Wedding Blog
Last year, I think it was July, Mommy Flamingo called my cellphone a good three times before I actually picked up. She said she had found the perfect dresses for my bridesmaids. At this point I hadn’t even seen them… but judging my mom’s sense of knowing her own daughter, she went ahead and bought the dress in sizes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 … I’m not kidding you. She wanted to make sure that they would fit.
The reason why she was really really insisting on these dresses (again I had not seem them) was because they were extremely inexpensive! $65 including taxes each, which is awesome, might I add. When she came home, I immediately went upstairs to see this so called dress. I found them really cute. Not what I had wanted originally… but cute.
They’re chocolate brown and ivory (not the colors shown in the picture) and they fit my list of criteria - tea length dress, strapless and vintage looking (sort of). The 4 girls tried them on and they looked good on everyone. For security reasons we had taken the dresses one size bigger in case someone gained weight from July to June. I mean we were extremely cautious.
2 months ago I asked my eldest sister to try on the dress since she had gained some weight and muscles (she’s working out twice a week). She said she didn’t feel like it… so it slipped my mind. This past Wednesday while having my weekly family supper at my dad’s house (remember my parents are separated) I asked my sisters to try on the dresses because I wanted to take pics and blog about them.
All of a sudden I heard “Uh oh” - that was definitely not a good sign. The dress didn’t fit! It was too tight on my eldest sister who two months ago didn’t feel like trying it on. I knew this would happen…. oh my!
Only 4 months ’til my wedding and I’m having all these thoughts going through my mind. We can’t go to the seamstress and figure something out because it really really doesn’t fit. We can’t go back to the store to get a bigger size, because they no longer make that model. And if we return them, I don’t even know if I will get reimbursed!!!
So being a calm bride (but still freakin’ out inside) I decided to call the bridal store where I purchased my dress. I asked them how much time it took to order bridesmaid dresses… he said if I were to order them next week they would arrive June 1st. That doesn’t give much time if they are delayed or if they need alterations. My wedding is June 21st… ok I’m officially freakin out!!!
At the same time, someone had suggested… “why not buy the samples?” But I’ve always envisioned my wedding a specific way (all the girls dressed the same).
So today we were supposed to have a spa day amongst us sisters and my step-mother but instead we’re going dress shopping. Basically it comes down to today. We have to find something!
Anyone else have last minute adjustments? Have you ever had something happen that totally threw the whole planning in the hole?
{dresses were found here}
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Ugh. My sister is breastfeeding, and refuses to try on anything… and who knows what will fit her in four months, depending upon whether she is still breastfeeding. I am trying hard to remember that its probably not pleasant to be goaded into dress shopping when your boobs are alien beings who change size and shape at will, but I’m also occasionally tearing my hair out.
Don’t panic because bridesmaid dresses are notorious for coming in early. Plus some designers are faster than others. The store was probably quoting you on the longest time period.
Is there anyway you could have an identical dress made?
If you’re really committed to having them all wear identical dresses, is there any way you could eat the cost on the $65 per dress and have them all buy new dresses at an off-the-rack store like Ann Taylor, J. Crew or Nordstrom? I doubt you’ll be able to find something that’s $65 again, but you might be able to find something that’s on sale for $150 or less. And you’d definately be well within your timeframe.
I feel you… I had the same problem with one of my BMs… except this was 2 weeks before wedding and it STILL didn’t fit! I’m talking about there was a 2 inch gap which couldn’t be zipped up, and that’s pretty sizeable. Needless to say, I was freaking out… But somehow, she lost a few pounds before the wedding and my BMs squeezed her in it!
How far off is your sister when you say “really really doesn’t fit? 4 months is PLENTY of time, what if she upped her workout to 3x a week and and did more cardio? And are you sure you can’t take the dress to a great seamstress and turn it into a corset back? Then they could add a panel into the back…
your sister infuriates me!! However- as I am breastfeeding, and will be in my little sister’s wedding…I promise to try on the dresses regardless of how I feel.
I might eat the cost of the first dress and start from scratch at Ann Taylor or J. Crew like said in previous post. My Wedding is in May and I JUST bought my dresses a week or so ago at Ann Taylor (also going for a vintage-y look). I bought 2 off the rack, one I had to order and it arrived 2 DAYS later! Good Luck!
This happened to me. I bought the dresses well in advance of the big day (November prior to the August wedding). I would check in and ask if the dress fits and wouldn’t really get a definite answer from one of the BM. Come a month prior to the wedding, I am told it didn’t really zip up. I freaked out and my BM assured me she’ll work things out. On the day of the wedding I found that she got the dress altered where in lieu of the zip in the back, excess fabric from the bottom was incorporated into a diamond shape where the zipper used to be and became a slip on dress. You couldn’t tell.
