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Ehhh, I just went with David's. My BMs are all over the tri state area and all on tight budgets. I loved the watermelon color. They have a huge range of sizes. I just picked all of the watermelon dresses in cocktail length and satin/flat taffeta/whatever and said pick from one of these.
I know David's isn't the greatest material/fabric and their customer service is sketchy at times but it's worked out well for everyone so far. I'm just having the girls take their dresses elsewhere to get altered as I hear David's can be a huge pain in terms of alterations.
Maybe select several different alfred angelo styles and ask your BMs to choose from them. That way they get some control over price and style and you get to make sure that they don't pick something you hate!
@hotchildinthecity - DB makes it so convenient that it's hard to say no, and they do have great colors!
@daisybride - what places sell Alfred Angelo? I'd like for the girls to be able to try them on. All my BM's live in Chicago or in the suburbs close enough to take a day trip into the city. I'm just worried about how it would look if three girls picked the same dress, and then everyone else picked a different one? Am I overanalyzing?
This is my dream BM dress:
Here is a link to some stores that sell the AA dresses near chicago:
http://www.alfredangelo.com/Stores/StoreLocator.aspx?zip=60601
I was a bit worried about girls picking the same dress too. I had 6 BMs and a jrBM. Of the 6, there were 2 sets of 2 that choose the same dress. I was a bit worried about it but I don't think it mattered in the end. 6 of the 7 dresses were strapless (they forgot to put straps on the jrBM's dress and that was fine by her much to her mom's dismay!) One BM choose a dress with straps. I think most of the girls looked identical walking down the aisle b/c their flowers covered the front of their dresses and thats where the differences were.
I did David's, but I didn't let them pick their own dresses. There are 7 of them, and my future SIL wanted something I HATED (way too prom-y and less bridesmaid), so I picked out one dress and decided that was it. At least it's black.
I didn't like David's either, or Alfred Angelo. I finally just hired a local seamstress who looked at my ideas and then quoted me a price so much cheaper than even David's Bridal could do, that I am just having her make all of them ($135 each, plus $65 for a coordinating flower girl's dress). That is for full-length dresses with a ball gown skirt, petticoat underneath to make it fluffy, AND a matching bolero to cover up the shoulders for the church ceremony.
I didn't like David's Bridal BM dresses. Quality of the material and price is not worth it.
I found my BM dresses at Nordstrom. I stalked the site everyday until I found a dress I liked. Free shipping over $200 and best return policy ever. 
@angelicduckie - thank you! I didn't think of Nordstrom, but great idea.
@futuremrsreed - good idea, I am having my dress made, so I should talk to the dressmaker about BM dresses as well.
@angelicduckie - thank you! I didn't think of Nordstrom, but great idea.
@futuremrsreed - good idea, I am having my dress made, so I should talk to the dressmaker about BM dresses as well.
I went with the Alfredo Angelo dresses. I told my 'maids to pick out something that was knee length and the blue jay color, and they all picked out lovely stuff!
I think you can offer a limited selection of dresses to keep your cohesiveness. What's your ideal price point? I got mine from http://www.houseofbrides.com to keep costs down--I picked four Dessy dresses and let them pick which style they wanted (somehow they all picked the same one, but whatever!).
@marigold - I'm trying to figure out my price point. I was thinking no more than $150, but trying to stay a little lower. Is that reasonable? We do have a House of Brides about 30 min away from most of the BMs, so they could maybe even try dresses on.
I think under $150 is definitely reasonable. I ended up at $189, but I could have gone a bit lower, probably! I got picky because I wanted two-tone dresses and lace. I found dresses I would have liked otherwise in the $125-160 range.
@daydreamwanderer - yep, that's Vera! Listed on her website as $220. I love it, too! It goes so well with our venue, which has a lot of marble and deep wood. I was actually really surprised by her BM gown prices. I know that $220 is steep for some girls, but to me that's really reasonable. I'm trying to take a step back and realize that my girls are not as willing to pay a lot for a nice dress as I am, though.
We started with DB but because of the cost factor and a misunderstanding, we ended up looking online for a dress and went with gojane.com - there are some cute dresses there, under $100 so we (FI and I) were able to purchase all the dresses.
I went with David's Bridal because all of my BMs are in four different states, none of which is the state I'm in. To make sure that they would all be cohesive, I set a very strict and EARLY choosing date. I wanted them to give me either their pick or their top two well in advance of the last day to order so I could make sure they all went together.
Looks like you've got plenty of time to do that, even if it's not with David's Bridal.
Bari Jay, Mori Lee, and Dessy all have some nice dresses for good prices (although you'll have to do soma calling around to get the best price). I called 3 places and got quotes of $118, $128, and $185 for the same Mori Lee dress.
If you're worried about price, you can always find a dress without the flower in your inspiration dress (which I love btw) and then purchase the flowers from etsy or DIY them and give them to the girls as part of the BM gifts.
@Jacqi - Thanks! I love Etsy, but if I can find a good DIY, even better. I'm finding it difficult to find the same two-tone other places, though. I love the navy/grey combo with the black flower. The GM are wearing black tuxes (I tried to convince FI that grey would look dashing, but no cigar!) so I thought that the black flower and black satin shoes would wrap the whole look together more.
I also really love the silhouette of the VW dress. I feel like it could be flattering for all my BMs, who range from a size 2 to a size 20. Also, unlike J. Crew, Vera Wang does have extended sizes.
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How did you decide what to do about your bridesmaid's dresses? I know I want navy and tea/cocktail length. I am a big fan of the J.Crew and Vera Wang style BM dresses, but J. Crew doesn't have enough sizing options as my BM's are all different sizes, and Vera Wang is more than I feel comfortable asking them to pay for ($220).
I'm playing around with offering to pay for part of the dress, etc, but really am tight on money already.
This is going to sound horribly bridezilla-esque, but I don't want to have them pick out their own dresses. Not because I don't trust them, but because they all have such different styles - even if I set color, length, and fabric limitations I know I would get completely different dresses. Two or three might look cohesive, but that's about it.
So how did you solve your BM dress dilemmas? I want to steer clear from David's Bridal, I was not impressed with the dress I wore for FSIL's wedding, and I didn't have a pleasant experience going there with her to try it on.
I'm not opposed to different dresses, I just want cohesiveness!