Weddingbee Blog

Part two of the bridesmaids’-dress hunt began on a gray day in NYC, the day before Hurricane Irene was set to strike. I was feeling a case of the blahs.

I didn’t have high hopes for the first stop: Here Comes the Bridesmaid. The shop is located in an office building, which I didn’t realize when I made the appointment. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s a weird feeling walking into an office to look at dresses. I took the elevator up and found the office suite. Although not what I imagined, the store has a great selection. The sales associate pulled every single one of the dresses I hoped to have the girls try on. When the girls came in, we started the try-on.

We immediately had a case of the Goldilocks (this one’s too big, this one’s too little, this one’s juuust right—or not).

Image via The Dessy Group

The first dress looked way too much like it should be worn to a job interview. The material was too starchy and stiff to fit in with the wedding. I love the Audrey Hepburn look of it online, but in person it’s just not there.

Image The Dessy Group

The second fit funny on top, and also looked too formal and stiff for a wedding.

Image via The Dessy Group

And the third never made it on the girls. I hated how the material looked and felt. Overall, on all the dresses the fabric was not doing anything for anyone.

Of course, as it always seems to go with me, a dress I hadn’t taken notice of online was everyone’s favorite. I really liked it but, of course, the color just wasn’t what I had in mind. I liked a few of the blue hues, though, and I contemplated having the bridesmaids wear the dress in a multitude of shades, including this different “glacier” one.

Image via Bill Levkoff

We were on to David’s Bridal next. Immediately after walking in, everyone flocked to Vera Wang’s WHITE line. In particular, everyone loved one dress that can be found in every single bridal magazine lately.

Image via David’s Bridal

Everyone loved the dress after trying it on. No one wanted to take it off! And then, the downfall—the shade of blue it comes in looks very purple. Also, it comes with a black belt. Something about the purplish-blue and black combo didn’t work, and it needs that belt. I felt very close to changing my whole color scheme just for the dress to work, but then realized that was stupid. There are plenty of bridesmaids’ dresses out there, and we still had one more to try on.

Image via David’s Bridal

The last dress looked great on the girls, but the Vera Wang was hard to live up to. We added a belt, and it really spruced up the whole look. I decided that with a belt the second dress could work fine. It comes in a great peacock hue (the exact color I was searching high and low for) and is a style the girls can wear again and again. Plus, even though the Vera Wang dress was loved by all, I have a nagging feeling that I will look back at pictures one day and wonder what hallucinogen we were on when we picked out the thing. Even though I love it now, I have a feeling it will have the same cringe effect in 10 years that bridesmaids’ dresses of the ’80s give us now.

Image via Splendora

So now we’re down to two. It’s either the flowy strapless dress in various shades of blue or the David’s Bridal peacock dress with a belt. I’m waiting for the epiphany lightbulb moment since we have some time. I’m sure that some time will turn into MAKE A DECISION time before I know it.

Was your bridesmaids’-dress decision a struggle to decide on, or was it a simple solution?