Bridesmaids Dresses: Part 5 of 5

Yay!! After several months of searching, we have our bridesmaids dresses - and they're ordered and paid for. I went to the Amsale Bridesmaids Dress Buying Party at Hitched a week ago eeeearly (5 PM) - yes, I actually left work 30 minutes early just to make sure I got there on time. Kati and I went straight to the chiffon dresses (new for Spring 2009). We / she tried on all the beauties I first spied online and we fell in love with them all over again. They were so flattering, forgiving, and I loooooove the dresses in Cerise.

And now, for our lovelies:
Amsale 456c (shown in Cerise, crinkled chiffon)Amsale 454c
Amsale 455c

Amsale 450cAmsale 451c
I decided to pick out 5 dresses so the girls could choose the dress that's most flattering on their figure and they felt most comfortable getting and they will all be wearing the same color in Cerise, which is my favorite color of all time. Seriously.

It was kind of a tedious process to order them as I was seeing them for the first time during the trunk show and then had to decide that night if we were going to get them to take advantage of the 15% discount. So we tried on dresses, I looked for wifi at 2 different internet cafes to email the girls the pictures, couldn't find one, and just called all 7 of them. They were all on board if I thought they were a good choice, and Kati and I definitely loved them. Some were concerned if they would have to wear a strapless bra under all of them, I assured them that was not the case with Amsale 454 (the halter top with ruffles) - it's definitely thick enough at the top at the neck to wear with a converted strapless/halter bra. Some were a little concerned about the color, too, but Kati and I have very different coloring (she's more fair and porcelain colored and I'm more olive toned) and we both thought they still looked good on both of us. I didn't necessarily have to convince the girls, but I definitely wanted them to feel comfortable in trusting me. My sister, the Maid of Honor, will likely go with a longer, tea length option rather than the cocktail dress to look a little different from the rest.

I do hope they turn out well. I just love them so much and really have high hopes that the girls will like them too and that they'll look as stunning as I think they will.

Bridesmaids Dresses: Part 3 (of 4 or 5)

After my horrific experience at Jingles in Richmond, my friends and I visited Bella Rosa. It was WONDERFUL. They had so many dresses, the store was a great size, we didn't need an appointment but easily got a dressing room, and the sales associate was so attentive and professional - she even repeatedly apologized for not being able to be with us more because they were so busy - and they were busy! My friend Bekah tried on maybe 12 dresses while Brittany and I rated them. It was so different from our first experience - we were there for over an hour! Because this was our first serious research trip, we couldn't place an order, but she was happy to give us swatches of the top 6 dresses we liked. (More on that later.)

Late last week, two wonderful friends went with me to a third store to look at bridesmaids dresses. This was at Priscilla of Boston in Tyson's Corner (after stopping at Tiffany's next door). I had a few in mind from doing more research online with Bekah and from the dresses we liked at Bella Rosa. And now, for the dresses:

Vineyard Style 1414

Amsale Style G456C in Cranberry (in love with the color)

Melissa Sweet STYLE MS307

Melissa Sweet STYLE MS219

Melissa Sweet STYLE MS120

Some runners up, but unfortunately, they don't come in colors that would go with our wedding:

http://watters.com/product.php?coll=wtoo&showid=751
Waters, too STYLE 306

http://watters.com/product.php?style=4331
Waters & Waters STYLE 4331

http://watters.com/product.php?showid=973&coll=watters&style=4335
Waters & Waters STYLE 4335

**Photos are courtesy of Priscilla of Boston and Amsale.

All these dresses came in GREAT colors (Cranberry / Raspberry). However, they all seem a bit expensive (in the mid to high $200's). But they're quite cute. My girls loved the last 3 Melissa Sweets, and I do, too. However, my friends tonight said they felt like the Melissa Sweets weren't as good quality as the dresses we tried on tonite (Simple Silhouettes and Threads). However, Simple Silhouettes and Threads are up to $200 more!! * le sigh *

Soon, I'll post about my visit to Hitched in D.C.

Rebuffed: Bridesmaids Dresses Part 2

Two weekends ago I visited Richmond to see some friends and go bridesmaids dress shopping. We visited 2 different stores and had 2 very different experiences. The first was Jingles. I had called them 3 days prior to our visit to see if we needed an appointment to look at dresses (they were fully booked for appointments because of a trunk show). My friend had tried to prepare us as she had researched them prior to our visit and reported that she'd read comments online that the shop can be a little snobby, even though they have some nice dresses.

The woman who answered told me no, only if I wanted my girls to be measured for their dresses. When we arrived, the first woman who greeted us asked if we had an appointment. I told them about my phone conversation. This first woman was very nice and even apologetic that their dressing rooms were all in use, but she may be able to squeeze us in after a group of girls was finished. I thanked her and we began our browsing. A second woman asked us if we had an appointment, ready to record my answer on her trusy clipboard. I told her the same and she was very rude and said, "Well, we you need an appointment. We're very busy today, with the trunk show and all." I told her we understood and we would be okay just browsing if if need be. A THIRD woman asked us the same question (mind you, the shop is very small and the section with the bridesmaids dresses is right in front of the front desk, so even if you wanted to have a quiet conversation with a potential client, you would still only be standing a maximum of 10 feet away from anyone else in the store! Well, the first one was able to get us into a dressing room 15 minutes before her 2:30 appointment. Between the 3 of us, we were able to try on 7 different dresses in less than 10 minutes. On our way out, we said thank you and let them know that the dressing room was available. We will not be returning.