Bridesmaid Brainstorming
Written by Sara on October 14, 2009 – 10:10 am -Happy Wednesday, all! I’m feeling great today, because tonight I’m headed back to David’s Bridal with my Mom and Kristen, my maid of honor, to try on more gowns! Expect a full report in the coming days, but for now, a few things are a-brewing in terms of my bridal party!
Check out the updates I’ve made to the “Our Wedding Party” page; I am so honored that three of my closest friends (and some of my most favorite people) have agreed to stand up for me as J and I recite our vows! Some of J’s best guys have also signed on – it’s wonderful to have such supportive friends!
This week I spent time with my bridesmaid Serena and her Mom Teresa, who was really like my second Mom in high school – I spent SO MUCH TIME playing board games, eating fruit snacks and homemade popcorn, and cuddling up under Teresa’s homemade quilts at Serena’s house in high school. Anyway, the purpose of my time at the Schweitzer home was two-fold: 1) I missed my friend! It had been a month or so since I’d seen Serena, and I really wanted to catch up; and 2) Serena casually mentioned over text message last week that Teresa, who is a wonderful seamstress, has made three bridal gowns and at least one set of bridesmaid dresses before!
You all may not know how much I’ve been struggling with selecting a bridesmaid dress, but let me tell you: it’s been difficult. Selecting the vintage-inspired theme wedding is probably the best and the worst idea I’ve ever had, and one of the reasons it’s the worst is the utter lack of vintage-inspired bridesmaid dresses. Also, my bridesmaids are all beautiful in their diverse shapes and sizes, and I would never, ever want them to feel uncomfortable in their own skin by choosing an unflattering dress. Last, I have a HUGE problem asking my girls to purchase a dress for $150-$250, and then ask them to buy shoes, pay to get their hair done, etc. As I former bridesmaid myself, I literally would have died if I had to shell out that kind of funds.
So, I spent a few hours talking with Serena and Teresa to gauge Teresa’s interest in making my bridesmaid dresses. After a little chit-chat in the kitchen, we moved to their office and logged on to the web site for McCalls dress patterns. Little did I know that this web site would (hopefully) hold the answer to my bridesmaid dress woes!
Here’s the first pattern that we liked:
I loved the lace details on the neckline and skirt of the v-neck dress, on the skirt of the boatneck gown and the waist of the scoop-neck gown. I especially loved the rosette on the scoop-neck dress (Teresa’s made rosettes before, and they’re beautiful!). Teresa also mentioned that my girls could each wear one of the four dresses, or they could all wear the same one, depending on which dress I liked best.
The second set of patterns, however, is my absolute favorite, simply because of the picture on the far right:
How AMAZING does the woman on the right side look with her little wrap, secured with a brooch!? I got SO excited when I saw this, I had to hustle home and show my Mom (who loved it, too). These pictures remind me of a dress I had in high school that I called my “Pearl Harbor” dress…it was a black dress with cap sleeves and pink tulle peeking out from underneath the skirt. I loved that dress. While I wouldn’t necessarily put my girls in a print (even though the dress on the right side is FREAKING GORGEOUS), that’s exactly how I want my girls to look at the wedding.
I plan to check in with Teresa and Serena next week to gauge Teresa’s feelings again about making dresses for my girls (I wanted to give her time to think about whether she’s interested or not), but in the meantime, I couldn’t help but share!
[Photos from McCalls.com]
Tags: David's Bridal, McCalls
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