BM dresses for Goldilocks and the 3 Bears?

[ladyciel]

Here is my dilemma: I have 4 bridesmaids, and they are 4 completely different shapes and sizes. I'll call them Petite, Tall-Skinny-Runner, 36-26-36, and Plus-Size. Three of them are grad students, and the 4th graduated less than a year ago. To further complicate matters, they live in 4 different states (only my maid of honor - the petite one - lives in the same town as me). I feel like I have every stereotypical BM problem out there! Poor, hard to fit, and out-of-town.

My goal in choosing BM dresses is that they're affordable for the girls, medium to dark blue, tea-length, and dresses the girls love and want to wear again. I like the idea of finding them off the rack, but finding a designer that makes an appropriate dress in both regular and plus sizes is proving difficult. If we go with a bridesmaid line, I like the idea of choosing a color/fabric and letting the girls pick their own dresses.

All that said, I'm hoping you guys can suggest some designers (BM line or not) that we should look into. Since the girls are all over the place, it definitely makes sense to order online or through a discounter - a B&M shop has very little they can offer us in terms of alterations, etc. I've heard soooo many horror stories about David's Bridal BM dresses that I'm wary to use them.

Really, I'm just ready to pull my hair out on this and tell the girls to go find a blue dress - ANY blue dress - that they like.

Any advice/suggestions/experience you guys can offer is much appreciated!!

 

[gwendolyn]

So this isn't a themed wedding?

I chose the bridesmaids' dresses for my friend's wedding (I was the maid of honour), and I went with a tea-length gown from the Wtoo line at Watters & Watters: http://watters.com/indexNoFlash.php

We had ladies of all sizes too (including a plus-size (me), some tiny things, a pear-shape AND someone who was 8-months pregnant! no I'm NOT kidding, she had a different style dress) in four different states, and we made it work! I thought we all looked gorgeous, and I've worn my dress again a few times since then. This is the one I chose, which worked really well for her garden wedding, but I think they have a LOT of cute styles there!

ETA: Oh, it didn't attach. Here's a link to the dress itself, in case you were curious: http://watters.com/product.php?coll=wtoo&showid=269#

 

[ladyciel]

Thanks, Gwendolyn! Our wedding is also an outdoor garden wedding (this September). It looks like WToo has some really cute styles in enough of a variety that my girls could all find something to suit them. How was the quality? I''m guessing since you''ve worn your dress again that it hasn''t fallen apart yet at least.

How did you guys handle ordering your dresses and getting alterations?

 

[gwendolyn]

Date: 2/2/2008 12:43:27 PM
Author: ladyciel
Thanks, Gwendolyn! Our wedding is also an outdoor garden wedding (this September). It looks like WToo has some really cute styles in enough of a variety that my girls could all find something to suit them. How was the quality? I''m guessing since you''ve worn your dress again that it hasn''t fallen apart yet at least.

How did you guys handle ordering your dresses and getting alterations?

The quality was good, I was quite pleased with it! What we did was get some of us together to go for a fitting, figure out what colours we wanted, get measured and then, for those of us who were there, we put down our deposits and were told we could pick up our dresses in a month or two (don''t remember). For the ones out of state who didn''t make it to the fitting, they had to go to a boutique, get measured by someone there, then have those measurements sent in along with their deposit. Once all the deposits and measurements were in, they put our order in.

When the dresses came in, we picked them up, except for the ladies out of town, who had theirs shipped (had to pay extra, so we drove one out to Ohio from Maryland when visiting one of the bridesmaids

), and then we could bring the dresses back for free alterations, or the ladies out of state could bring them to their boutique that did the measurements (probably one that sells Watters & Watters dresses, but I don''t know for sure). Mine didn''t need any alterations, so I was good to go.

And in case you were curious, the dresses weren''t too badly priced; the one I got was just over $200, which for bridesmaids'' dresses (especially ones you can wear again!) is pretty good, I think!

 

[CDNinNYC]

How 'bout going to JCrew for some BM dresses?

http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod90699201&catId=cat290185

http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod90698201&catId=cat290185

http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod90769201&catId=cat290185

http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod78054201&catId=cat290185


They seem to have different styles to fit different body types in the same colour range. Ordering from them shouldn't be that difficult either.

ETA: Sorry, just realized that what looked like Royal Blue on my computer screen is labelled Regal Purple on the JCrew site.

 

[ladyciel]

Date: 2/2/2008 2:05:48 PM
Author: CDNinNYC
How ''bout going to JCrew for some BM dresses?


http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod90699201&catId=cat290185


http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod90698201&catId=cat290185


http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod90769201&catId=cat290185


http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod78054201&catId=cat290185



They seem to have different styles to fit different body types in the same colour range. Ordering from them shouldn''t be that difficult either.


