Last Sunday it really hit me. Not so much the “wow, we’re getting married” part…it was more a realization of how many people are going to be a part of the day. Sometimes I still get so wrapped up in the planning that I forget how cool this whole wedding thing is.

My mom, two of my bridesmaids, and I went to the Priscilla of Boston outside of Philly. The dresses were so much prettier and they had a much larger selection than where we were the previous Sunday. My mom found her dress within (max) 5 minutes, while the other two girls tried on a ton of dresses that were 10 sizes too big. We kinda started going in circles though because we pulled dresses that we liked the style of, only to find out that they didn’t come in colors that would have fit into that lighter blue category we want.

Ultimately, we came up with these dresses for my mom and the two girls who went with me:

Mom’s dress, but in capri blue instead; Bridesmaid #1 – French Blue…color is good in this picture; Bridesmaid #2 – cornflower…actual color of dress is actually much more blue than purple:

I was worried the dress wouldn’t work on my mom but she looked TOTALLY cute in it. (Doesn’t hurt that she’s 5′8″ and like 118 pounds and looks good in like everything she tries on.)

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Now that I’ve chosen my bridesmaids (finally!), this weekend I went with one of them to start looking for dresses. I wanted to go the retail route rather than the bridal store route…thought I’d find dresses that we liked better for the price. Not to mention I can’t wait 6 months for dresses to come in.

I wanted to get different dresses within the same color palette like the photo below:

{Belathee via Style Me Pretty}

We went to a retail store (that will remain unnamed), and it may have been one of the most frustrating things (aside from the guest list) so far in wedding planning. I had high hopes for the store since I love their stuff to begin with and I love the weddings I’ve seen where all the girls wear their dresses.

Well, the girl treated me like what I had in mind was the worst idea ever. She acted like I was wasting her time and she didn’t even entertain the idea. Because obviously it looks heinous in the photo above. She did say that if I was going to go with different colors/dresses that I should go with blue – one of my other thoughts.

{JAC Photographers via Green Wedding Shoes}

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Out of my 11 bridesmaids, 6 are married and 3 have already given birth to one child.  Another one is currently pregnant with her first due in February, and I just found out today, that another is pregnant with her 2nd due……the week of my wedding.

What to do?  What to do?  Naturally, given the demographics of my bridesmaids, I understood early on that at this point in our lives (circa 29-30 years old), we all have our own family lives and demands that make it hard to plan around.  I understand that my bridesmaid due in June may not be able to make the wedding or fit into a matching dress.   However, I don’t want to NOT have her because of that.  Just because she may not be able to participate in the “big day” I still consider her as I do the other 10, vital important people that have contributed to making my life special throughout my various walks of life.  I’ve told her that I would love for her to be considered a bridesmaid and participate in whatever she can.  Obviously, everyone understands that a 9 month pregnant woman may not be able to commit, however, I still want her included in my roster of special people.

Have any of you been a pregnant bridesmaid or have pregnant bridesmaids?  How would you feel and what would you do?

No wedding photography package is complete without a few posed portraits with the most important people in your lives.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for crafting and constructing and helping to bring all of our wedding day dreams to life.

Thank you, ladies! For being beverage coordinators, for arranging our flowers, for remembering an emergency kit, for bringing extra bobby pins and makeup, and for printing over 2,000 pages for our favors (details still to come!).

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Does anyone ever really wear a bridesmaid dress again? {Crickets chirp}

I thought so. Please feel free to prove me wrong in the comments. :)

I hope that even if my sisters don’t wear their dresses again, that their photos don’t end up in a book like You Can Wear It Again by Meg Mateo Ilasco. (Despite how loud these dresses are, you really can’t deny that there’s something incredibly festive about them all! I think this book would make a great addition to a thank you gift for the maids.)

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I know, I know…cart, horse, whichever isn’t supposed to come first, whatever. I just couldn’t help but post about the dresses that I’ve been looking at so far as contenders. Really, it’s more the look of these dresses and the colors that stick out to me.

I like the multi-colored look, but do you think it’ll have the same effect with only 3 girls with me? I LOVE the colors of the dresses in the bottom photo, unfortunately they are way out of budget.

{ photos by Olivia Leigh }

{ photo by Lisa Franchot via Style Me Pretty }

Here’s what I’m thinking: I choose colors for the bridesmaids and then have them choose a dress that they like in that color. I’ve also been thinking of going the Etsy route…still having the bridesmaids choose a color and then they can work with the designer to create a dress that will be most flattering to them. Either way, I want the girls to be as comfortable as possible and (don’t we all wish this?) that they can wear it again in the future.

