Weddingbee

Fun fact: Five out of the six women in my wedding party have been bridesmaids multiple times, while my wedding is the very first wedding party that I’ll have been a part of!

When I first asked my MOH to join me in my bridal party, I told her, “My goal is to choose a bridesmaid dress that you’ll wear more than once.”

She replied, “Oh, forget it. We’ll never wear the dresses again. Just choose what you want!”

She was right. I mean, seriously. What occasion other than a wedding would ever call for a strapless pink dress with a long satin ribbon tie? Even with a denim jacket thrown over it, the dress would still scream “bridesmaid!”

Once I got over the need to find a versatile dress, I chose a few styles I liked and sent photos over to the girls. They unanimously agreed on this simple number by Watters & Watters:

My plan was to order the gown in light pink organza without the painted flowers. However, when I asked around for prices, I found that this simple dress was quoted at nearly $200, and that’s without alterations! The price was too steep for my taste, especially since I wanted to purchase my bridesmaids’ dresses and I had six women in my wedding party.

Well, resourceful Mamma Eggplant found a tiny shop that’ll custom make bridesmaid dresses for a very reasonable price, all alterations included. All I had to do was choose my fabric from their vast selection of colors, provide a picture of the dress style I wanted, and inform my friends of their deadline to get measured. Easy as pie!

The shop is called My Wedding Day Studio and there are two locations, one in San Francisco and one in San Mateo. I have to warn you, the shop is very… um…. (how shall I word this?)… “Chinese,” if you know what I mean. Take a look at their website and you’ll understand. Also, if you can speak Cantonese, I think they will be willing to bargain with you a bit. The manager quoted me $140 per dress back in March, and when I went to order the dresses in July, their prices had increased to $160. Mamma Eggplant was able to negotiate the price back down to $140 per dress, alterations included.

My Wedding Day Studio sends the measurements to their contacts in Hong Kong and China where the dresses are made. When the gowns return, they do the alterations in house. My bridesmaids’ dresses came back a few weeks ago (they only took one month to make and ship back!) and I tried one of them on:

I was extremely tired and cranky on the morning that I visited the shop, so please ignore my dazed and confused look, black flip flops, and bra hanging out on the floor.

So, the dresses are not exactly cutting edge fashion. The shop isn’t exactly know for stellar customer service either. But they definitely get the job done, and for $140 including alterations, I’m pretty pleased with the results. I chose a thin pink satin underlay with a lighter pink organza overlay on top. The seamstresses also sewed built-in bra cups inside all of the dresses and boning when needed. Some of the girls are still going in for fittings, so once all is done, I’ll let you know how everything turns out.

Since my friends will probably never wear the dresses again, I wanted to at least give them some shoes that they could enjoy more than once. No matching light pink shoes! Instead, I purchased these lovely heels from Ann Taylor for only $39.44. I just hope they match because they were final sale…

For the bay area brides out there looking for decently priced bridesmaid dresses, below is the contact information:

My Day Wedding Studio

2460 S. El Camino
San Mateo, CA 94403
650.578.9276

5418 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.876.5418

(I’ve visited both locations and I noticed that the shop on Geary quoted me higher prices and was less customer service friendly than the San Mateo location.)

• Beehive
• Vendor Negotiating