Another wedding!

Today I picked up the bridesmaid dress I will be wearing for my friend Hilary's wedding, which happens to be the week after mine.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about wearing a long bridesmaid dress, but I ended up liking it much more than I thought I would! 

Dress from David's Bridal, in the color "Watermelon"

It needs to be hemmed...just a few inches!

Matching shoes to wear with the dress

With this dress, I will have experienced all of the different bridesmaid lengths: short, tea-length, and long.  My favorites are definitely short and long.  Tea length was just not for me. 

All Dressed Up!

I have all kinds of dresses on my mind!  I recently purchased a dress for my friend Stephanie's wedding this fall.  She is giving the bridesmaids free reign, and we can pick whatever cream or beige dress we would like.  She is having a vintage wedding, and she wanted each bridesmaid to find a feminine and flowy dress.  I am very excited about the dress I found, and I am even more excited for their wedding this November.

My cream-colored lace bridesmaid dress.  I will be swapping out the ribbon for the wedding!

I realized I don't think I have yet shared the dress I will be wearing for the rehearsal dinner.  I wanted to wear white for the rehearsal, and I found this dress at JC Penney for $40.  The only problem was the smallest size the dress came in was still way too big for me, so I had to get it altered down to my size.  The alterations did significantly add to the cost (they were more expensive than the dress!), but they were definitely worth it.  The dress now fits like a glove.

My rehearsal dinner dress.  If you look closely you will see the 3 tiers on the skirt and the pearl-beaded neckline!

Speaking of the rehearsal dinner, Lee volunteered me to his family to make invitations for the rehearsal dinner.  I made five different options and I am going to have Lee's mom pick which one she likes best.  I am very curious to see which one she will choose.  I am including all five so you can see them all! 

Glee!

Glee tonight used my wedding colors!  :)

Trip to David's Bridal

I signed up for a David's Bridal appointment when I was at the Eugene Bridal expo to get a free Shutterfly coupon.  I decided to use the appointment to take another look at bridesmaid dresses and maybe a special occasions dress for myself.

I probably wouldn't be looking at dresses for myself at David's Bridal, but my roommate has a credit for over $100 that she has offered to give me.  She says she won't buy anything there, so I might as well use it!  I hope she is able to transfer the credit to me.  :)  Since I bought my dress at David's Bridal, I also get an additional $20 off each dress I buy. 

Here are some of the dresses I tried on:

The black one-shoulder dress ($99) is by far my favorite.  However, I got the most compliments from other shoppers when I came out in the white dress ($159).  By the way, I hate the fluorescent lighting at all the David's Bridal stores.  So unflattering.

I found a necklace that might work with my dress.  My dress has really chunky beading on the belt, so I think whatever jewelry I go with should have similarly-proportioned jewels.  Here's a picture:

While at the store, I decided to browse the bridesmaid dresses.  I came to some very important conclusions while shopping!  Here they are:

1) I like the cotton sateen fabric best.  This fabric feels like a cotton sundress, which would be perfect for a July wedding.  Also, the cotton sateen has very cute styles!

2) I definitely will have my bridesmaids pick their own style of dress.  Everyone will be happy!  :)

3) I love the color MALIBU!  I made a decision, and this IS the color!  I just talked to Lee, and he likes this color too.  Yay!

Here are the current cotton sateen Malibu dresses (plus a lace Malibu dress):

I was so excited about figuring out the color, that I had to try a Malibu dress on while I was in the store.  I did a test run of the top right dress with black accessories.  My camera made the blue color a little different, but you can get the overall idea.  What do you think?  Black accessories on the bridesmaids, or silver?

I also bought a swatch of the color.  Does this mean it's "official"?!

Colors!

Lee and I discussed wedding colors today.  He basically told me I could pick the color, but I want him to have some input too.  Here were the top three we talked about:

Sangria

This is definitely my favorite color.  This is the only color that has really caught my attention in pictures.  In this picture, I love the color of the dress with the orange, yellow, and fuchsia flowers. 

Marine

This color is good because Lee and I both like blue.  Since the color is almost navy, the wedding would have more of a formal look if this color were used.

Pool

This color was Lee's favorite choice, but probably my least favorite choice out of the three.  I like this color of blue, but I feel like it looks too much like a beach wedding.  Lee kept saying this color was "fun." 

These colors are all David's Bridal colors.  Since I bought my dress at David's Bridal, the bridesmaids will each receive $20 off the purchase of their dress.  I am considering naming the color and having each bridesmaid pick their own style of dress.  Here are some examples of different style dresses in the same color:

Here is one last photo I found.  Patterned bridesmaid dresses are slowly gaining popularity, and I like this trend.  The yellow flowers pop with these black and white dresses:

Color

Another big decision: Color! You can't really make any decisions on decorations until you have your color picked out. Like every other aspect of the wedding planning process, I have a feeling choosing a color won't be easy. The problem is I like too many colors! Lee prefers the color blue for a wedding. I like blue too, so I might just let him choose the color, as long as I get to pick the shade of blue.

Pictures of my favorite colors for a wedding:

Slate Blue


Eggplant Purple


Neutral-patterned bridesmaid dresses


Champagne or Light Gold


Black (with very bold, colorful flowers and jewelry!)


Jade Green


Gray (again, with very bold, colorful accessories)

Apple Red

What are your favorites? Also, what dress styles do you like to see on bridesmaids? Any of the above?