Dresses, tuxes, and flowers, OH My!

jessiemcgraw19

I need opinions on two things:One: Our groomsmen are wearing black suits (not tuxes) with matching gray shirts and ties.  I have been to two weddings in the past two weeks where the bouts. fell apart!  Anyone have a good idea for an alternative to a flower bout.?Two:  I picked out a bm dress.  It is amazngly beautiful, but it has an open back.  Three of my bm's are a bit too chesty to be comfortable without a bra.  My sister (MOH)  tried on the dress and fell in love as well.  I want her to wear it, and the other three wear a coordinating dress in the same color.  I've never seen this before, if you have let me know how it looks.THANKS!!

mbcdefg

1. Talk to the florist about finding a flower that will not fall apart (and ask your local board for recommendations for GOOD florists). Do you know what kind of flowers your friends had? Some flowers just naturally don't last that long. Or you could do pocket squares, like PP suggested. I've also seen feathers, colored wire or beads, lapel pins, wheat or herbs, thistle, and other kinds of plants. Ask your FI what he wants. It's also O.K. to skip any kind of lapel decoration, too, if you both prefer that route. 2. Don't just pick out a dress and tell them what they're wearing. Let THEM try them on and see what they think. They have to buy and wear the dresses, so it's only fair that they get some input, rather than you picking out the dress for them. That being said - if your sister likes the backless dress, awesome. I like your plan - let her wear that one, and then let the other girls pick out a dress from the same designer and in the same color/fabric/length (or at least let them try some stuff on and vote for one dress that they are all happy with). That way, they're uniform, but they also get to pick something individual that's comfortable for them. A ton of brides go this route and it looks great.

banana468

Ditto PPs.Find a great florist based on recs from your local.  DH wore his bout from before 2 PM until the end of the night and nothing moved.   If you don't want flowers, pocket squares may be an option.But with the dress, talk to your BMs individually about how much they're willing to spend on attire and then work with them to find a dress within their budget.  If a few have concerns about wearing the dress you've picked, work with them to find other options.  It's fine to have final say on the attire that they would like but your BMs need approval of the clothing as well - particularly if you're asking them to pay for it.

peachkins

Around here it's apparently very normal to have the MOH in a different type of dress from the BMs.  The last couple weddings I've been to have done this.  I guess it's just something to set her apart from the others.  I personally am just doing a bouquet for my MOH that more closely resembles my own, because all of my girls are already wearing slightly different dresses.  As other pp have said, there are a lot of weddings where everyone in the BP has a different dress on, and they still look great.

jessiemcgraw19

Thanks!!  Sorry, I didn't specify that the other girls DID try on the dress they would be wearing and like them!    I've been 'told' what dress I am buying enough times to know doing it that way sucks!  I love the feather idea...  We have kind of a 'feather' theme going.  I can't picture it... how would I go about making them? 

mbcdefg

Feather boutonnieres: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_q3VawqKcjpI/SRnb9tZcVLI/AAAAAAAAAYY/vBdKhpTfmPc/feathers_05.jpghttp://swipelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/feather-lapel.jpghttp://bemybridesmaid.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/il_430xn-61692627.jpgI'd imagine that you just wrap a feather in ribbon and secure it to the lapel with a regular pin. Maybe your florist can do it for you. Just be sure to run it by your FI first. Mine said he wanted a flower. I doubt he would want a feather. But maybe yours might, I don't know. Ask him and show him pics.