Matchy matchy?

When I first thought about bridesmaid dresses I came up with an idea that I never shared…with anyone. I guess I just thought that everyone would think I was a sandwich short of a picnic. I just love that phrase. Ahem, anyway. It was one of those things that seemed too different from what friends and relatives had done in the past that I had a feeling it would be difficult to convince people that it could actually look good. Soooo I wrote it off as crazy bride brain and moved on (we’ll revisit so hang tight).

I’m pretty classic in my taste so I knew I wanted the girls to wear a dress in a color that they could get use out of in the future and a color that would look great on everyone. With our colors being gray, lavender and blue, I chose gray for the bridesmaid dresses and I was met with a happy response. In order to make things affordable, I decided to go the JCrew route. After searching, I narrowed it down to:

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I told the girls that they could choose the dress that appealed most to them…they were the same color, same fabric and same company so I knew they would work well together.

After ordering a few and having some of the girls try them on, I knew that this was going to be much more difficult than I thought. My girls are all different shapes, sizes and heights – they were just not the most flattering dresses on everyone. At that point I knew we had to make a change, my top priority was that all of them felt beautiful and comfortable – I wanted everyone to feel a great as I will so we are all free to have fun and make some incredible memories!

One weekend, I finally gave into my original idea and decided to do some real research to see if I could find photos of what I wanted to do where it was accomplished successfully. And voila…the internets delivered. Behold:

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You guessed it friends…I’m talking about coordinating, not matching dresses. For the longest time I thought about this idea and how much I loved the fact that they would compliment each other but not actually match. When I ran the idea past my maids, I was SO relieved when they all responded positively!

Since we are still finalizing ideas and getting dresses ordered, I don’t have the actual dress compilation just yet…but I will be sure to share with all of you as soon as we have the dresses so you can tell me – for real – what you think. I need outside opinions to ensure I’m not suffering, once again, from crazy bride brain. :)

How did you come to decide on bridesmaid dresses? Did you go with matching or coordinating or something completely different?

Tiny Ones

Oh, tiny ones - how can you not love those little spotlight stealers? Kidding-ish. :)

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We have yet to determine if we will have any tiny ones in our wedding but that hasn’t stopped me from shopping for a possible outfit (or 10) for them….and by them I mean flower girl. I can’t help it – how can you not love tiny ruffles, full skirts and shimmery shoes?

Now before I delve into the cuteness overload, I should first clarify that I don’t particularly like the idea of little girls in white dresses. I can’t say exactly what my issue is but it’s just a bit too bridey (that’s a word) – I like the idea of them being original and having something different than a long white dress like the bride. Personally, I love the idea of having the flower girl in a dress that is one of the wedding colors (whichever color isn’t being used for the bridesmaids). Let’s explore, shall we?

I mean really, how cute is this darling little dress from J.Crew:

Or this stylish drop-waist dress:

And I am seriously LOVING this sweet little yellow one:

Wow…just wow:

Pretty in pink anyone?

I adore the color of this blue cutie:

But really, can they please make this one in my size? I die.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t even get me started on accessories like headbands, shoes and lord help me, tiny purses.

So what are your thoughts on flower girl dresses? Many lead toward the bride white, do you just melt for the traditional mini-me white gown or are you on the alt side like me? Am I in the minority?