Well my kink doesn’t involve a bridesmaid’s dress but I am still pissed off about it. Last night my fiance informs me that his friend who is supposed to do a reading in our wedding didnt bother to ask off the Friday before the wedding even thought the wedding is 4 hours away and rehearsal starts at 4 on Friday. We are now 26 days from our wedding and she goes oh sorry I asked my boss on FRIDAY, as in 3 days ago, and she said no. Seriously!! You waited until 4 weeks before the wedding to ask when you work in an industry that schedules you 3 months of travel in advance! WTF. I wouldnt be so angry except 1) we asked her back in November to do a reading she said yes and has been reminded at least twice to take the day off and get a hotel room and 2) I have already, printed, stamped, scrolled rolled, and ribbon tied 150 programs with her name on them as the reader! My fiance was equally pissed off and knows I refuse to reprint the programs since I dont have 150 more sheets of this paper and it is 40 bucks for another pack of it. Um NO! I know it really isnt that big a deal in the greater scheme of things, but I am sorry she has had a over a year’s notice that the wedding is that weekend she knew she would probably be in it from the get go and she still didnt have the sense to ask off. GAAA. My fiance was like well maybe she can just do it without going to the rehearsal, I then explained to him that check in at the hotel isnt until 3 and the wedding starts at 4 so she will have no where to get ready and no time to get on the trolley at 2:45 like she is supposed to. So now we are asking a different friend to be a reader and explaining that the program will be wrong. Sorry to sound bridezilla-ish.
oh, i have had some wrenches and still have 7 months to go.
i am trying to “go with the flow”….we’ll see how far that gets me, lol.
This one is my fault. The bride gave us bridesmaids a few simple requirements for dresses, and let us each purchase our own. Found mine on sale in November and decided to go ahead and buy it for the June wedding, as it was a hard-to-find color. Wore it to banquets in December and January…and let it sit until June. A week before the wedding, the bridesmaids got together to see how our dresses looked together. The last three inches of mine didn’t zip…after I had injured my knee, I had slacked off on exercise and had gained a few pounds, right in the chest area. Thank goodness there was still time for alterations, but I ended up spending more on alterations than the actual dress!
Oh this totally happened to me. I almost had a falling out with my MOH about it because she said she would wear a similar dress in a different color! UM NO! Luckily I had gotten our dresses from Nordstrom.com and they were inexpensive. I saw the dress on sale at Nordstrom rack and bought a back up for fabric dress. She contacted a seamstress and they’re putting the 2 together. She was about 4 inches away and promised me she’d lose the weight back in May for my April wedding…well she didn’t and now she’s dealing with it. Moral of the story, someone’s always going to mess up, luckily good seamstresses are readily available to fix it!!
This happened to one of my sisters bridesmaids. My sister didn’t care..she told her, you either wear that dress or you aren’t in the wedding..super simple!
So the bridesmaid did major cardio on her lunch breaks and only ate chicken for dinner and was super aware of what she ate for 4 months. The dress finally fit on that day! I couldn’t believe it because I saw how much it did NOT fit at first! Funny story to tell later!
Talking about last minute adjustment. It’s five days to my wedding, and I got a few phone calls about so and so not going to be at the ceremony because their daughters are back home from spring breaks. My guest list counts go up and down as we speak. I don’t want to know about who is showing up for the ceremony, and who is showing up for the reception anymore. It drives me crazy!
I know I’m always pushing eBay, but a lot of bridal stores sell of discontinued styles there…. Might be worth checking to see whether you can still find the dress! (And have you tried a plain-old Google search for it? Internet sellers may still have it in stock too. You’d be surprised what you stumble across sometimes.)
My sister told the lady that she wore a size 2, but the dress my sister tried on was a size 4, and it fit perfectly. However, I looked back on the receipt, and they ordered a size 2… So then I got to thinking, “well, was the dress my sister tried on a 2 or a 4? it had to be a 4… maybe it was a 2?” So now I have no idea! I have to take my sister back to the bridal shop to try on the dress again… and hopefully it was a two! The dress won’t even get here until March 31, so I don’t know if they’ll be able to cancel the order (if she needs a four), or if I will have to pay a ton of money to get things fixed.
Three months before the wedding…we had to change venues. Thank goodness we found a venue in July. I was seriously freaking out.
Thanks everyone for sharing your stories… its sort of comforting. Well… today was the day we went dress shopping and to my surprise we found something. Extremely pretty.
Can I say its something I would of never chosen off the rack… but its so elegant and glamorous. Gonna have to blog about soon… 
[...] my panic attack about the whole bridesmaid dress issue, everything worked out fine. Phew!!! I was really stressing [...]
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Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, Canada
Age and Occupation: 25, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing Student
Engagement Date: December 2004
Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)
About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
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