bridesmaid dresses

lundar

I just went bridesmaid dress shopping and am completely overwhelmed. They are all so hideous! I know j crew and ann taylor have lines too, but does anyone have any suggestions of where else to look? I am getting married in August and want something that I wouldn't mind wearing myself to a wedding

[Deleted User]

Have you checked out the Jim Hjelm line?  They are just over $200 and much nicer than the dresses around $150.  I went with my bridesmaids in October trying to make the dresses as affordable as possible for the BMs, but they were as unimpressed as I was.  We went last weekend to a Jim Hjelm trunk show and everyone was much more excited.  If you find a trunk show then there's usually a discount.  There definitely are some hideous BM dresses out there, despite all the talk of making wearable dresses.

HTH

LexiMS

Try priscilla of boston--though I have some complaints about their customer service, I still LOVE the dresses and they are just a bit over $200 as well. Their new dresses are just coming out now and I saw a few which were very cute!

JBs_Bride

I went to Flair and Bella bridesmaid stores on Newbury and they carry a lot of awesome designers. My girls ended up coming to a concensus on the Dessy dress below. )

fnordess

I don't know what your vision is, but you might want to consider giving your BMs the option of just buying the dress of their choice in the color and length of your choice. I think that this maximizes the possibility that they'll end up with something comfortable and flattering that they'll all want to wear again.

megandjay

Or you could just give up on the "they might wear it again" and try to find cheap dresses, like at David's bridal...(and they actually have some really cute things)
http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=-49998975&subCategory=-49998976|-49998975&langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10051

Or Thread had some adorable dresses...
http://bridal.threaddesign.com/collections/pages/i796_82.php

Or Ann Taylor...
http://www.anntaylor.com/bridesmaid-dresses/weddings-events-2.shtml

But honestly, I don't know anyone who has worn a bridesmaids dress again, so my goal is to make it as afforable as possible...

fnordess

I guess it wasn't clear, but I meant that they don't have to wear dresses that are meant specifically for bridesmaids if you don't have your heart set on them all wearing the same dress. I'm asking my maids to wear whatever tea-length black dress they want, as long as it can accommodate a sash.

That Thread dress is both too short for a wedding and way too expensive to be worn once, IMO.

Dawn425

Second the Dessy Group.  They have incredibly cute dresses...I wore one when I was a bridesmaid in a wedding and then my girls chose a dress from the Dessy Group when I got married.  I can honestly say (without cringing too) that I wore the dress when I was a bridesmaid again.  Very cute and afordable.

lundar

Thanks everyone! I've been looking at the dessy dresses and so far that's what I like best but I have to go find them in a store. And I like the idea of just giving them a length and color and having them go for it. Hope everyone's cuddled up in a nice warm place on this snowy day!

october010bride

You should also check out Aria on Newbury. We're going there in a week to see the dresses first hand but they are affordable (the tea length ones are under 200) and come in different styles to accomodate different body types.

clbartnicki

My girls are wearing Jcrew dresses, and they love them. I would suggest Aria on Newbury, my best friend did this for her wedding and everyone got to choose a different style in the same color. Not sure what your colors are, but another good place for nice dresses (mostly black though) is White House Black Market. Also, check out Nordstrom online- they have a TON of bridesmaid dresses there. Their customer service is exceptional and I'm sure you could return unwanted dresses to their stores (Peabody, Burlington, etc.).

ebigelow

I went to Flair and Bella on Newbury St and really loved their selection.  I ended up not going with them because the dresses I liked there were between $250-$275 and I wanted to try to keep it a little cheaper.  I also really liked some of the dresses at Aria and those were more reasonable ($200), but my bridesmaids liked the ones at JCrew the best so that's what I went with...

Also, just as an FYI, JCrew has a deal where if you are a teacher or student, you can get 15% off the dresses.  Also, a lot of times they have 20% off sales, which is when my girls got theirs...it brought the dresses down to $170, which I thought was a great deal!

Good luck!