Having watched a few episodes of "Say Yes To The Dress" before going shopping with my daughter to find her perfect dress, I was a little leery of this wedding task. As it turns out, she bought the first dress she tried on. We hadn't even gone to a bridal store. I insisted that she try some of the dresses on at a local bridal store even though she had already gotten her dress and she ended up buying a second dress. She is a spiller, so having a backup dress may be a good idea. We got both at such a great price, two were doable. Many bridal stores have great sales on dresses in June and since styles of wedding dresses don't change all that much from one year to the next, take advantage of the sale the June before your daughters wedding.
Who would have thought that the problem that we would have with dresses would be with the bridesmaids. Me! My daughter picked three bridesmaids that shop in three different departments: juniors, misses and plus sizes. Three different heights: tall, average and short. Three different shoe sizes: narrow, wide and big. After shopping for many days to find a dress for all of them without any luck, I started looking online for the perfect dress. I should note that the bridal shops did carry all sizes but lacked a style that looked good on the plus size bridesmaid. I did find a website that fit the bill, found several dresses and measured all the girls. Unfortunately, when the dresses arrived they did not fit at all. Back to the drawing board. We did find the dresses in what I think is an unlikely place...Penney's. We were looking for a knee length dress and Penney's had the best selection in all three sizes. I believe that the lesson here is don't be afraid to look in unlikely places for your dresses. In the end, it doesn't matter where you got the dress just how it looks on.
A final note about bridesmaid dresses. When I got married, my bridesmaids wore dresses that had been made for them. If this is what you choose to do, learn from my mistake. I sent all the materials (pattern, material, thread, zipper, hooks, everything needed) to each of them because they lived in four different states and would only be together the night before the wedding. Imagine how upset I was the night before the wedding, when each of the dresses were slightly different. I couldn't do anything about it that late in the game. I think you can prevent my nightmare by having one person make all the dresses from the measurements of each girl and then having them fitted when each bridesmaid is available.
The most important thing to do when having difficulty finding the dresses is to remain calm. Keep in mind that it is going to work out somehow. In addition, if you have someone in the bridal party who is difficult to fit try to continually encourage them. Don't forget that they may begin feeling badly about how the clothes are fitting them. Don't say anything about them losing weight or exercising more. Remember the feeling that you get when trying to find the perfect swimsuit and the words of encouragement that you were wishing that you had heard. Use those words to help them through this trying time that they are having.
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