brides maid dresses

voyey · December 2009

ok, here's the story

we are having a june wedding, the theme is rustic
the guys will be wearing black jeans (FI won't even consider anything else) a nice black dress shirt, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. I've posted this before. But now its time to start looking for the girls a dress. I know if we order them not to order them till January, I get this, but I have no clue where to even start. The colors are navy blue and violet. The ceremony & wedding will be outdoors (southern part of Shawnee National Forest) at his parents house in LATE evening hours. Because it will be so hot the ceremony starts at 7 o'clock and reception at 8 o'clock. The sun that time of year doesn't even set till roughly 8:30ish. So ya it'll be late but there will still be plenty of light.

I kinda think cocktail dresses will be too formal, but summer dresses don't usually come in that dark of colors. So what would you ladies do? & please keep in mind the cost factor, I don't think any of them are willing to spend a whole lot on a dress they won't wear again. TIA!

mbcdefg · December 2009

You don't necessarily have to order them "bridesmaids' dresses" from a designer, remember. You can wait a few months until summer dresses start coming out in stores, and then get them that way. Look in department stores and regular clothing stores.

Personally, I feel like this would be your best option. You'll have some time to think about what you want, and you won't have to go through the hassle of ordering from a salon and then waiting for the dresses and then having them all altered heavily. You will also likely save some money by getting off-the-rack dresses rather than salon dresses. You will probably find something that's more suitable for your specific level of formality, because (like you said) the formality of a "regular BM dress" might not exactly work with the Western vibe you've got going with the men. You will have more options for summery outfits since you'd be waiting until the summery stuff actually starts showing up in stores. And since you'd be buying regular dresses instead of "bridesmaids' dresses," your BMs might get some additional use out of them, since they won't scream "This is a bridesmaid's dress!" if they decide to wear them elsewhere.

My wedding's in four months and I just ordered Ann Taylor dresses for the BMs yesterday. They should be here within the next week or two. The girls ordered their street sizes, so I'm hoping that they will only need minimal (if any) alterations. And thanks to the Cyber Monday sales they will only pay $129 each, well under the price that they told me that they'd be willing to pay.

In addition to Anntaylor.com, I was also looking on Nordstrom.com, Jcrew.com, Bluefly.com, Dillards.com, Overstock.com and Newport-News.com. I think that J. Crew dresses might be perfect for you - check them out and see.

ca_surfergirl · December 2009

What about something like these? I think the key is to get the dresses in a dark colour, but with a light weight fabric like chiffon. The colour will make it more dressy and the fabric will make it more causal.

http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Connected-Apparel-Womens-Chiffon-Dress/4168227/product.html

http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Connected-Apparel-Womens-Amethyst-Chiffon-Dress/4346289/product.html

http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Connected-Apparel-Womens-Multi-Chiffon-Dress/4346275/product.html

http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Connected-Apparel-Womens-Multi-Chiffon-Dress/4346313/product.html

Another idea is that you could even just tell your BM to get their own black knee-length chiffon dress and use the bouquets and sashes to add the navy and violet.

Cheers

emilyinchile · December 2009

If you want something pretty casual, try Victoria's Secret...kind of a random one, but they usually have some cute dresses in a range of colors at good prices on their website.