bridesmaid dress color help

JayElleJayCee · August 2010

I've decided on my wedding colors which are sage, peach and ivory

Thinking of my girls... i'm not sure about sage for a dress color. I wanted to have all of them go to Davids Bridal (since I have out of state BM's) and I was going to let them pick their own style given that they are the same material, lenth and color.
The closest David's Bridal has to sage is either clover or celery...

So what would be another color that would blend well and not be hideous for my girls?? I could always do my wedding colors in the flowers...

any suggestions?

Ms.BriarRose · August 2010

Instead of automatically going to DB, I highly suggest you check into Alfred Angelo.

The reason I recommend them is not only do they have flagship stores (the closest is in Lancaster, but they have them all over), but they are also sold all over the country (Brides and Grooms in Newark and Bridal and Tuxedo Shoppe in Pike Creek/Newark both carry AA), so your girls will be able to go to the website, find a store by them, and get what they need. Price wise, they are about the same.

Not only that, but they have many, many more styles than DB. My older sister was just in her other sister's (thru her mom) wedding, and they went with DB while we went with AA. She said her only requirement was a non-strapless, more modest dress, and with DB she ended up with strapless because they really didn't have the choices. She was able to find a dress with thick straps and a more covering dress with AA. My younger sister, who wanted something more "hip" was able to get a really pretty two piece that fit her style. They both went different directions, but were equally happy with their dresses, because they had so many choices.

Now, even if you do decide to go with DB or AA, I am going to suggest you have your girls get measured, choose their dress, and PAY YOU AND YOU ORDER. Why? Several reasons. Number one, you have control over the order. If there is an issue, you can take care of it here, instead of having to go thru your BM who has to go to the store and may not have experience with these things or know what needs to be done. With DB, I have had personal experience with their horrible service, and have heard tons and tons of people who have had the same horrible service, especially with ordering (dresses not getting ordered when supposed to, dresses being ordered wrong, so on). When you do it all at once, you know when the dresses were ordered, and can track all of that; if your girls do it, then you may not be able to be sure when things were ordered, and you never know when a BM does not order on time.
Second reason would be dye lots. When you order all your dresses at once (well, when you order BM dresses from any other designer or manufacturer except DB), they are all dyed together, so you can be absolutely sure your dresses match everything needed (including each other). If you girls order separately, than they will end up in different dye lots- and may end up with a more blue purple as opposed to a pink purple, even though both will be under the same name of "lilac".
Third, saving your girls money. Most places offer discounts for the BM dresses if you bought your gown there, or if there are more than a certain number, etc (ie, I bought my gown at Brides and Groooms, and my girls got 15% off their dresses there because of that). If they order by themselves, those discounts can't be applied.

Another reason I am pro-AA (or any other designer besides DB) is you are helping out the small business. DB has completely changed the bridal gown world and how brides view ordering, and it has hurt, hindered, and put many a small bridal salon out of business. If you go with any other company besides DB, you are helping not only that business, but your local economy (I get really fired up about this because FI and family own a small business).

Bottom line out of all that ranting, I suggest checking out Brides and Grooms or Bridal and Tuxedo Shoppe or one of the other small bridal salons locally owned and operated to see if one of them has something that would match a closer color. And no matter who you end up with, have your girls pay you and you order all the dresses at once, just to save you a headache.

JayElleJayCee · August 2010

Thats alot of info! lol.. but I get it.. DB sucks! haha. In all honesty - I hate DB. I was there once and never wanted to go back. The place was like a zoo. That's a really good idea about having me order all of the dresses. It makes me so nervous though for my out of town girls. I bought my dress at Irinis , I'm not sure If I get a discount there or not. I haven't really gotten that far yet. But the girl there Nikki is amazing. I just love her.

So in a whole other idea ------ I came across these pics and fell in love with the idea.. although I'm sure it's hard to pull off. but this way... the girls will look similar but not the same at all??? I love this idea the most (different patters, lace, etc).. it's just a little scary!!

Mattsbride10 · August 2010

I have two out of state bms so I ordered all the dresses here in Delaware, no sales tax and then mailed my girls the dresses. If I could do it again I would have used netbride.com for my bm dresses. They carry nearly all the designers for way less so we would have saved hundreds on the six dresses had we done it that way. Its pretty cool too bc you can gather all your girls credit card info and add it seperatley to your order form. I don't think they deal with Alfred Angelo though but you never know what you'll fall in love with till you start looking but like pp had said, def don't limit yourself to Davids.

Ms.BriarRose · August 2010

It's actually not that hard to pull off, surprisingly. My cousin got married last September, and she did something very similar to those pictures.

Basically, to get that look, you tell your bridesmaids a color from a line (be it AA or DB or whatever), and let them get what they want. The variation in color comes from the fabric, actually, and not the color. Since Chiffon, Satin, Taffeta, etc, all look different even when dyed the same color, you get that really cool variation affect (we learned that when we went looking for my dress, actually, up at AA in Lancaster- my sister was trying on BM dresses, and put a satin top with a chiffon skirt. It didn't go real well that way, but you could see immediately that the variation in color came from the fabric and not the colors).

Then, let them pick whatever material and whatever design they want (if you really want it to work well, make sure you have each girl choose a different dress; you would really have to work with them, esp if two girls like the same dress), and it ends up looking really neat. Add in that some tops have embellishments and accent color ribbons (which you don't have to choose as an accent color, you could order the accent color in the main color, if ya get me), and some have lace, you end up with really cool effects.

JayElleJayCee · August 2010

That makes sense about the color variation in materials... I'm thinking this is what I'm going to do. It just has such a romantic feel. I just sent a pic to all of my BM's which all but the exception of my sister (who lives in kansas) loved. Her exact words were "are you on crack? I don't look good in short dresses." lovely isn't she?

Mrs.LuraT · August 2010

I let my BM's pick their own gowns, as long as they were the same color...Claret (or apple) and material. The only problem we had was my SIL became preggers after she had bought her gown. A month before the wedding she decided she wanted to go with the maternity gown from AA. We headed to Bridal & Tuxedo Shoppe and they had one there in the correct color in around the same size. The gown was not the same material as the others but it all worked out and you can't really tell the difference in the photos.
Oh, and we all (except for the maternity gown) bought our gowns from Alfred Angelo in Lancaster. they were great to work with.

bridesmaid dress color help

Re: bridesmaid dress color help

Choose Another Board

Search Boards