Bridesmaid Dresses

I knew right away that I wanted to let my bridesmaids pick out their own dresses, but so many details came up when trying to make the look cohesive.  I thought letting them pick out their own dresses would be easy!

The reasons why I wanted to let them pick out their dresses included: making sure everyone looked good, having happy bridesmaids, comfort, let the girls choose their price range, let them pick something that they may wear again, save me a little stress.

Of course, those weren't the only reasons, but they were the big ones.  I didn't realize that just picking a color wasn't enough.  After googling some images, I realized that even if the dresses didn't match, something matching would definitely tie everything together and make it cohesive.  Since there are really only 2 big items that most bridesmaids wear (dress and shoes), I figured letting the girls pick out whatever shade of green they wanted for their dresses would be easiest (on everyone)--no worrying about a slight difference in the "same" shade, or different materials looking like different shades, etc., but I want to make the shoes the similar component.  I will have my girls wear cream/beige/champagne colored shoes. 

 I emailed each of them, letting them know my wishes, and that they can choose any style (as long as it's tea/knee length), material, price range, etc., and also stipulated that the green not be any sort of radioactive color.

Here's the inspiration board I put together for them via Polyvore (awesome website for this):

bridesmaid dress colors by sillyme118 on Polyvore.com

J Crew strapless bridal dress
$50 - jcrew.com

Dress
$55 - eshakti.com

J Crew strapless dress
$225 - jcrew.com

Wedge shoes
$50 - delias.com

Marc by Marc Jacobs high heel shoes
$330 - net-a-porter.com

House of Harlow 1960 open toe shoes
$240 - endless.com

Kg shoes
160 GBP - kurtgeiger.com

Cole haan flat
$128 - colehaan.com

Shoes
$40 - shopruche.com

eShakti - Shop Women’s designer fashion dresses, tops| Size 0-26W...
$55 - eshakti.com

I love that this shows not only ideas on color and styles, but if one of my girls HAD to have one of these styles, they could easily see the price and where to buy it.  Polyvore is amazing.  They should have the same thing for wedding dresses...and Etsy!

Anyways, I can't wait to see what each girl picks out!