Weddingbee Blog

Remember when we talked a long time ago about bridesmaids’ dresses? I recently found out that the dress we chose had been discontinued.

Affairs 732 by Mori Lee

Want to know how I found out? Three of my bridesmaids had received their dresses, while the fourth was told that the dress could not be shipped to her. Two months after she had placed her order. Less than four weeks before the wedding. I swear I stopped breathing.

So what is a girl to do in this situation (besides freak out, of course)? We knew it was too late to order a new dress, even if one was available, since it was way too close to the wedding. It seemed our only options were to look in classifieds and on eBay for used dresses, or to call bridal stores to see if any of them happened to have the dress in the correct color and size already in stock. After the online option proved fruitless, we called all the bridal stores that carry the Mori Lee line in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas areas, while Bridesmaids L and A tried the stores near them in California and Kansas. None of the stores had the dress.

In a last-ditch attempt, I drove across town to Bea’s Bridal (where Hyena Sis bought her dress) to see if there was anything they could do. The guy who runs Bea’s called the Mori Lee warehouse to see if they happened to have any of the dresses in stock. No such luck, but I wasn’t ready to give up hope. I asked if the warehouse had ANY other Mori Lee dresses in stock in “Wine.” They happened to have a different halter dress in the correct color and size. It is pretty similar and looked like our best option with so little time left.

Affairs 836 by Mori Lee

After conversing with my bridesmaids, we decided to go for it. They said the dress could be delivered to Bea’s Bridal in 10 days—WAY less time than it takes to ship a new dress. I placed the order and started breathing again. Bridal-store guy, you’re my hero. Four days after I placed the order, Bea’s called to tell me the dress had arrived. I can’t say enough good things about this store.

We didn’t want it to be so obvious that three of the dresses were the same and only one was different, so the girls and I decided we could make some minor tweaks to the original dresses to make them all look slightly different from each other. We’re adjusting the straps on Hyena Sis’s dress to include some rhinestone work on the back. Bridesmaid A said she would tuck the straps into the top of the dress so it looks strapless. We also discussed removing the bow belt on one of the dresses and replacing it with some kind of sparkly brooch. If we’re going the mismatched-bridesmaid route, we’re going big. Going home is not an option.

Here’s what it might look like:

Dresses by Mori Lee / Brooch image from Melbourne Blogger / Images altered by me

What do you think? Do you have any ideas for other minor changes to make the original dresses look different from each other?