Mismatched Inspiration

The bridemsaids had spoken. No preference on color, but they wanted to pick their own dress style. Fair enough. I was loving all the weddings with "mismatched" dresses.

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All the women look comfortable in their chosen dress - picking designs that best flatter their figures. Isn't that what everyone wants? My bridesmaids ranged in height from 5' to 5'7 and covered almost every shape and size in between. My maid of honor is on the taller end of this spectrum and, as a tall girl myself, I didn't want her to be worried about a wardrobe malfunction due to a super short dress!

So now the challenge was to pick a color as well as find a designer who had multiple styles to choose from (in the same fabric).

The color choice was easy...there didn't seem to be ANY dresses out there in the green we were imagining.

Apparently dark kelly / hunter green is not a popular bridesmaid dress color

Navy it was.

Onto the dresses. I attempted to look for dresses that had stores or showrooms near the bridesmaids so they could try them on. My first stop was Priscilla of Boston. There were 8 choices (8!) in the navy crinkle chiffon fabric. I sent the options to the girls and the styles were well-received. I'd share them with you, but, um, they're not available anymore for order. I also didn't try any on, so no pictures.

While looking for wedding dresses at home, I was smarter and took photos of the Bari Jay dresses I tried on so that I could have a visual of what a mismatched bridal party would look like in real life. I loved it. Unfortunately, the styles I loved didn't come in the right fabric. Sad.

Apparently I liked the hand on the hip look
All personal photos

A more feasible option was Aria. I couldn't BELIEVE all the options they had. I narrowed it down to dresses that came in "midnight" silk shantung due to the fact that our wedding would be at night. With showrooms in Boston and DC, all the bridesmaids would be able to visit for a fitting. I also liked the prices, which ranged from $160 - 198, without any discounting factored in. Response was positive - nearly everyone had a favorite.

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Then there was Lela Rose. Mysterious in price, but modern in style and lots of gorgeous options. I narrowed down all the choices for navy that existed for the bridesmaids to peruse. Response was somewhat lukewarm to these dresses...I think the missing price contributed to that. Note to Lela Rose - tell us how much you cost!

Lela Rose style LR138XX
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I realize I've only shared 3 brands so far, but I had gone through countless more before narrowing the list down (others considered: Coren Moore, Jenny Yoo, Lula Kate). It was getting exhausting. There was also the issue that I hadn't "tested" any of the dresses besides Priscilla for quality, color, etc. I wanted to ensure I wasn't sending the girls to try on dresses with scratchy fabrics or a "midnight" that looked more royal blue than navy. What to do?

It was then that I discovered Bella Bridesmaid. A boutique offering multiple bridesmaid dress styles in one place. What a novel idea!! And there were locations all along the East Coast - very convenient. 

But it gets better! We had planned a girl's shopping trip to NYC to look at wedding dresses (at Kleinfeld) and there just happened to be a Bella nearby...I was feeling hopeful that we might actually be able to pick dresses.

Were you overwhelmed by the number of bridesmaid dress options out there? How did you narrow it down?