dresses are in

Right after Christmas I got a wonderful call from Bella Bridesmaid letting me know that our bridesmaid dresses were in and that they would soon be shipped out to all my girls. Woohoo! Everyone has them by now, so it's time to make some decisions about the rest of their ensemble.

First I narrowed down our shoe options to silver or raspberry and asked my lovely ladies for feedback and opinions. Although the raspberry would be an awesome pop! of color, it would probably look best if all the girls had the same exact shoe or same exact raspberry color. That seems like too much thinking, searching, stressing. So silver it is!

Jewelry?? Well, MOH Ash had the fabulous suggestion of maybe incorporating raspberry into the jewelry. That got my wheels turning and reminded me of this beautiful berry colored hair flower that my co-worker wore at her wedding in October - from ban.do. My mom and I had already discussed possibly making a fabric flower of some sort to either go on the girls' sashes or in their hair. Perfect solution. So...silver shoes, silver jewelry (if they want to incorporate the raspberry into the jewelry, great, but not necessary) and maybe some raspberry flowers. Done and done.

(dress, flowers, shoes 1, 2, 3)

How did you decide on your girls' shoes and accessories? Did you give them guidelines or leave it all up to them?

the final bm dress colors

I kind of left you all hanging with regard to the final bridesmaid dress decision. What colors did we choose? Well after much deliberation - yes, I fedex overnighted the swatches to my mom in Pennsylvania because I have a hard time making up my own mind without her input - we decided on these beautiful shades of blue:

Powder Blue, Tiffany Blue, Mist, Paradise and Pond
(this photo shows the colors more true to life than the ones shown below, fyi)

MOH Ashley - LulaKate Pearl (as shown) in Powder Blue

MOH Sam - LulaKate Angela (as shown) in Tiffany Blue

BM Emily - LulaKate Pam (with straight skirt) in Mist

BM Katie - LulaKate Gina (with straight skirt) in Paradise, which is the color of the dress she has on

BM Becca - LulaKate Pearl (with box pleat skirt) in Pond

I'm really excited about the choices we made and think the different shades flow nicely together. I can't wait to see what they all look like on the day of the wedding!

Do you ever have a hard time making decisions on your own? Is there one person's input that you rely on more than anyone else's?

bridesmaid shoe-spiration

As of Wednesday afternoon all of the bridesmaid dresses have been ordered! They will all be wearing LulaKate dresses in different shades of blue. I'll let you know what we ended up choosing for the final colors a little bit later. For now, though, let's talk shoes. I'm going to let my lovely ladies pick their own shoes (or wear ones they already have), but I'm having a hard time deciding which direction I want to take. The choices are endless, I guess, but I've narrowed it down into a few different color categories - silver, gold, pewter, nude/beige/ivory, or something fun like raspberry or fuchsia.

1. BCBG Mirna 2. Butter Claudia 3. Nina Papina 4. RSVP Sadie 5. Brigitte Bailey
6. Nine West Accolia 7. Badgley Mischka Randall 8. BCBGirls Ariel

1. Nina Culver 2. Naturalizer Prissy 3. Anne Klein Frolic 4. Anne Klein Kalei
5. Nina Forbes 6. Naturalizer Princeton 7. Me Too Sweet

1. Nina Electra 2. Romantic Soles Hailey 3. Isola Dolce
4. Etienne Aigner Vivica 5. Lovely People Karen

1. Nina Fulvia

What color do you think would go best with light blue/aqua/robin's egg blue dresses? Did you have your bridesmaids wear the same shoes or did they pick their own?

color swatches are in!

The color swatches that I requested from LulaKate came in last week - with a nice little note, no less! I'm not one hundred percent satisfied with the colors I picked, but there are still a few more options to choose from.

From left to right: Paradise, Powder Blue, Surf, Mist, and Tiffany Blue

Seeing them all lined up together, I love the Powder Blue and the Mist. The Surf seems a bit too blue, almost closer to periwinkle. And the Paradise and Tiffany are almost too saturated.

