Wedding Blog
You may remember from a while back that I had a bit of a Bridesmaids’ Dress Dilemma. Well, the dilemma dissolved and we now have picked our dress. Thanks so much to everyone who commented, and all the great advice and votes!And the winner is…
by Jim Hjelm (#JH5653)
The dresses are scheduled to arrive in October, giving the bridesmaids a little over a month to sort out any necessary alterations. I’m a little nervous since two of the girls are out of town, but I think they’ve made arrangements to have it shipped to them (fingers crossed!).
And most exciting (okay, this is lame that I got so excited about this), the swatch for the Bridesmaids’ Dresses arrived:
As you can see, it will be a soft pink (”blush”) with a black ribbon. I’m not sure if I’ll have the girls wear the ribbon, but it came with it, so I figured, why not?
For shoes, I decided to have girls pick their own with the guidelines of “black & strappy”. What do you guys think? Should I have been more (or less) specific with guidelines? I didn’t want everything too matchy-matchy, but also not completely disorganized either.
How involved are you with your bridesmaids’ “look”? Are you going for a more coordinated look or letting the bridesmaids pick their own outfits/shoes/accessories?
|
Share this post: Things Are Falling Into Place…
Lovely choice! That dress looks like it would be very flattering.
Other than the dress, I’m not deciding anything for my bridesmaids. It’s a floorlength gown, so nobody will see their shoes. So color, height, style - whatever works for them. I’m not worrying about purses or jewlery or anything else matching either. I’ll be paying for their hair and makeup, but they can choose whatever style they’d like for the updo…
I think you are right on. Great colors BTW. I am doing champagne dresses with black sashes (blush colored bouquets with green berries). I only have 2 BMs so we chose the dress together and then I selected colors and told them any black strappy shoes are appropriate and they can chuck them for the reception. I purchased earrings for both girls and I’m debating on whether or not to get some sort of necklace. We’ll see what I can come up with.
My MOH gave a big negative to almost everything I suggested but finally agreed on a dress and shoes (which don’t seem comfortable to me). The other BMs were all too busy for input, so I just picked the dresses and shoes for them (with help from MOH). They haven’t been much help yet, so they are going to end up matchy-matchy. 
I had my bridesmaids choose their own dress, shoes, hairstyles and accessories. I didn’t want them to look exactly the same! Everyone was happy I didn’t make them wear anything they weren’t comfortable with.
Where does the black ribbon go?
Sorry, I got cut off….
They are bridesmaids bottom line, so unless we’ll be shooting a Robert Palmer video, I see no reason to go over the top matchy matchy - I am even letting the girls choose whether their hair is up or down.
Recently I was getting my nails done and the girl next to me had her polished changed 4 times until it was the perfect shade of “crimson”. She was going on and on about how this bride was dictating everything down to their underwear. I decided then and there to not be THAT bride. I love my girls and let’s face it - letting them pick their own shoes is just one less thing for me to worry about. I think you did great to give them some say in the matter.
i bought the dress and shoes for the girls, but they are free to “accessorize” however they like 
i was back and forth on me picking the shoes or letting them, since it was tea length and chocolate brown. I ended up stumbling on some i really liked at DSW, so i just bought them all up!
So pretty! Love that dress.
We went the flip of you - I picked out matching shoes for all of us (as well as buying their jewelry as part of their present,) and the girls can pick their dresses. Parameters are black, jersey, around knee-length, with some kind of sleeves.
It’s been so cool to see what each have picked so far. They look great together, but still kept their personality.
I was really excited too when I was able to get the swatch for the bridesmaid dress
I am also letting the girls pick their own shoes with similar guidlines, and letting them choose how they want their hair, etc. My FMIL really does not like this idea at all she thinks they should be all matchy-matchy.
It’s funny, I was all fired up to have the mismatched look that you see in the David’s Bridal ads, etc…but when I took the girls to choose what type of dresses they wanted, they all liked the same one! So they will be matching. I’m doing the same thing as Jessica in regards to shoes, hair, etc. Whatever they are most comfortable in! I did get them necklaces for their gifts…and let my MOH in on the secret so that she can “guide” them when it comes to earrings (couldn’t afford to get them those too, unfortunately).
I love this dress! So pretty. I would suggest however that since the dress colour is pale pink, it will look odd with black shoes unless you do use the black ribbon to tie it together. If you decide not to use the ribbon I’d personally go with a lighter coloured shoe - pale pink, white, ivory, silver, or beige.
Haven’t figured out how to do the BM outfits yet! I am thinking all the girls will wear the same dress but two of them would wear it in green and two of them in blue. I was all for letting them pick their own shoes, accessories, hair and everything but it’s the bridesmaids who are pushing for matching shoes. I thought it was funny. Hey, whatever… if they all pick matching shoes I still let them pick!
i love what you’ve chosen! and i love that you’ve given them the option of shoes! it’ll make the outfits more interesting.
i purchased the material and the girls will look fairly similar on the cut of the dress. i gave them the option of having different necklines, but they ended up choosing the same slight sweetheart anyway!
we’re gifting them the shoes, as my FI works for a shoe company, and they had to be the same because he’s pulling stock from one case. they did get to pick it out together though.
Moi - the black ribbon goes around the waist (for some reason, they don’t have many photos of that even though the dress comes with a ribbon!)
I picked out the BM dresses based on what I thought would look good on them. They don’t match, but coordinate our colors nicely: coral and lime. Shoes I said strappy, gold or tan. Hair and makeup- whatever they want. I was a bridesmaid where I had to have matching dress, shoes, earrings, nails, hair… it was a bit too much for my taste.
Thanks, Miss P.
I agree w/ smartl — gotta keep the ribbon and have some more black to use black shoes…. otherwise black shoes could like like a default choice because they wouldn’t ordinarily be paired with light pink. Personally, I think it can be tricky to use black ribbon in a way that says “wedding” instead of “funeral,” but you’re creative, so good luck.
Silver or that soft champagne gold color is another alternative for accessories to coordinate w/ pastels.
I did the same as you: picked the same dress for all the girls and let them pick their own shoes. In fact, I originally gave them the same requirements of black and strappy (they had red tea length dresses). They all seemed to have a different idea of strappy and were very unsure of their choices. So, I ended up looking online for shoes I thought would look good with the dress and emailed them to them as suggestions. None of them picked them, but I think it helped them understand what I was looking for. I had bracelets and earrings made for them by a lovely lady on Etsy and used those as part of their gifts.
to see what the ribbon would look like with the dress, check out Mrs. Lily’s bridesmaids dresses (they’re the same style, just a different color):
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Miss Peppermint, LA/Palm Springs
Age and Occupation: 23, Actress
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Web Producer
Engagement Date: October 21, 2006
Wedding Date: December 2007
Blogging Since: July 2, 2007
Venue: historic estate overlooking the heart of Palm Springs
About Me: I am a Southern California native who enjoys cooking, writing, travel and all things in the arts. Mr. Peppermint and I met in college and he proposed on our four year anniversary in one of our most special places, Joshua Tree National Park. We're having a destination wedding in Palms Springs that will incorporate tradition as well as reflect our personalities!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Latest Gallery Pics