Weddingbee Blog

I’ve been a bridesmaid 5 times, soon to be 6 in May, and have some seriously interesting dresses to show for it. I’m not saying that they’ve all been bad (there were two in particular that were whoppers, that might be another post) but if I’m being perfectly honest I’ve never found an opportunity to wear any of them again. I’m only having two people stand up with me - my cousin, who is really more like my little sister, is my maid of honor and my best friend from college is my other bridesmaid. I adore these two people and I really wanted them to wear something they will get use of in the future & that they’ll feel comfortable and happy in (I know, I know, every bride says this but I am serious! I know it can be done!). As if finding a dress that can be re-worn weren’t a challenge in itself, none of us live in the same state.

Since our colors are black, white and green I decided early on that a black dress was the way to go. They’re easy to find, come in all different styles, and can definitely be worn again. I also realized pretty quickly that I would have to give up my visions of the three of us spending the day together trying on dresses in stores and I turned to the internet. After some exhaustive searching, I kept coming back to J.Crew. I know that the quality of their dresses is great, and since I was trying hard to find something that can be worn again, I wanted to avoid a really “bridesmaid-y” look. Eventually we landed on Camilla:

It’s actually made of cotton but has a really subtle sheen, and it has pockets! I don’t know why but I just love dresses with pockets. I’m convinced that you could throw a cardigan over it to dress it down, it’s definitely wearable to another wedding, and you could even add some bling to make it a New Year’s Eve dress (yes, I put too much thought into this). The only real downside was the cost ($225) but I worked around that by contributing some funds of my own. We waited for some free shipping coupons and we were good to go!

I also knew that I wanted to throw some green into the mix but the dress is so cute I didn’t want to put a sash on it. Camilla needed to be left alone in all her pocket-worthy glory. Then I saw this necklace from Banana Republic:

The crazy spotted bead is actually the clasp, which is magnetic. Here is where I have to explain that I am a very visual person… I am horrible at picturing things in my head without seeing them first. This was endlessly annoying to Mr. Sundae when we were looking for a condo to rehab and I could never grasp “the vision.” So anyway, I’ve taken to making mock-ups of things on the computer to see what they would look like before I order them. I give you, Camilla and the necklace:

They were originally $38 online but I had some major coupon action and got them for $30/piece. What do you think? Did any of you try to find a dress that can be worn again? Anyone else create ridiculous mock-ups to see what things will look like?