Experience with letting BMs pick their own dresses w/in a color scheme?

modcbride

I'd like to give my bridesmaids some latitude in picking their dresses, which will help them save costs and hopefully allow them to re-wear their dresses.  Does anybody have any experience with this? My color is purple, and I thought I could send them 2-3 swatches of purple shades that I like, and tell them to pick a dress that matches one of those shades.  Thoughts about how this works?

LoveMuffins

My girls all chose their dresses from David's Bridal in the same color, a couple of them chose the same dress, a couple are completely unique. Either way, they got something that they feel awesome in, and are super happy with

here's a "pic" of what it "looks" like (thanks to the DB Dress Your Wedding Feature):

ChickenOnSunday

It worked perfectly for my ladies. I had my bridesmaids in purple and my sisters, who walked me down the aisle, wore fern. Each had a different dress which suited their own personal style
.

Hippinhipster

I'm doing this too! My girls haven't picked their dresses yet but I told them purple and knee length... so we'll see what they get

Rockerchick842

I am also letting my BM pick their own dresses. My requirements are black and floor length. They have been having problems finding dresses, but hopefully they will be able to find ones they like with prom dresses going on sale.

Geri510

Ditto for me, the girls are picking their own dresses (long, short, whatever) my only concern was that they were from the same designer so at least the color (navy) would be similar.

deemarieh

I wanted my girls pick their own also. They kind of felt nervous having that kind of power, so in the end they just asked me to pick them and be done with it. I narrowed it down to a few and they picked from the group. Now everyone is happy with their dresses. At least that's what they tell me!

ogrady88

I did this too, just told them to find a knee-length LBD.  My BMs are spread out all over the country so it was really the easiest thing to do.  So far they've enjoyed finding something that fit their own style and personality and everyone either has or needs a cute LBD so it worked.

mbcdefg

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1030&bih=560&gbv=2&tbm=isch&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&q=bridesmaids%20different%20dresses

modcbride

Ok, thanks for the responses. Just to clarify, I wasn't planning on picking any specific designer at all, but just let them loose on the world with some swatches.  This definitely seems to work best with colors like black, navy, gold, etc., and might be more difficult with colors like purple, that come in so many different shades. 

caseyandlizzie

amanda6033 let her girls pick their own dresses in shades of purple and pink and it turned out great. Here's a link to her projectwedding bio:
http://www.projectwedding.com/biography/list/amanda6033

tbandeg

My girls all chose their own: I picked navy and gave them 3 designers to choose from to try to have the navy be the same. They chose Bill Levkoff and actually 3 of them ended up picking the same dress.I wanted them to feel comfortable!

happilyeverafter072311

Those that have did let their BM choose their own dress, did you tell them a certain kind of fabric it had to be also so in a way it was unified, but not?  I'm thinking about doing this too...but still debating.

jena.n.ross

I told my girls knee-length and black.  I didn't specify a fabric type, really in pictures it will all read the same.

I unified the look with burnt orange pashminas (which I purchased for them).

(The girl all the way on the right is a friend, but not a BM.)

I figured they would get something they loved, in their price range, that they will wear again.