Attendant Attire

I thought I would share with you what the bridesmaids and groomsmen will be wearing on the big day.  It took us a while to figure it all out, but I think it’s going to look great on the big day!

First the bridesmaids:

I knew I wanted something in navy and something simple, but it took me a while to pick out *the* dress for the bridesmaids.  I toyed with the idea of giving them a color and letting them pick out their own dress because I wanted them to be comfortable in what they were wearing and to be able to maybe (possibly!) wear the dress again… but navy can be tricky in terms of matching shades, so I ultimately decided to just pick a dress that would look good on all of them (that’s the hard part!) and ask them all to wear that one.

I dragged one of my bridesmaids to our local Bella Bridesmaid and made her try on just about every dress I kind of liked and we ultimately decided on the Magnolia by Simple Silhouettes.  I loved the sweetheart neckline, which I think is flattering on just about anyone, and we both thought the length would be good (not too short, but not too long for a cocktail dress).  It’s going to be all navy (even the sash/belt), which I think will be lovely and allow them to be more wearable in the future(hopefully!).  Here are some pictures of Mer T., my patient bridesmaid, modeling the dress after picking it up and taking it to the alteration place to get it cinched in a bit:

Bridesmaid's Dress

And now for the groomsmen:

Brian and I knew we didn’t want to do tuxedos – they were just too fancy for our wedding and for us (I mean, Brian has worn a tuxedo once in his life).  But since the wedding was in the fall, we couldn’t do the standard non-tux option, the khaki suit.  It was just too summery.  What about a navy suit?  But the girls for sure wearing navy and we were worried that it might be too much to also have the groomsmen in navy.  Then I found these fabulous suits at J. Crew:

suit

They look gray here, but they are really a very fine white and faded black alternating vertical stripe.  AND instead of doing the full suit for the groomsmen, we’re going to pair the suit pants with navy sweaters, white shirts, and a navy tie.  This sounded so perfect to Brian and I, and much more us that the traditional wedding suit, though I did worry that it wasn’t “wedding-y” enough – can groomsmen wear sweaters??  But then one of my wise bridesmaids reminded me that it was our wedding and that Brian and I could pick whatever we wanted.  I think it will look nice with what the girls are wearing without being too matchy matchy.  Thoughts?

Brian is still debating about what he’s going to wear.  He thinks he’ll feel too casual if he’s in the same thing as the groomsmen and I’m in a wedding dress, so he’s going to be wearing a new suit, he’s just not sure if he’s going to do the full suit above or a navy suit.  What do you guys think?

How did you know when you found the perfect outfits for your attendants? Have you decided to choose any non-traditional pieces?