J. Crew Bridesmaid Dress Debacle

Some of you may remember my post a while back about my bridesmaids dresses. Well, as you might be able to tell from the title of this post, things didn't end so well even after my girls were able to deal with J. Crew's faulty website. My sister and I had a little runway show once we were both home to check out her dress options, when I realized the dresses were NOT the color they appeared online. Don't get me wrong, they are pretty dresses, but they were an orangey pink, and our wedding colors are wine, raspberry, and champagne. I agonized over it during the holidays, do I ask them to return? work around it? suck it up? But my sister (maid of honor) and 2 of my 3 secondary sponsors (kinda like bridesmaids but they take care of the cord, the candle, and the veil during the ceremony) were adamant that if they didn't fit with our vision, then they were happy to return them.

Below are the dresses:

J. Crew Silk Sophia Short

J. Crew Silk Chiffon Juliet

Actually, only the second dress came out orangey. None of the girls (at least that I know of) ordered the J. Crew Silk Sophia Short dress. Luckily, J. Crew has a very easy and friendly return policy, so we don't anticipate any problems returning the dresses. In addition, my wonderful bridesmaid Sarah was able to find an email address on the website to which you can write to request SWATCHES. Oh how I wish I'd known that was an option. But again, I think we were all swayed by the ridiculous Sales going on the website. Here's the email address: ashley@jcrew.com. Kinda random, huh?

Has anyone had any luck or experience with this?

What to wear. . . for the Bridesmaids

Early last week I made myself check out J.Crew because of the bombardment of coupons and sales they had been sending to my inbox. At most times of the year I try to resist the temptation, but it was the holidays and I had felt bad about neglecting my bridesmaids and their search for dresses. Lo and behold, the dresses I had loved early this fall were on sale AND they had a lot of sizes AND they were in the colors I wanted!

So I refined my list of prospects and sent them quickly to my girls for comment. They have been so sweet and willing to wear whatever I asked the, but I still wanted them to have a choice in their dress cut and color so that they would have something that brought out their best features.

One of them said to me tonight online (while we waited for J. Crew.com to come back online . . . and we're still waiting): p.s. thank you thank you thank you for not making us get a certain kind of shoes (like a specific pair)...i appreciate that SO much! i think it looks silly when it is all matchy matchy. i knew you wouldn't do that but still!

I'm not saying my way is the only way to do it, but I really wanted the girls to be able to choose a dress style and color (they're picking between 2 colors and 3 dresses) that also made them happy to wear. Another one told me tonight that this is the first dress that she has bought as a bridesmaid that she'll actually get to wear again. Both of these comments meant so much to because they were exactly the end result I wanted to achieve.

I would show you their choices, but because J. Crew.com is being crappy, I'll have to update you with them later. However, knowing that they're all ordering their dresses and who's going to wear what makes me SO EXCITED all over again! It's one thing to pick them out, but to know they've ordered them and who's wearing what at the wedding in 9 months, it's completely different. I can't wait to see them on some of the girls when I go home next week!

Zola Wine and Kitchen Opens

Recently Star Restaurant Group, (one of D.C.'s leading restaurant development firms who also brought you Indigo Landing) Zola Wine and Kitchen. According to this Washington Business Journals article, it will be the site of a chef's test kitchen as well as a wine shop that will sell 6,000 wines. They will also be offering cooking classes during lunch!

I think this would be a really fun place to visit with out-of-town family or a fun activity for you and your bridal party. If you get to go, let me know how your visit went!