This One’s for the Girls
June 30th, 2008 @ 8:25 am by Mrs. Espresso
Initially, I wanted all of my bridesmaids to wear the same dress. My vision was of an affordable tea-length, black dress that my seven beautiful friends would not only want, but love to wear again. After a week of searching, I found “it” at White House Black Market. Things were going oh-so-good. But then, after a few of them tried it on, I started to realize something - the dress looked very different on each one of them, from length to cleavage to fit. So, rather than have them all spend even more money on alterations and such, I set out to find something new. This was harder than I thought. After a month of searching, I came to the conclusion that no dress was going to fit the same on each one of my lovely bridesmaids.
I’ve decided to let each pick her own classy, tea- length, black, non-strapless dress. This will be much easier on their wallets, preference, and my brain. To help you see what my scatter brain is envisioning, I created the inspiration board below.
All Bridesmaid dresses from JCrew and Bluefly; Heels from BCBG, Wedding dress from the Knot, Ring from Tiffany’s, Remaining pictures from Brides and The Bride’s Cafe.
Are your bridemaids wearing black?
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22 Responses to “This One’s for the Girls”
Mine are! I gave almost the exact same directions - black, satin, falls just below the knee, no embellishments (ie., beads) and later added non-strapless, since 2 of the 4 had already found non-strapless. I told them spend as much as you want or as little as you want. All of them are thrilled to have a new Little Black Dress that they can wear again.
I’m doing black too, we picked this one from bill levekoff:
It’s tea length, but we’re having everyone shorten it to the same height from the ground. It’s a little crazy, but it’ll make everything look good in the pictures!
I think that’s great. I love LBDs. I was in a wedding where there were three bridesmaid and we all got to pick our own black dress. I know that we all spent waaaaay more than we would have a regular bridesmaid dress, but I wore it all the time.
Miss Espresso~Who is the wedding dress by on your inspiration board?
Although my girls aren’t wearing black, I really felt strongly about them wearing their dresses again, since I am nearly the last of my friends to get married and didn’t want any of them to spend money on something they didn’t like. I knew I wanted knee-length, A-line skirts, in navy blue silk shantung. There were a lot of options, but we lucked out with Aria bridesmaids http://www.ariadress.com. We picked 5 different dresses that all complement each other and the girls’ own bodytype and personality. I think everyone is really pleased, and would highly recommend Aria to anyone who is looking for either matching or nonmatching bridesmaid dresses. They were friendly, easy to deal with, and the dresses shipped an entire month earlier than we had expected. They only have showrooms in Boston, LA, and DC, but they have a try-on program and for $15 will send you any dress you want in your size. That worked perfectly for my MOH, who is the only one living outside of the DC metro area.
I just told them to get a knee-length black dress. They are of ALL different body types and scattered all over the country, and frankly I didn’t have time to deal with finding dresses and making sure everyone was all set. So I put the ball in their court!
Yup, black v-necks for my girls. I’m looking at Jim Hjelm for styles.
I’m doing this too, and they’ll all tie it together with turquoise silk sashes my mom sewed. It was the easiest option since I didn’t much care about finding BM dresses, and one of my MOHs was trying to get pregnant…black maternity dresses are pretty easy to find. She will now be 7.5 months at my wedding!! Yay!!! 
My two bridesmaids are both wearing black Bari Jay dresses. My gown isn’t strapless, my MOH is wearing a strapless version and my bridesmaid the halter version of the same dress. This better suits their bodies and tastes.
Although I told them to choose whatever they wanted, they decided it was better to order them in the same material from the same designer because they wanted to have the black be the same colour
My Bridesmaid and MOH both wore black tea-length dresses. Originally I was open to them wearing different dresses but had to intervene a couple of times with regards to specific issues (cleavage was one and keeping the formality of the event was another). They finally both wore this lovely dress from Banana Republic which looked lovely on both of them in Black silk.
I’m doing the same, but with white dresses! I wanted the convenience of letting them choose their own dresses, but I thought that black would make the wedding party too dark. They’re all going to wear yellow sashes that I’ll make for them, so it will give them a pop of colour and unify their look a bit.
I also want my girls all in black, just below the knee, dresses. I haven’t decided yet whether to go with all the same dress, or let them each pick their own. They will all wear a Tiffany blue sash to tie it together.
I was wondering, though, for those of you who are doing/have done this, do you worry about the formality of your own gown? I just found mine, and it’s a very traditional gown. I was starting to worry that the girls wouldn’t look formal enough next to my gown, but I don’t really want to change the plan. Any thoughts?
I spent hours and hours searching for a dress that would work, and I finally gave up and decided to let them pick out their own. They are all so excited about it. Although it is a little stressful for me to turn it over to them completely and hope that they get it figured out before the day before the wedding, I think it will be great to see how they let their personalities really shine through.
KTWed-I thought about that same thing and a friend of mine suggested the answer for me. I am going to go to a fabric store and get swatches of fabric that I would like the dress to be made out of. I will send those swatches to the girls so that they can see and feel for themselves the look I am going for. I dont want any jersey or cotton dresses because I want something looking a little more formal, and so I have basically told them to avoid those two fabrics and to eliminate shirtdress style options. I think they will be able to find something beautiful!
Not doing black but chocolate. And I knew several things: 1) I coulnd’t afford to buy it for them 2) I wanted them to be able to reuse it and 3) they have different bodies.
So while I did search options and let them know, I left it up to them to select whatever they wanted..
So far all 3 fell in love with a victoria secret dress that can be used 7 different ways.
I can’t wait for my MOH to receive hers to see if it’s a go or a no.
I was JUST in a wedding this Saturday where the bride had the same qualifications: black, tea-length, non-strapless dresses. We were all comfortable, we all looked great, we all found dresses we could afford and this is the first time I’ve actually had a bridesmaid dress I will definitely wear again, so I just have to say your ‘maids will thank you for this.
Did the LBD too! I didn’t have any specs, but its come out great so far. I did put in a special request for shoes, after seeing this awesome pair of Kate Spades on sale… so hopefully they’ll wear that again and I’m not a terrible bridezilla for asking
@Megan: Nordstrom.com has tons of great LBD’s! I found the most there, Bluefly, and JCrew
@KateMW: The wedding dress is from Priscilla of Boston Fall 2008. I don’t know the name but I found it off theknot.com
@KTwed: Why don’t you give your girls a date to have their dresses by. Tell them to keep the tags on and then invite them over for brunch/ coffee/ whatever for a little try- on and eat party This allows for a fun get together, plus you can see if the dresses are fancy enough. I’m throwing a brunch for my girls and this way- not only can I see their dresses beforehand- but they can also see how their dresses look in accordance with the other bridesmaids. And we get to all eat!
@Jenna: I like your idea about the swatches!
Yup! Black tea length dresses from jcrew. I like to think that they’ll love me for it years from now 
Kudos on your decision — I think your gals will LOVE you for it! And the dresses should look great together.
I had my girls wear whatever black dress they wanted.
Then I bought silk in our wedding color (for about $6) and my alterations person made them into long scarves for them to wear at the wedding.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big Bear
Age and Occupation: 23, Community Services Specialist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance Technician
Engagement Date: December 21, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear Lake
About Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
I’m in the same predicament as you! My bridesmaids are wearing black, but I’m not sure if I want to let them all pick out their own dresses (to my specifications, of course) or have me select one that they all buy. I haven’t made up my mind on it yet!!! Have you checked out dresses at Nordstrom.com? They have a lot of good black ones too.