Wedding Blog
We picked out our bridesmaid’s dresses pretty early on in the process, and it’s just about time to order them! We actually had somewhat of a difficult looking for dresses due to the color we wanted. Grey is slowly becoming a more popular color in dresses now, but when I first got engaged (January 2007) they were next to nonexistent. I have a feeling that Melissa Sweet single handedly changed all that, with her ad featuring these dresses:
They’re super cute, and have the right feel for our cocktail-attire wedding, but I wanted to look for something in the $150 and under range, and perhaps a little darker in color. I enlisted my bridesmaid, Jessica, to help me look, since she had some experience in this department, as she was married in England two years ago and picked out some lovely Aria Bridesmaid dresses for us:
Oh, I’m sorry, did I miss the memo that you were supposed to be blonde to be in this wedding?
Slim pickins’, especially in the $150 and under price range, but we were able to come up with a few cuties: Our All-Time Favorite was Style JH5701T By Jim Hjelm Occasions, but it didn’t fall into our price range:
Source: Jim Hjelm Occasions
WToo Style 829, also cute, also not in our price range:
Source Watters.com
We finally found this dress by Bill Levkoff that (finally) fit our budget:
Source: BillLevkoff.com
Jessica, being the fab bridesmaid that she is, ran out that week and found the dress in a boutique nearby to try on. The sample was too big on her, so the “bubble skirt” was a little bunchy in the back, but she really liked the way it looked.
The price was definitely right! Through HouseofBrides.com, we’re able to purchase all the dresses with free shipping for $125 each! Rather than have all my bridesmaid’s fly in from various parts of the country, we’re ordering them all online, and I’m asking them to independently get measured by a tailor or experienced relatives using this convenient measuring chart from HouseofBrides.com:
…aaaand that concludes the saga that was bridesmaid dress shopping. All online, all the time. I’ll let you know how our experience is with House of Brides…. more to come!
Did you buy your dresses online? How was your experience?
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I bought my bridesmaid’s dresses at House of Brides. The price was fantastic [only $150 for a $300 retail dress]. The problem occured when they arrived. Two of the dresses fit perfectly and two were waaay to big.
I had the girls send me their measurements and I ordered accordingly. The odd part was that 2 of the dresses were the same size, and the two bridesmaids were roughly the same size. But when they tried on the dresses, one fit perfectly and the other was about 2 sizes to large. The same thing happened with another of the dresses. Because of time limitations, we just had to get them altered.
Because of the fit problems, it was obvious that the mess up was not on our part. I had both girls try on both size 10 dresses and it was apparent that one was a different size. But, the added cost of the alterations still kept the dress from being well under it’s retail price.
Just be sure to check them thoroughly when they arrive!
Gorgeous!!! I love the dress you chose– the bubble skirt is too cute.
Cute dress — and too funny everyone in your friends wedding was blond except for you!
We ordered ours on-line from Ann Taylor’s Celebrations Collection. I ordered two sizes for each girl and had them return the dress that didn’t fit and then they sent me a check for the $99 (score team). I thought getting two dresses at once (as you could return the dress to any Ann Taylor store), would save a lot of time/energy with getting the right fit. The customer service experience was great.
Hehe! I looooove the picture at your friends wedding - you play “one of these things is not like the others!”
Love the BM dress you chose, and the fact that it’s gray! It’s so different! 
I gave my BM’s the option to buy their own dresses. When I heard about the Ann Taylor’s blow out sale, I gave them the information. 4/5 BM’s ordered from the site. They all have the style dress they like in the same color and since it’s ready to wear they hardly needed any alterations. The dresses were originally around $188. With the sale and an online coupon for free shipping and an extra 20% off, they were able to get the dresses for $62 each! We all live in separate areas of the country and the internet is the way to go.
Miss Penguin, did you like the Aria BM dresses? I ordered them for my wedding and haven’t even seen them–all the pictures looked great though. Were you happy with the fit and quality?
I ordered my bridesmaid dresses from house of brides and had a great experience with them. Great prices!
Funny, I just read this article in the New York Times about bridesmaids playing a football game in their hideous bridesmaids dresses.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/10/fashion/20081011_BM_DRESSES_SLIDESHOW_index.html
Hi Aimee!
I liked the Aria Dresses. Material quality was good, dresses held up well. but (like most dresses) they have to be perfectly tailored to your body because the material is stiff. So most of the BM’s spent another $100 getting their dresses altered perfectly. I think they are best suited for outdoor daytime weddings…at least the short or tea length ones, but the staff was a pleasure to work with! (We got fitted at the San Fernando Valley location…Pasadena I think?)
Thanks Miss Penguin! We had to do the by-mail try-on program since we are in Atlanta, so I never got to see them but the girls said they liked them. And we are having an outdoor, afternoon wedding…
Love the Bill Levkoff dress you picked–also liked the Melissa Sweet one until i saw it in person in combination with the price tag….
I fell in love with the Melissa Sweet dress above the first time I saw it, but I am in the same boat as you and would like to keep my BM dresses under $150, but very difficult.
I’m contemplating having each BM and MOH choose a design that we both like and having their dresses made with all the same fabric, time permitting of course, but am still attempting to find dresses off the rack.
PEEPEE - HI FIVE SHLAP! we on the same page on this one. I too went with Bill Levkoff dresses and ordered them a couple months ago for my bridesmaids, I’m expecting them sometime next month. We ordered dresses from House of Brides for my gf’s wedding a few years back, so I know it’s dependable service.
Problem with the chart is that, it can be a little off. Lucky for me, another gf had a similar long BM dress by Bill Levkoff so I had each girl try it on and approximate the size to order for them.
I convinced my bride friend to let us order Bill Levkoff dresses from House of Brides and they all came in fine. I’m the one who they were delivered to, and it fits fine based on the House of Brides sizing guide (we each got ourselves measured on our own) and I’m bringing them to the bridal shower next weekend to give to the rest of the bridesmaids. I think it should all work out fine!
[...] Miss Penguin, I ordered my gals’ dresses from House of Brides because I knew from personal experience for my [...]
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Mrs. Penguin, Northern California
Age and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in Chief
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
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