Of course, I don't have the budget to custom make each bridesmaid dress differently, but the dress I found is short, and luckily it comes with detachable straps that will allow each bridesmaid to chose what to do with it (straight, halter, criss-cross, or even strapless). But more than anything, it's modern yet classic with a twist, of which I will not reveal because that element of surprise in a bridesmaid dress is just as important as in the bride's dress. One thing I didn't want is for my ladies to look stuffy, old, and satiny like thousands of bridesmaids before. I absolutely love the dress and thankfully so do the only two bridesmaids that have seen it. Hopefully the other two ladies will love it just as much. Did I mention that after the wedding is over it can be worn as a casual dress or fancy dress?
I can't reveal the actual dress, so I'll show some runner-ups:
I've always considered black for the bridesmaid dress but I recently saw some wedding pictures with it and it ends up looking really flat and a bit too formal. So I figured I'd play with textures to create some dimension in the pictures, like this eyelet material. This sweetheart dress was so cute--your typical bridesmaid dress--but it turned out to be a bit too short. And it started looking too bubblegum for a wedding where the bride isn't sixteen.
So we moved on to this chiffon ensemble. I liked the translucent quality of the material and kind of liked that it didn't look like a typical bridesmaid dress. It was grown-up, which was what I was feeling these past couple of years. However, I wondered if the ladies would feel pretty in this. This dress was beautiful, but it started looking like something a girl wears when she's going to meet her boyfriend's fundamentalist parents for the first time.
Lace is something I've been looking at a lot. It complements the Spanish architecture and decor of the venue and my dress has bits of it too. And having some skin show through the lace lessens the harshness of the black. Not to mention that it is sexy without showing too much. However, although the back of this dress is quite elegant, I'm not too crazy about the front. But I really like the concept.
Be still my heart. I instantly fell in love with this dress. It was a happy medium of grown-up yet playful but alas, the color you see isn't the real thing. The original color is a deep navy blue, which is really cute actually, but not part of my wedding color palette. I adjusted the hue and saturation on this image so it's not real and not quite an option. But it would have been perfect-- this would have been my pick.
I did the same thing to this dress so it's also not an option but I wanted to show it anyways. This dress comes only in a bright fuschia and navy blue. Maybe I'll go pick up the fuschia just to wear-- it's too cute to pass. I'm quite enamored with thick straps lately. And I definitely like what the straps are doing here. Maybe I'll incorporate the same look with my bridesmaid dress' adjustable straps. Oh bummers, I guess lavender isn't a popular color this summer. And if you're smart, you've probably figured out part of my color palette. There is one more color, however, and one more element of surprise which will be revealed in the invitations so don't judge my colors as typical just yet.
Since we're talking about colors, I was thinking maybe this pastel teal would have been my punch color, but as you can see, it's not much of a punch. Besides, it would have made the colors too cool for a fall wedding. But look at the dress. It's to die for. Too bad it's practically backless and too short. "Too bad it's for hookers," is what my mom would have said. My bridesmaids would have to wear chicken cutlets or no bra at all. And I wouldn't do that to them-- comfort does matter that day.
So we return to black since there are no lavenders out there. And lavender is a really tricky color too. It comes in a warm or cool tone and a lot of times it's too dark or too light. So I figured the textured black was the safest. Enter the satin burnout. I love everything about it and I was ready to make my girls try it but I still wasn't completely sold on the color black. For a garden wedding, black just seemed too dark. So I held out, and thank God I did because on our way out of the store, I saw the dress. It stands out against the greenery of the garden, it complements the Spanish feel of my dress and the architecture of the place, it's short and has adjustable straps so each maid can be somewhat unique, and it's actually part of my color palette without having to pass out lavender-colored 3-D glasses. It's perfect and I can't wait for all the guests to see it that day. I really hope it's "ooh-ed" and "ahh-ed" over as much as my wedding dress. I really do! What's wrong with me, you ask? I'm sick in the head, I know.
