We’ve got bridesmaid dresses (on order, anyway)
My main wedding task through May to beginning of July was trying to figure out bridesmaid dresses. To summarize, procrastination, my own personal pickiness, three different body types in three different locations, long ready-to-ship times, and ridiculous prices made me think about the bridesmaid dresses more than I should have. Even though Sandra (maid-of-honor) was in LA, I was able to get Anna and Kimi (the two bridesmaids) to check out bridesmaid dresses at Elegant Lace, a bridal boutique I hadn’t visited before since they didn’t carry Pronovias. As long as you’re not looking for a gown for the bride, most bridal boutiques will let you browse dresses and use the dressing room without assistance or appointment. Anna and Kimi speed-tried a bunch of dresses, and though we didn’t find exactly what I wanted despite their decent selection, it was a good way to get an idea of my preferences.
Kimi and Anna trying on dresses
I eventually settled on dark brown, chiffon, tea length dresses by Wtoo (a division of Watters & Watters which is supposed to be more affordable). My original requirements were more general, as I was hoping to let the girls find something they’d like on their own. But the bridezilla in me wanted a more cohesive look, so I gave up on attempting to please everyone 100%. (Sorry, girls.) Anna and Kimi settled on Wtoo 130 in Cognac (Wtoo’s chiffon brown). I saw photos of real people wearing this in another bride’s blog, and her bridesmaids looked great, so it seems to be a good style for many body types.
Sandra went with Wtoo 212, also Cognac but with a Pomegranate (chiffon red) band to emphasize my color scheme:
I like their choices, especially since 212 complements the 130; it doesn’t look much different than 130 aside from a different colored band. And that’s very appropriate since Sandra is the extra special maid-of-honor. Hopefully, they’ll look cute in person as they do in pictures. I’m not too worried, as they already pass my minimum requirement of not looking like prom dresses.
I went the same route with the bridesmaid dresses as I did with my own dress, which is order by phone/email. This time around I went with RK Bridal, which beats its competitors by 5%. I price-matched Pearl’s Place, since the store that sold me my dress doesn’t carry Watters & Watters. The price difference is pretty significant; almost 30-40% cheaper through online stores. The only problem with RK Bridal is that everything has to be done with fax, and it takes a few days before any sort of email confirmation (or for address change, no confirmation… had to call to make sure it actually got through). Ordering beginning of July, I got an estimate ship date of end of September. We’ll see in a few weeks if this route will turns out okay.
New thing I learned “today”: A dress that is tea length means the hem of the dress is somewhere below the knee and above the ankle.
And by today, I mean months ago when I started looking at bridesmaid dresses, of course.