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I'm probably going to request to see Pond and Waterfall, and possibly Cloud and Jade. Overall, I am very pleased with the customer service from Bella Bridesmaid and LulaKate. Since our appointment a few weeks ago, I have received a follow up phone call, an email explaining the process of ordering if we're interested, an email inviting me to a special LulaKate event this Thursday (which I'm still debating whether or not to go), and the above swatches. I love that the store is by appointment only because we were able to get one-on-one attention. In my opinion, great service shouldn't be reserved only for the bride. For those of you still looking for bridesmaids dress, Bella Bridesmaid is a great option to consider.

During your engagement, did you have any notable customer service experiences, good or bad? Also, what are your thoughts on the color swatches?

dressing my ladies - bridals by lori

After we left Bella Bridesmaid, we decided to stop for lunch at nearby Tin Lizzy's Cantina.

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Because my bridesmaids are awesome, Emily offered to drive my car so that I could enjoy some lunchtime margaritas. It was a major buzzkill, though, when on our way to Lori's we got pulled over. None of us had any clue why - maybe speeding? Turns out, it was because we ran a stop sign at a 5-way intersection. Eek! I'm pretty sure the SUV in front of us did the same? But I can't say that I was paying very close attention. We, or I should say Emily, got a citation. Bummer. We brushed it off and eventually made it to Bridals by Lori.

After trying on a few dresses, we decided to focus on the flowy, silk chiffon ones by Amsale. Everyone loved this stunning one-shoulder dress.

Becca

Katie

Sam

Emily

MOH Sam also loved the halter above. The floral detailing is a nice touch since my dress has flowers on it. The upside - everyone loved these dresses. I even tried some on and they truly felt like pajamas. I also love the look of chiffon and think it meshes well with our vintage/rustic/garden wedding (more so than the stiffer looking silk shantung). The downside - there was only one color even remotely close to what I was looking for and it just didn't make my heart sing (sorry - corny, I know) like the LulaKate colors.

Amsale - Ocean

If ocean was just a little bit lighter/brighter I would most likely scrap my idea of having all the girls in different shades and go with the Amsale dresses. With that said, I guess I'm leaning more towards the LulaKate dresses. Any ideas/insight/suggestions would be much appreciated!

dressing my ladies - bella bridesmaid

This is going to be a long one...

Our first stop Saturday morning was at Bella Bridesmaid, a quaint little shop in the Buckhead area of Atlanta.


After trying on a few different styles, the maids were gravitating towards these two from Coren Moore - one boatneck and one sweetheart, both with lovely detailing.






We were excited that the dress picking was so easy, but little did we know that the fabric color palette that the consultant had laid out on the table (with at least 10 different shades of blue, that I loved) was not the one for Coren Moore. Instead we had only 4 shades of blue to choose from and they didn't flow together as nicely.

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So we discussed a combination of their tiffany blue and lime.


Sometime during this discussion, the consultant came over and showed us some photographs of a wedding where half the bridesmaid dresses were tiffany with light green sashes and the other half were light green with tiffany sashes. To give you some reference, this is the photo I showed her as inspiration at the beginning of the appointment:

(from the newest edition of Southern Weddings Magazine)

Needless to say, the photo she showed me was pretty much the exact opposite of the above mismatched look I was going for. At that point, another consultant came in and took over our appointment. It was just at the right time, too, because I think my bridesmaids were picking up on the fact that I was disappointed and a bit overwhelmed/frustrated with the other consultant's lack of understanding. So they spoke up and we started over. This time, we focused on the dresses that coincided with the color palette I was initially drooling over. The following dresses are LulaKate or - as our (new) consultant put it - the build-a-bear of bridesmaid dresses. There are 14 different bodice choices and about 7 different skirt choices. My bridesmaids picked out the following styles:

MOH Sam chose Angela, a straight across strapless shown with box-pleat skirt. She liked this style as is.

BM Emily chose Pam, a cross-over/sweetheart with straps. It is shown with the box-pleat, but Emily likes it better with the straight skirt.

BM Katie chose Gina, a scoop neck front and back. She prefers the straight skirt as well, rather than the party skirt shown here.

BM Becca picked the sweetheart neckline, Pearl, with the box-pleat instead of the straight skirt shown.

