)

It was so exciting to finally have the dress situation taken care of. After deciding not to go with the dresses from David's Bridal, it had been three long weeks of dress searching, and now it was finally finished. Just as I was about to send the links to the girls for each of them to find their dresses however, both the lace dress and the one strap ruffle dress were out of stock!  Only moments earlier the dresses were available and their links had no notice that the dresses were low in stock. I couldn't help but laugh, but the frustration of the almost finished dress search led me to call it a night, turn off the computer, and do something else.

The next morning, with a day off from work, I sat back down at the computer, fully intending to start looking for more grey lace dresses for Sarah, and another inexpensive one shoulder grey dress for Amanda, when instead, I decided to do something that I should have done from the very start: I put the picture of the girls' dresses next to a picture of my dress. While looking for the bridesmaid dresses, I was so focused on making sure that they looked good next to each other that I neglected to check that my dress went into the mix as well.

As much as I loved the flowy chiffon, and vintage lace look, it didn't look so fabulous next to my dress. I'm keeping my dress a surprise until the big day, so I can't post a picture of what it all looked like together, but I will say that my dress is satin. If my dress were more flowy, chiffon, or lace, it would have gone together pretty nicely. Instead it looked like two different looks trying to fit together.

Though I was disappointed that the vintage look wasn't working out, I was so grateful that I now had a direction to go in that I knew would look fantastic. Finding satin dresses for the girls would be a much easier mission than my previous search. Before the morning was up I had dresses chosen for all the girls, googled coupon codes (I found codes for Sarah's and Kim's dresses), put together a little image so that the girls could see what they looked like next to each other, and emailed my ladies with all the info.

So here it is! The final product! Here are the dresses that the girls will be wearing on the wedding day.

I'm really pleased with the end result. I love the different shades of grey and the fact that each girl has their own look while still coordinating. I also like the look of the satin dresses next to my dress a lot better than the lighter, flowy dresses. It took a little while to get here but in the end I think it worked out perfectly.

Did anyone else have second thoughts about bridemaid dresses? Love the look of different dresses in a similar color palette? Find dresses for super cheap? I'd love to hear your experiences.

........................................................

In other bridesmaid news, I have been working on their gifts that I plan to give them at the rehearsal dinner. As my girls are known to check out this blog from time to time I can't reveal the details of the gifts but I guarantee that you'll see pictures of them after the wedding. I'm very excited about them and I hope the girls love them!