BM Dress Dilemma - Need Advice!

SwizzleStiX

I have seven BMs. One in Philly, three in DC (I'm here also), one in Richmond and two in LA. They range in sizes from a petite 4 to a bottom-heavy 12. One just had a baby, one is pregnant due in January and one is pregnant due in April. We've gone to DB (with no real luck, nothing looked that great on anyone and I wasn't jazzed about the colors). We decided to go to Aria. Well our appointment was on Sunday and we did not anticipate the Equality rally and it took us 90 minutes to get from Crystal City to Dupont and we missed all but 20 minutes of our appointment, so we didn't have time to try much on. I didn't like the satin materal and the other option would be $225/dress - which is about $75 more than I really wanted them to have to spend. I just wish the dresses would pick themselves and I'm really not being picky at this point. I've already said they could pick whatever style they wanted, but I wanted them all long and the same color. I just don't know where to look now? Our colors are aqua, light pink and strawberry pink. I wanted to do pink dresses, but I think at this point aqua would work too. Any ideas? Advice?

mbcdefg

Good idea having them pick their own styles. That will probably make things a lot easier for you. Also, don't just decide what you want them to spend. Talk to each of them privately (phone, e-mail, ask in person) and ask what they're comfortable spending on a dress. Then you can look for dresses in their price range and you will be sure that they can all afford it. Asking their price ranges now will likely save you a headache later on. I would go to a few more salons with your local BMs and look for a designer, material and color that you all like (and make sure the designer offers a maternity option). Then e-mail the out-of-town bridesmaids that information and tell them to get a long dress from X designer, in Y color and Z fabric. A lot of people have luck with Alfred Angelo. There are 55 colors available and the dresses are usually under $200. I think Forever Yours and Dessy are also pretty affordable. Another option would be to let them all get any long black dress that they want, and buy them sashes or pashminas in your wedding color to tie the look together. Black dresses would be REALLY easy to find. And you can tell them if you don't want shiny material or rhinestones or embroidery or whatever, or specify the fabric that you want. Or look on department store websites to see if there's something you like.

SwizzleStiX

I thought about the black option, but I just don't think it would work - it's just not the look I want I think... but it's certainly something to think about. I have talked to them about prices, and the problem is that budgets are very varied and I KNOW that two of them really can't spend more than $150ish - so that's why the budget was put there.

isufans4ever

I am doing black dresses with light pink ribbon sashes.  I wasn't sure that I wanted black dresses either but then I looked up pictures of weddings with black bridesmaid dresses and decided that if I broke it up with a colored sash I really loved the look...I would look around and see what you really like.Another option that I thought of was to look at Nordstrom or Macy's...both of those stores have great dresses...you have to be careful because they can get reallly expensive but that is a good option because they have lots of colors of dresses.Also...if you go to a department store and look in the Juniors department the formal dresses are out now...they are getting less and less formal and they usually have every color you could imagine.

banana468

What about aqua dresses in a style that each BM likes?

aerinpegadrak

What about having the dresses in shades of pink?  I absolutely adore the look of bridesmaids in a spectrum of one color.  Then you just have them find any long pink dress they want.  That way, they also get to choose the shade most complimentary to their skin tone (if you have a warm skin tone, as I do, pink can be very tricky, and the wrong shade can make you look splotchy).  You may want to specify a fabric as well, but I think as long as it's all shiny or all matte, it doesn't really matter.

Leah&Christian09

What about just choosing an aqua or pink that you like from Alfred Angelo or J. Crew and letting them pick anything in that color?

peachkins

I do agree with trying Alfred Angelo.  The good thing about them is that you can get any dress in any color.  It's not as limited as DB. 

megk8oz

If you are opposed to the black w/ the sashes options (Check out a few pics of it before you totally rule it out ... it tends to be a timeless look), then I'd say give them any fabric/length guidelines you may have (You said long, and you didn't like the look of satin ... if you want to get more specific, fine, otherwise, this really isn't a bad jumping off point), and then just let them get whatever shade of pink (or aqua) that they like that meets your other criteria. HTH!

mbcdefg

You could also try department stores. If you can find a nice dress that'll work for your non-pregnant BMs but you can't find a similar maternity dress, then maybe you could do the non-pregnant ones in one color, and the pregnant ones in another color. Like, non-pregnants in blue and pregnant BMs in pink.Or try to find another neutral color, like champagne or charcoal or silver. Maybe even white if you're O.K. with that.