Weddingbee Blog

I really love the whimsical feel of the mismatched-dresses trend that seems to be spreading like fashion-forward wildfire, but when it came time to choose attire for my girls, the traditional side of me was resisting jumping on this bandwagon (as were the traditional sides of my mom and Mr. Dalmatian).

Despite it not being the right look for our wedding, let’s take a quick moment to appreciate how fun mismatched dresses can be:

Image via Etsy / Vintage inspired tea dresses by sohomade

Even though they were going to match, I did still want something unique. Why I feel the constant need to challenge myself by wanting something simultaneously traditional and unique for every aspect of my wedding, I do not know! I quickly convinced myself that having all of the girls in the same dress but having the dresses be a print would be the perfect solution. And so began my obsessively extensive search for a patterned bridesmaids’ dress. Here’s a general idea of what I had in mind:

Image via The Wedding Chicks / Photo by Nathan Wu

Image via Once Wed / Photo by Kate Murphy Photography / Dresses by Anthropologie

The first contender was a link my mom sent to me for After Six Style 6600 in Nantucket.

Image via Dessy.com

I really liked the colors and the floral print, but for some reason the little circle part of the belt was killing me! I realized I was being weirdly picky and it was not actually that bad. I realized there were many brides out there who were cool enough to let their bridesmaids pick their own dresses, while here I was freaking out about the shape of a belt buckle. I realized I was being crazy, but that did not change the fact that I hated the little circle belt.

Once we discussed replacing the dreaded circle with an alternative belt, I began to like the dress more and more. We ordered a sample of the fabric to make sure the colors in person matched the colors on my computer screen. It’s a good thing we did, because the colors in person did NOT match the colors on my computer screen! They were much more neon than what I was hoping for, so this dress was crossed off the list.

Finding options for patterned bridesmaids’ dresses turned out to be quite difficult. After some digging, I did find a few designers that offer patterned fabric choices, including seersucker and polka-dots.

Image via CorenMoore.com

Image via LulaKate.com

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings / Dress by Simple Silhouettes

Unfortunately, I wasn’t exactly swept away with any of these. What can I say, my pickiness had swung into full gear. I browsed through the Anthropologie site, since it seemed that many of the patterned dresses I saw featured in weddings online came from there (and I will jump at any excuse to look at their clothes). I didn’t see anything that I thought would work, even as I continued to stalk their site for a few weeks in hopes of new additions.

After also unsuccessfully scouring the sites of many department stores (Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Macy’s to name a few), I let out a frustrated grunt and threw in the towel.

Stay tuned for the next portion of the bridesmaids’ dress hunt. I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

What were you looking for in your bridesmaids’ dresses?