Bridesmaids Dresses!

Picking bridesmaids dresses was 10x harder than picking my own damn wedding dress. I want to know if anyone else has had this same situation. Is that weird? I bought my wedding dress at Kleinfeld in New York. I don't want to post too much about it here because I want it to be a surprise for everyone at the wedding, but speaking generally, let me tell you - it was a piece of cake compared to bridesmaids dresses. First, it seems that bridesmaids dresses are made ugly to make the bride look better. They are all overpriced, and come in limited colors. The last thing I want is for my friends and family to buy an ugly dress for a lot of money. Further, having friends who don't have strong opinions on dresses seems ideal, but it's not! Because that leaves you, the bride, with the decision. I visited David's Bridal, but didn't love the quality of the dresses. I couldn't find a Watters design I loved, plus they aren't nationally available in-store (my bridesmaids live in four different states). Simple Silhouettes are great, but pricey. J.Crew seemed like a common go-to for bridesmaid's dresses, so I gave them and Aria, whose dresses are advertised in Modern Bride, a shot. Pictured above and on me are four sample dresses I ordered from J. Crew and Aria. Let's start with J.Crew.

I didn't bother showing a pic of the halter from J.Crew because it was fugly. The cotton cady in Fresh Mint was way too bright and not very forgiving. The silk chiffon in Dusty Shale basically looked gray. The underlay was perfect, but who cares about the underlay? So, no to J.Crew.

Aria has a great try-on program where you can order a dress. They have a limited number of sample pieces, so while I was able to see the color I was considering, I didn't get to see a dress design of my choice. So, I'm not a big fan of the color blocked dress they send and will ask the girls to just stick with the one color. Preferably without a sash. Another downside is that you only get to keep it for about a day and it cost me a total of $25. But I guess it was worth it because I love love LOVE the silk shantung in Mist. I've decided to let my bridesmaids pick out whatever design they want now that I have the color picked out. I don't need my attendants to look like replicas of each other, so this decision (or non-decision) was an easy one! Finally!