Dressin' the 'Maids!

So, if you refer back to my lovely February Calendar you'll see that this Saturday I will be going Bridesmaid Dress Shopping for the first time!

I'll be going to 2, possibly 3, different bridal boutiques with my FMIL and FSIL, and Bridesmaid Shannon might tag along for part of the day, though she can't try on any dresses since she is currently very pregnant!

I've found that searching for Bridesmaid Dresses is a million times harder then search for my dress (even with my dress bipolar disorder).  And this is because with my dress I only had to make me happy, with this dress, I have to make 5 very different females happy.  First, we have FSIL Brittany who will be 20 years old this month, is approximately 4'10, and absolutely gorgeous!  She has perfect proportions, great blonde hair, and she's just adorable.  She would look good in anything I asked her to wear, and she's super easy going about the whole thing.  Next we have sister Katelyn.  She's about 5'4 and is very petite over all.  She's also pretty easy going (surprisingly) about what the dress looks like.  Next is best friend (from home) Kim.  I would say she's also about 5'4, and she has a huge chest.  Not only that, but she has a huge chest and no butt.  Next we have friend Shannon, who I'm assuming is about 5'5 and is a fitness professional so she'll have no problem losing her baby weight, but she's the exact opposite of Kim, as in flat chested with an enviable butt (I have no butt...I envy Shannon's rear).  And finally sister Rachael.  She's about 5'6 (maybe 5'7) and she's shaped like me just a little bit bigger overall.  She isn't fat, but she's definitely bigger.  And what's worse is she is the most picky about what she'll be wearing.

The bottom line is, as much as I appreciate the look of all the 'maids wearing different dresses, it just doesn't jive with my vision.  I will honestly do my best to find something that they'll all be comfortable in, but I'm not so diluted that I think they'll all actually wear them again.   If one of them wears their dress a second time, I'll consider that a win!

Well, before I even started looking at dresses, I knew I wanted them to be dark purple and cocktail length.  After I purchased my dress I decided I wanted the BM dresses to have something that emulates my dress, and has at least one of the following elements:

Personal Photo

So, I went over to TheKnot.com and started browsing bridesmaid dresses, and here are ones that I found that I really like:

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

So, yeah, those are the pictures I'll be bringing with me this Saturday.  I hope Brittany is prepared to try on about a bajillion BM Dresses, because between me and my FMIL we're probably going to want to see everything, haha.

How did you start your Bridesmaid Dress search?

PS - How to dress MOH Sam so that he stands out from the groomsmen is a completely different story for a completely different post!  But that's something you can look forward to!