Source: jcrew.com

My sister is going to be in one of our friends wedding this July and she is super excited to be in it, but of course there’s a small catch. Our friend, the bride-to-be, has finally chosen the bridesmaid dress colors and they are……. pink and orange! Half the bridesmaids will be assigned to wear pink, and the other half will be assigned orange.  Now that might not sound that bad to you, but to my fashionista sister, the possibility of having to wear orange is her worst nightmare especially when there’s going to be tons of pictures taken of her! Of course my sister will ultimately wear either color, but her telling me this news got me thinking about choosing bridesmaid dresses, and how a bride should go about making her decision from a bridesmaid perspective.

First and foremost, I believe that it is ultimately the bride’s choice on what her bridesmaids wear, no matter what her pickiest bridesmaids say. However, I think it is important to take all of your bridesmaids into consideration.  Some things to consider are the price of the dresses, sizes available, style or cut of the dresses, fabrics, and the colors. Try to think about each one of your bridesmaids separately and picture each of them in the dresses that you’re considering. If they seem like they’ll work on all of the bridesmaids, then you’ve found the right dresses. If not, move on to different ones. Depending on the size of your bridal party and their level of maintenance, one great tip is to narrow your bridesmaid dress selections down to just a few and have your bridesmaids vote on them. That way the bridesmaids feel that they are a part of the process and will be more supportive of the dress selection.  Another possibility is to give your bridesmaids options. Set a few guidelines like the color or style from a specific store or line and let them pick out the dress.  That way they can choose the dress that best fits their personality. Most importantly, you want everyone to be happy and feel comfortable on your wedding day.  And as for my sister, I know she’ll look great in either color, but fingers crossed that she gets assigned pink! 

Source: Wedding Channel

There are lots to think about when you shop for your wedding dress. As friends look for their own dress, I offer advise from my own experience. There are several things that I did before I even tried a dress on. Here is my advice to you if you’re starting out for the first time:

1. Understand the different silhouettes, necklines, and price ranges. People will talk “wedding dress talk” to you so it’s easier if you understand what they’re talking about. Wedding Dress Creator lets you play around with dress styles.
2. Look online a bit to see what strikes your fancy – If you’re motivated, bookmark or print out a couple of dresses to take with you when you go shopping. It’ll help the consultant who is helping you find a dress. Try weddingchannel.com or brides.com.
3. Watch wedding shows, like Say Yes to the Dress – set your DVR to watch the new episodes so you can see other brides with your body shape and see what looks good on them.
4. Check out bridal magazines – look through the bridal magazines at your local bookstore. There’s always articles and ads about what’s the latest fashion.
5. I frequented Wedding Channel’s dress search and found it really helpful. I found a dress that I liked and then it told me what stores carried it. In the end, finding the store that carried that dress was quicker than trying to find the dress by going store to store.

Do you have any other pre-wedding-dress-shop tips? Did you do anything differently?