Anyone go the Etsy route before for bridesmaids dresses?

Last you heard, I was making the tough decision of deciding how many bridesmaids I should have, 2 or 11.  Well, we (my fiance and I) decided on all 11, and we’re sticking to it and very happy with our decision.

I wanted to ask my bridesmaids in a special way, and found so much inspiration on wedding blogs  it was hard to choose.   But when I stumbled upon a fantastic post about Elise’s Envelope Pockets, I knew I wanted to do the same, but different :).  Again, I am so thankful that I don’t have to re-invent the wheel but rather just refurbish it to suit my own taste.  Thank goodness for wedding blogs!

The front of the Envelope Pockets.  It looks like I have a pretty equal showing of blondes and brunettes!

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Alright…we had the beautiful plum v-neck dresses from Nordstrom that didn’t make the cut… and then came the super cute purple and violet dresses from Amanda Archer that won my heart at first sight.

But then…then came Jcrew.

pic from Jcrew via Green Wedding Shoes

Tried and true, gorgeous and simple…BM dresses from Jcrew.  I remember when I first ran across the Spring 2009 line (yes way back in February 09) I fell in love…IN LOVE!… with the halter dress in the above image!  So stinkin’ cute no?!  I remember thinking 2 things… it is way too early to be looking at BM dresses…and oh wait…the price…yeah not so in love with that.  I realize Jcrew dresses are pretty darn reasonable but I know my ladies and I really didn’t want them to break the bank just to look fab at my wedding.  So…I just sorta “forgot” about this cute number.

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I realize I have yet to tell the story of my own dress-finding adventure…but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer because right now I’m ALL about making my ladies look fabulous!

Finding the bridesmaid dresses was not exactly something I was looking forward too.  That’s not to say I don’t LIKE BM dresses…I just have never been a BM myself and have no idea what it is like on that end!  The whole act of forcing my friends to spend their hard earned $$ on a dress they might hate and in a color they would never otherwise wear just didn’t sound fun to me.  Thus I avoided searching for BM dresses like the plague.

Sure I had some “ideas” if you will…I envisioned cute purple dresses on each of my girls carrying bright green flowers…smiling and dancing the night away all the while telling me how FABULOUS their dress is and how they CAN’T WAIT to wear it again and again and again….  ok so maybe my “ideas” were more like bride-fantasies.

Anyways…one of my go-to BMs assured me that it is up to me ultimately…and I should pick something I like.  I agreed and thought…actually yes there is one dress in particular that I keep seeing and really really like…

from Nordstroms

It is cute…affordable…the perfect deep purple color I was hoping for…oh and has been all over the wedding world…

via Jonathan Canlas

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Love the above cards from Stinkerpants.

I’ve been having a battle with both me vs myself and me vs my mom, over the number of bridesmaids I plan on inviting to be part of the wedding.  I’ll spare you the details because it simply comes down to this, it’s either 2 or 11.  I either have only a matron of honor (sister) and maid of honor (friend) or I have them both plus by 9 dearest friends, none of who I can spare or cut.

My mom cannot swallow the idea of 11 maids and thinks it may be tacky.   However, I cannot swallow the idea of not having my best friends involved in my wedding day, regardless that it may look a little out of control to outsiders.

I know what you are going to say, “Go with your gut.”  And that’s what I plan on doing.  It’s just sooooooo hard to go against your mother, a woman who is helping finance the very wedding you are battling over.

How do you handle situations like the one above?

On a separate note, the save the date postcards from printsmadeeasy.com (#100 for only $28) look INCREDIBLE!  So professional, delivery was so quick, quality is outstanding – highly recommended.

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:

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Pre-wedding blog reading Steph would have just called and asked her friends/sisters to be bridesmaids…

Wedding blog junkie Steph knew that asking her friends/sisters to be BMs required something a little bit more special…I mean after all these girls are gonna be by my side on the big day and destressing me when the time comes so why not show them how much I appreciate them from the get-go?!?

Taking inspiration from posts via Miss Ducky on Weddingbee and the Budget Savvy Bride herself…I set off on my first official wedding related DIY adventure. Be My Maid cards!

I liked how BSB cut out sketches of dress styles she liked…and I liked that Miss Ducky used pictures on the front of the cards of her and the girl she was asking…so I did my best to put these two ideas together.

step 1: make dress sketches. drinking wine is optional but highly recommend.

step 2: trace and cut out favorite sketches on pretty purple Martha Stewart cardstock…add cute details with silver pen.

step 3: find cute font and print out whatever text on inside of grey cardstock paper…I don’t remember the font but I’m pretty sure I got it from dafont.

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