Colors and Dresses and Tears, Oh Lord!

I’d rather play with lions, tigers and bears at this point, although that’s not too unusual given my animal-loving ways. You get the point…

My statement that this wouldn’t take as long as it took me to find a dress? HA. My poor bridesmaids.

Beyond the first couple weeks of wedding planning, nothing has been smooth. Vendors don’t call you back, don’t show up for appointments and don’t do what they’ll say they will. We have to keep track of every move we make to be sure nothing falls through the cracks with the eleventy billion vendors we will have contracted for this wedding. I keep reorganizing my organization system just to keep up!

So why would finding a bridesmaid dress to fit my seven lovely ladies be easy? Silly.

I went into the bridesmaid dress stage figuring I would let the girls pick a dress, and then I’d pick a swatch. I wasn’t set on any particular color. That was silly thinking. Newly engaged ladies, you need a vision.

(The original idea of chocolate brown and light blue or sage green was shot down by my handsome groom in an instant the week after we got engaged. It’s ok though, in retrospect I would have regretted the choice since I now have better idea of what I want the wedding to look like.)

After dragging the poor girls to Schaumburg, Oak Brook and Glen Ellyn multiple times, we haven’t found anything good for the body types and colorings represented in the party. Trying to save them money, we’ve been looking at discount bridal stores that seemed acceptable, primarily House of Brides.

We did find one dress that everyone, me included, loves. Unfortunately, the only color it comes in that isn’t odd is red, which isn’t the best for a spring wedding in a church that will likely be filled with pastel Easter flowers. (Boys, are you gagging yet? I know you care…)

Finally, I took a month-long hiatus from looking, ended by a solo trek up to Schaumburg to see what was available in wedding stores and on department store racks now that homecoming is here. After a frustrating trip, I figured why not just give in and check out the tackiest sign on the strip – Bride$mart. The sign is bright pink and employs the dollar sign like you see here. Cla$$y.

They have so many good choices though! I couldn’t believe how many lines they carry and how many dresses are crammed into the little store (it doesn’t exactly look nice, but the merchandise is a-ok). So, one final trip to Schaumburg this weekend to see if we can find something everyone is happy with before settling on a pretty purple dress that looks better in the pictures than on real people.

Here’s to hoping we find something!