Bridemaids Dresses

One of the biggest things (other than shoes) that has given me headache about the wedding planning is the bridesmaids dresses.  I wanted to get them figured out as quickly as I could, because what I found would really dictate exactly what color “green” we would be using for everything else.

I really wanted to make sure the dresses were a decent price for the girls.  I know they all have a lot going on and I was hoping to keep the dress under $100 or at least $150.  Turns out the joke was on me.  Do you know how hard it is to find a decent looking dress in the color you want for under that price?!?!  It’s ridiculous.

I would go into store after store and see racks of 300 gowns….only 5 of them being under $185.  I mean are you serious?  Since when did standing next to one of your closest friends on her big day become so stinkin expensive?? 

I looked everywhere. I went to a ton of bridal shops, scoured the internet and even checked out some prom dresses in department stores.  I found nothing in the color I wanted for the price I wanted. I was bummed.  So I kind of gave up.  

I found a website that sells dresses that seemed to be a decent price called jjshouse.com.  I sent an email to the girls asking me to send their top favorite styles and which color they prefer clover or sage. 

Sage

Clover

Now let me point out, neither of those colors were what I was wanting or imagining, but I had kind of given up at this point. I wanted the girls to be happy and I wanted the dress to be a decent price, so I tried to just let it go.

We finally ended up getting this exact dress:

Here

 It’s not a terrible dress at all.  But it’s definitely not what I imagined.  It’s a lot brighter than I personally wanted for my wedding and I spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that I was happy with the choice. Clearly, this was a mistake. 

When the dresses arrived I was definitely not happy.  I loved the style (still do) but the color was just ugh.  It didn’t even match what was online.  It was more of a bright olive green and not attractive. I kind of hated it.  One of the dresses even had a needle stuck in it. A needle! Again, I was still trying to convince myself that I liked them.  My bridesmaids, being the awesome women that they are tried to help convince me too, even if it meant them wearing an ugly dress.

Yes, its sideways. But you get the point.

 Finally my brain clicked and I decided I didn’t want the dresses.  It wasn’t what I imagined and they weren’t making me happy.  The only problem was, I wasn’t sure we could return them and I wasn’t sure we’d find anything else.

That weekend was my LA trip.  Two of the girls and my mom set an appointment at David’s bridal and we scoured the store.  I still didn’t love the green color that they offered, but I thought it was much better than what we had. They only problem was, none of the dresses were very flattering. We finally found one that was ok, but again it wasn’t the style that I was looking for.  I was going to have to settle again.  I wanted a long dress for everyone because I didn’t want different dress lengths when they were all standing together, I knew it would bug me. Also, if they bought this dress they’d have to all buy matching shoes too!  More expenses….ugh. 

We left the store with the thought of purchasing those dresses once we confirmed we could return the others (lots of emails back and forth plus $70 of shipping later, we did). 

On Sunday, we went shopping at a mall in LA.  The first store we pulled up to was Macy’s.  Problem was, even though the store was open, that particular door we went to was still locked. An associate tried to come and let us in, but she had to call someone else for help.  Finally, we gave up and walked over to Nordstrom’s which was a little bit further down the mall.  Best thing that could ever have happened!

Once entering the mall, we passed by H&M.  Along the wall by the store display window a long light pink chiffon dress caught my eye.  I walked over to it and exclaimed “See, I wish there was a dress like this in my color. It would be perfect.” As I got closer I noticed something.   Directly behind the dress tucked was back in there was this:

Here

OMG you guys!  It was the dress I was imagining the entire time!  What’s more, it was only $60!  I completely freaked, I was so excited.   I grabbed every single one off of the rack and we ran to the dressing room to try them on.  It was perfect.  I bought one for each of the girls. The only thing we need to find now is an ivory belt, obviously the black is too much.

That was about three weeks ago…. guess what happened this weekend?  

The dresses went on sale!

My bridesmaid dresses are now only $35.  I can’t believe it!  

After all of that hassle, I got more than I could have ever imagined I wanted.   The perfect color, the perfect style for the perfect (ok even better than perfect??!) price!

What do you think??