Beautiful Bridesmaids

Yesterday we went shopping for bridesmaids dresses for 'L' s wedding. I thought it would be as painful as running into a brick wall face first but it was actually OK. It got a little crazy in the afternoon as the stores were packed (what recession?), apparently it's prom season, so it was a cyclone of candy-coloured polyester... Thankfully, we had already made a lot of decisions by then.

Bridesmaid dress shopping can be tedious, especially when there are different body types, ages and tastes involved. 'L' made it pretty easy, buy a black dress that you really like. 3 of the 4 girls got dresses, a success. I got a dress that is much more traditional than I usually wear but it's quite pretty and flattering. The best part is that, while it has a open neckline, there are little shoulder caps, so I can wear this dress in the Catholic church without a shawl. I completely understand the occasional necessity for shawls, I'm just glad I could do without. Boo to shawls...

Oh, bridesmaid dresses... For my wedding (two and a half years ago already!) I also wanted my bridesmaids to get a dress that they loved. I love clothing and prioritize it in my budget (what budget?), so I just wanted my ladies to treat themselves and feel pretty. It had to be cocktail length and in a soft colour but the rest was up to them. I think they looked pretty awesome, surprisingly they all looked coordinated.

Funny story. The fact that they looked so coordinated was actually a bit of fluke. 'M', the beautiful, tall bridesmaid (second from right) had a olive green and pink Betsey Johnson dress picked out, but her cat ate a huge chunk of the hem... seriously. She got it fixed but the hem had to be taken up and it ended up falling at a rather awkward place. She called me the morning of the wedding, before she came over to get our hair did and tearfully asked if she could wear a paisley dress instead, since the new hemline bugged her so much. Being the chill bride that I was (or just distracted... why was it freezing cold in August?...grrr...), I said do what you want. The paisley dress ended up having the colours from the other girls dresses and so everything worked out just fine. More than just fine; it worked fabulously. Getting a little emotional looking at the wedding pictures, these are some of my favourite people... xoxox