Weddingbee Blog

To say I was excited about our NYC shopping trip for dresses (of the wedding and bridesmaid variety) would be an understatement. The purpose of the day was to choose the bridesmaids’ dresses and narrow down my choices for a wedding dress.

Success would be walking away with a wedding-dress choice (that could be purchased closer to home) and ordering the bridesmaids’ dresses.

We started on super-early trains—converging upon NYC from Albany, Baltimore, Boston, DC, and Philadelphia. Our first stop was Kleinfeld for wedding dresses!

Why am I sharing this photo when the post is about bridesmaids’ dresses?

Well, I ended up (despite insisting I wanted to buy a dress in Philly) saying YES to a dress at Kleinfeld. I will not be sharing my dress until after the wedding, so you’ll have to wait until May.

Onto the bridesmaids’ dresses…we headed to Bella and found that their boutique was under renovation. I have to say, if we didn’t have five of the six bridesmaids in the same place, we probably would have left. The space consisted of white walls with construction materials all around, racks of dresses in the middle of the room, and a couple curtained-off dressing areas. Disappointing.

We made the best of it, though, and started pulling dresses off the racks.

Getting dressed

We started with Amsale. These dresses were very similar to the Priscilla of Boston dresses I had looked at initially—they were in crinkle chiffon, and the price point was about the same.

Everyone tried on a different style. Someone please remind me to stop trying to be the same height as everyone else.

We moved on to some other designers…I’m a bad blogger and have forgotten the brand names. Either way, these dresses were NOT working.

Is that a LEG SLIT?

The girls were NOT big fans of these…especially Bridesmaid M.

Loved the fabric. Oh, but Bridesmaid D’s dress…was a junior style (oops).

The mix of styles seemed to range from casual to really formal—not working.

The consensus was that the girls loved the Amsale dresses because of the fabric, fit, and style choices. It was time to make final choices!

All their final choices* (Bridesmaid B ended up opting for a strapless style later.)

Cousin C (the final bridesmaid) was unable to come to NYC, but was able to visit her local Bella and choose a dress.

Amsale style G553C / Image via Amsale

We ended up with six completely different styles: three strapless, two one-armed, and one with straps. I absolutely LOVE the mix! Even better, Amsale happened to be having a trunk sale that day, so we kept the dresses at the $200 mark.

Overall, it was a very successful day, and I felt so lucky to have had my bridesmaids and mom with me when I selected my gown. And what better way to celebrate the fabulous bridesmaids’ dresses than with great food?

Mom and Bridesmaid M scouring the HUGE menu at Serendipity

Thanks for such a great day, ladies!

A note: Although our dress experience ended positively at Bella, I have to say that the service was a little off-putting. Clearly the renovations were what they were, but they probably should have told us beforehand so that it wasn’t such a shock. In addition, at the end of our appointment, after we had stated that we would be ordering the dresses and a couple of the girls were making their final decisions about which style to choose, the consultant came up to me and told us our time was “up.” She was quite rude about it, actually. We couldn’t understand why, either, since there were not any groups waiting. Anyhow, not that it stopped us from making a purchase, but just a note to those who might visit—the service wasn’t the best.

How was your bridesmaids’-dress-shopping experience?

*If you are interested in the style numbers for any of these dresses, let me know!