bridesmaid dresses

The dreaded ugly bridesmaid dress. This topic can be easy for some, and difficult for others. Either the girls won’t mind what they wear, or will wonder what on earth their friend picked out for them to wear. I am going the traditional route on things and having my girls wear the same color and same design. I like having the uniform look for pictures and such. I did dance around the idea of picking out just the color, and then the girls could pick out whatever style they liked, but considering the dresses are going to be green, the color itself caused problems.

There are so many different shades of green, and one website’s “clover green” can be a completely different shade of “clover green” to a different website. Cue the headache.

I knew I didn’t want the sea foam pale green, nor did I want the dark (sometimes) sickly green looking color. I was aiming for a spring green, a true grass spring green color. Ha, well the adventure trying to even find the color I had in mind is growing to be a daunting task. I’ve found a few websites I’ve liked what I’ve seen, but then there’s the fact that you have to see it IN person because only viewing it online can give off the wrong hue.

My first search led me to a website called Jenny Yoo. I absolutely loved what I saw on her website, especially her Eastern Silk Shantung Collection. I stumbled upon her version of the green I sorta had in mind…

Both dresses had the type of green I was aiming for. One more spring-y, the other more dramatic. The problem with Yoo’s collection, was the price for the dresses and also the locations where the dresses were available.

I have three bridesmaid’s (which includes my maid of honor). One lives in Michigan, one lives in Chicago, and the third lives in Florida. Not only do I need to find a dress that I want all three to like, but I also want to find a place that they are able to go and see in person themselves.

My next search led me to the famous David’s Bridal website. I looked at their choices for green dresses, and none of them jumped out at me. The shades weren’t what I was looking for, but I still might go to a store and try to see them in person, just to give them a chance.

My third try led me to a collection called After Six, part of the Dessy Group. They have numerous styles and color options that I found myself going back again and again. I found a few dresses, deemed as “clover” color that I sorta liked…

But then I stumbled across this one, and it has now become my front runner on what I definitely like…

The color is exactly what I’ve been looking for, and I love the simple style and length of the dress. I’ve been tossing around having tea length or full length dresses for our spring wedding, but I’ve fallen in love with the length of these. I’ve sent it out to my girls and so far the response has been a resounding YES!

here comes the bride

I’m engaged. There is a ring on my finger. I still get all giddy over looking at it and sharing the story of how it all happened.

This blog is going to take a turn and become a place to gather up my thoughts and wedding day planning. We have talked about certain elements of the big day, but honestly it’s so far away I’m not even thinking specifics on anything at this point.

The main things as of right now:

1. The Ceremony Site – We are looking into Sacred Heart Church, my home parish. I am Catholic, the fiance isn’t, but he said he doesn’t mind the idea of getting married in a church. We do not want a mass and I don’t want every other word out of the pastor something about the Catholic faith. I definitely don’t want to push this into an awkward religious event amongst families.

2. The Reception Site – I have never thought of anywhere else minus Lovett Hall over at The Henry Ford. That place is like my second home and I always knew one day I’d probably end up getting married there if Disney never worked out, haha! We have a site visit next Monday so the fiance can see the space in person.

3. The Date – Well I guess this should have probably been the first main one, but anyways. We both really want a spring wedding, so we are looking into May 2011. I really hope we can square away the date/church/venue within next week, because then I think I’ll have something to figure out when I should get everything else done.

4. Wedding Colors -Since we are doing a spring wedding and we both like a certain color, we decided upon doing a clean and fresh spring look of greens and whites, with a dash of orange. When I mentioned having a third accent color in there and asked if he liked orange or purple, he looked at me and said “you realize you just picked Irish colors” (the fiance is Irish), so it worked!

So this is what I gathered during the first round of looking and researching. I’m sure things will change throughout, but just a general idea for now.