ETA: Sorry, just realized that what looked like Royal Blue on my computer screen is labelled Regal Purple on the JCrew site.

Yeah, I would love to use the JCrew dresses, but they don''t come in sizes large enough for one of my girls.

 

[goldenstar]

What would you consider a good budget? I can think of a few options but they might be too pricey.

 

[ladyciel]

We definitely want to stay under 200. The closer to 100, the better.

 

[urseberry]

Ann Taylor's Celebrations line goes up to 18. This dress from Macy's comes in both regular and plus sizes and looks like it might flatter most shapes: http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=277546&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results. Nordstrom has a few blue dresses that come in both regular and plus as well, like this one: http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2947825?Category=&Search=True&SearchType=keywordsearch&keyword=donna+rico+in+All+Categories&origin=searchresults. Both dresses are Donna Rico, so that may be a good designer to check out.

 

[sumbride]

We did Alfred Angelo bridesmaid dresses and it worked out great for my girls of all different shapes, sizes, and ages. I said "Navy" and they picked their own dresses. Some went with the separates line, some ordered dresses. Everyone was happy. Some were over $200 but not all. They go up to a size 28W, I believe, but are sized small. My very slim niece who wears a size 2 in jeans had to order a 12, so keep that in mind. They also charge $30 extra for W sizes which people easily and unfairly fall into.

 

[CDNinNYC]

Have you checked out the dresses at this website? http://www.ariadress.com Another PS has ordered dresses from them. Sizes range from 0-24 and sizing for Standard, Petite, and Tall. They also carry three different types of material (Silk Shantung, Duchess Satin, Cotton Eyelet) in a wide variety of colours and styles. The website has a number of photos of real life wedding parties to look at. Prices seem to range from mid $100s to low $200s depending on the material and whether you want knee length or floor length.

They have showrooms in Boston, Los Angeles or Washington DC, or they can send you a dress sample through their "try-on program".

I've attached a sample photo.

 

[Independent Gal]

Another option, if you were OK with it, would be to just give them a colour swatch and say ''Go! Run free! Find the dress of your dreams!'' I had a friend do that for her wedding, and even though the dresses were slightly different shades and things, it looked AWESOME in the photos. I can see if I have on electronically that I can crop our heads off of.

 

[asscher_girl]

Hi Ladyciel,

I agree w/ CDninnyc. My bm''s purchased from Aria and the dresses are super cute. They live in Boston so they were lucky enough to go to their showroom but they have a great try on program too. The dress they selected was $195 but that''s because I wanted the silk shantung fabric. If they went with satin or cotton eyelet (super cute for a garden wedding) then the same dress would have been $150.

Good luck!

 

[ladyciel]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! My BMs (at least the two I''ve had the chance to talk to so far) and myself are really liking some of the WToo dresses that Gwendolyn pointed out. It turns out there are quite a few tea length styles offered in the midnight blue chiffon, so if I just say "midnight blue chiffon - GO!" they should each be able to find something they love. Also, it looks like the price is right - from what I''ve found online I think we can get most of them for 150-160 through discounters like House of Brides. I like that they have lots of different styles for the same fabric - empire or natural waist, strapless or not, v-neck or halter... - and the flowing chiffon fabric should be more forgiving/flattering across all the body types than say something like a shiny satin. I also think it should go well w/ the garden. My MOH and I are going to go see some of them in the next week or so, and my plus-size BM said she''s going to a shop near her on Friday who carries the specific style she loves. Yay! I''m excited!

I''ll be sure to report back on how it goes!

 

[Independent Gal]

That's great! And midnight blue chiffon is super versatile in the sense that it doesn't scream "bridesmaid dress" so they are more likely to wear it again. Lots of occasions where a blue party dress is appropriate. Not so many if the dress is fuschia or satin, know what I mean?

Sounds great. Keep us posted.

 

[sap483]

I also went with Aria for my bridesmaids, who like your bridesmaids are a varied bunch. Aria has lots of size options including petite and small sizes- so the only person who needs to have alterations is my super tiny sister who needed a size smaller than the smallest size. They all were able to pick out their own styles in the same color and fabric -the dresses which were the silk shatung fabric which is the most expensive fabric they offer. They came out to $205 each including shipping and MA sales tax. The same styles are also available in satin and cotton which are priced lower. I too wanted to keep the prices down and visited many B&M stores and Davids Bridal, but honestly neither I nor my girls loved any of dresses. I had stayed away from Aria b/c I didn''t want it to get up to $200, but my girls really like their dresses. They have simple silhouettes which make reusing them a viable option.