Our ceremony will be short and small, only close family and friends. What our parents and grandparents wear is of no concern, but we have a group of ten, siblings and friends, that will make up our "wedding party" (There will be no labels as to whom is the MOH, BM, etc.). We would like our wedding party to be comfortable and dress in their own style. So I thought it would be easier and cheaper for the guys to wear their own suits, no matter the color, with a tie we have chosen (under $40). No need to rent a tux, and all of the men in our party own suits. We asked. Additionally, I do not want to pick out one bridesmaid dress for each of the girls and thought it would be ok to ask them to wear a short dress (not to be confused with mini) that is taupe, plum or black as that these will be part of our color scheme. If they have a dress that already, great! If not, anything they can afford. And to the girls who cannot afford a new dress, we will offer to help pay for one.
I would like to send each of them an invite (separate from the wedding invite) conveying the "dress code" but would like it to be cute or clever, not stuffy and formal. Any ideas??