Want to save money for your bridesmaids? Have a dress party

NOTE: Let’s just say, “YAY.” I’m back and the little blog is stable. On to to the post…

Colorful Bridesmaid Dresses
Image from Southern Weddings

This adorable and colorful portrait of a bride and her bridesmaids from Southern Weddings reminds me of a quote by Carolyn Gerin in her Meet the Masters interview on the Wedding Podcast Network {I know that’s a lot of links, but they’re good ones that I think you’ll like} Gerin is co-Author of the book The Anti-Bride–one of two books I bought while planning my wedding.

Gerin says that wearing white is a CHOICE for a bride.  I would like to argue the same hold for bridesmaids.  Asking your bridesmaids to wear a certain style or color dress is  a choice–and not one that will necessarily yield better aesthetic results.

When I was planning my own wedding, I was so concerned about the future “wearability” of the bridesmaids dresses. To this end I constantly harangued them about “what they wanted” and “what they might wear again.” Finally, one precious bridesmaid said, “It’s YOUR wedding. Don’t worry about if we’ll wear the dresses again. We will buy them and wear them on your wedding day for YOU. We LOVE you. Awwwwww. In the end, I didn’t worry about what people wore to either of my weddings. I just wanted everyone to feel happy and comfortable. And for me, that worked just fine.

But if your a gal who just can’t leave these things to chance. But you don’t, in these trying economic times, want to force your bridesmaids  to but a dress they may never wear again, why not have a bridemaid dress party/swap?

Bridesmaid Dress Party Instructions:

  1. Invite your ladies over for a simple dinner and/or drinks
  2. Ask them to bring their best dresses for formal occasions, a night out on the town, or any other occasion they want to feel fabulous
  3. After dinner (or perhaps before to avoid food comas and bloating) stage a fashion show
  4. As a group pick out the outfits your bridesmaids will wear for the wedding (don’t forget to show them your inspiration boards and tear sheets!)