All of the dresses would include the band as seen in the Angela and Pam photos or potentially a sash instead, similar to the Coren Moore dresses we liked in the beginning. And below are all of the shades of blueish green. I'm waiting on Bella Bridesmaid to send me some swatch samples since the colors look drastically different in person. Right now I'm leaning towards a combination of Pond, Tiffany Blue, Surf, Mist and either Waterfall or Paradise. As BM Becca explained to the consultant - I want my bridesmaids to look like 5 girls showed up to the wedding wearing dresses that just happened to go together.

Here we are, at the end of the appointment, happy with the decisions made and with plenty of options to discuss over lunch. All of the girls' measurements were taken and their preferred style combinations were written down. Now I'm just waiting for an email from our consultant and some fabric swatches. The designer for LulaKate will be at Bella on the 27th, so I might be able to go back and get sketches made and price quotes for all of the dresses we are considering.

Next up: our appointment at Bridals by Lori throws a wrench into the mix.

showers and dress shopping

Look what I received in my (digital) mailbox last week:


My very first bridal shower invitation! It might seem a bit early to have a shower considering our wedding is in May, but there's a good explanation. MOH Sam and bridesmaid Becca are going to be in town visiting (we were all roommates in college). Well, Sam is from Colorado and wasn't sure if she would be able to make it back east again prior to the wedding and asked if it would be okay to plan a little shower/brunch for me. It won't be very big - four out of my five bridesmaids (we'll miss you Ash!), a sorority sister who lives a few hours away and two local friends.

The 'maids will get in Friday night/Saturday morning, so I decided to take advantage of most of us being in the same place at the same time. We're going dress shopping!! I'm really looking forward to spending time with my girlfriends and getting ideas for their attire. Online images of perfect-looking models just aren't cutting it for me anymore. I'm also glad that we were able to set this up because I thought I would have to pick out bm dresses alone since we are all so spread out. And, honestly, that doesn't seem like much fun.

inspiration for my girls

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Notice a trend? I know the non-matchy bridesmaids train is picking up speed in the wedding world. And, well, I'm definitely hopping on board! My hope is for all of my bridesmaids to feel good in what they wear even if they (realistically) don't ever wear it again.

My stipulations:
a. knee length
b. a shade closely resembling robin's egg blue, aqua, teal, turquoise, etc. (and I might allow shades of green, too)

The first photo above is my absolute favorite. They are the chiffon dresses from j. crew and the bride let her maids choose from two colors and any style they wanted. Unfortunately, the crew doesn't have any colors that I really like right now. Perhaps this winter when they release their Spring 2011 line??

What do you think of the mis-matched bridesmaid dress trend?

introducing my lovely ladies

I've showed you how I asked them, and now they've all said yes. So who are these wonderful people that I've asked to stand beside me on the big day?

Matron of Honor Ashley - You may remember me talking about her a few times on here. I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding next month and I designed her save the dates and invitations. We met our Freshman year in high school, but our friendship really flourished once we both left for college. Little known facts - she loves Hanson (yes, mmmbop Hanson) and is a borderline twihard (Did anyone else see the midnight showing of Eclipse last night? Ashley did!).

Maid of Honor Sam (on the left) - We met on move-in day our Freshman year of college. We started off as suitemates, joined the same sorority and lived together for the rest of college. Most of my college memories include her, which brings me to...

Bridesmaid Becca (in the middle) - My other roommate in college. We met freshman year because we lived in the same dorm and also joined the same sorority. Some of my fondest memories of college are of hanging out in Becca's room with Becca and Sam on Sunday afternoons recapping the weekend and watching shows like "Little People, Big World", "Deadliest Catch", and "Girls Next Door."

Bridesmaid Katie - My future sister-in-law. I always enjoy spending time with her and gabbing about wedding stuff. She's full of wedding knowledge since she planned her own wedding a few years ago.

Bridesmaid Emily - At 15 years and counting, I have known Emily the longest. We met the summer before 5th grade when her family moved in down the street. Our friendship has survived middle school, high school, college and beyond without drifting apart.

Love these girls and am incredibly honored to have them by my side!