Weddingbee Blog

Back in 1995 when my sister got married, she decided she didn’t want to pick out bridesmaid dresses for all the girls, but instead bought us the same navy material and asked us to design our own dresses. At sixteen, I considered myself a budding fashion designer, and was thrilled with this task. I designed a floor length sheath with a high neckline and a low open back. A good look for a girl who decided to become a lifeguard that summer and had some awesome lifeguard swimsuit tan lines on her back. I am sure no one noticed. No one except, everyone, as I stood at the altar with my back to the church.

When my sister made this decision to not have her bridesmaids look like soldiers, everyone was shocked and loved the idea. Mind you we were just passing the beaded, puffy sleeved stage of the early nineties; few brides allowed their ladies to make such decisions. Fast forward to 2006 when allowing bridesmaids to wear a dress they have selected is all the rage. Many dress companies from David’s Bridal to Saeyoung Vu are offering collections that allow bridesmaids to pick out styles of dresses that fit their body type and comfort level, while still maintaining the same material, color, and shapes so that the bridal party dresses look related.

My bridesmaids are spread all over the country - Ohio, California, Maryland and New York, so getting them together for a dress hoedown was just not happening. I tried to make things as easy as possible and ended up ordering dresses from Simple Silhouettes in Soho because the material, styles and color worked for everyone and the dresses could be found in bridal stores all over the country.

I think they will look great, but I think it is funny that I gave them the freedom to pick out whatever style and trim they wanted and four out of six girls picked the same strapless dress. If I had to do this again, I think I would give them fewer parameters and ask them show up with “any pink dress” as to allow them to really highlight their personalities and styles. While this day is primarily about Mr. Grasshopper and me, I also want it to be about how unique and special our friends are to us.