Fab Dresses for Fab Bridesmaids

Like most brides planning out-of-town weddings, I have learned to seize opportunities in which I can accomplish big chunks of tasks. As Mom Octopus is an elementary school teacher, MOH/Sister Lauren is a college student, and I am a graduate student, we all had two weeks off for the December holidays. I gleefully pounced on and claimed several days of their time off, and scheduled us all for another jam-packed road trip to Pittsburgh!

One of the major tasks for this trip was finding dresses for my glorious bridesmaids! I have known for a long time that I wanted everyone to choose their own dresses, as I have six ladies, all with different taste. They also vary widely in height and figure, and the thought of picking out one dress that would flatter them all equally and make everyone comfortable and happy gave me the cold sweats. Popular opinion was that we should stick to one major retailer and have everyone pick a dress in the same shade. Also, as three of my bridesmaids are college students and one is a mother who is paying a mortgage, I wanted to be as cost-conscious as possible. With those criteria in mind, MOH Lauren, Bridesmaid Clara, Bridesmaid Erica, Mom Octopus and I all rolled out to Alfred Angelo and David's Bridal.

At Alfred Angelo, the girls tried on a whole heap of different dresses. We realized pretty quickly that the top contenders all had a chiffon overlay; Mom O also liked the "matchiness" of having everyone in the same fabric and color, rather than just color. By eliminating all the non-chiffon dresses and combining everyone's favorites, we figured out four different options that we thought would make everyone, even the non-present bridesmaids, happy.


MOH/Sister Lauren models her favorite dress. I like this picture because Mom Octopus and I, reflected in the mirror, look like the panel of America's Next Top Model.


Expert modeling of another contender.

Then, we headed right across the street to David's Bridal, where we were met with icy and unwelcoming customer service. The store was almost completely empty, but we were told that there were not enough dressing rooms or attendants to accommodate us, and if we wanted to try anything on, we would need to make an appointment to come back in several hours. We did look around and combed through the racks a little bit, but didn't find anything special enough to make us want to come back again in a few hours. Alfred Angelo it was!

So, in one breezy and painless afternoon, we determined our bridesmaids' dresses! After each girl looked over the options, three girls picked one dress, two girls picked another, and MOH Lauren picked a third. They'll be wearing Alfred Angelo's "claret" color, which is a rich cranberry red.


(Source.)

Pretty!!! I'm going to continue the theme of "you pick, because you're all fabulous and have great taste" by having them choose their own gold shoes and gold jewelry. I really think it's going to look great.

What are your bridesmaids going to wear? Was the choice an easy or a tough one?