Never a Bride!

Three times a bridesmaid, never bride? Well, maybe that ain't so bad if you can look good doing it! Writing that prom post was weirdly overlapping with the wedding theme. Also, I received a special request to do a wedding post and guess what, I'm going to do not one but 3! There really is just too much to write about in one post. I might even do more than 3 if I don't feel like throwing up by then. I may as well admit right here and now that I am not currently engaged or anything but I have indulged in some advanced planning for such an event in the form of extensive day dreaming. This habit has recently increased because of my discovery of a certain blog, which I now follow, and has consequently poisoned my brain with wedding ideas. Now, I know bridesmaids traditionally do not look good (that's the point, right?) but I think there is a movement out there to change all that. Maybe then three times a bridesmaid will equal never alone on a Friday night, or something to that effect. Why are bridesmaids dresses traditionally so boring/ugly? Is the bride so insecure that we need to misrepresent the attractiveness of the other women at the wedding this dramatically?

Ugh, what year is this? Those bows on their heads may as well be dead frogs. Hideous. My point is, when you looked at this picture did you think, "Wow! That bride looks beautiful!" or did you gasp and ask yourself, "What are those bridesmaids wearing?" Now, regardless of your answer, you may be thinking, "Okay but this was then, nobody dresses their bridesmaids like this now", and you could be right... but you're not. Judging from those groomsmen's hair styles, that photo was taken within the last 15 years, which is a horrifying thought.

I'm also going to say, that I am not a big fan of the matchy-matchy bridesmaids either. So, while this dress is cute, it's kind of ruined for me because there are 4 people wearing it in this picture. Maybe it's something to do with that fear of showing up at a party where someone else has the exact same dress on, I don't know. It just doesn't sit right with me. When and if I have a wedding, I want my bridesmaids to look as beautiful as I do and I definitely don't want them all in the same dress. I mean, that is a basic violation of the fashion world! Plus, it's hard to find a dress that looks good on 4 different body types. I have seen some weddings where the bridesmaids were aloud to pick out their own dresses as long as it was in a certain color scheme. That sounds like a good idea, but I think I would be too worried about the cohesiveness of their choices. They are all going to be standing next to each other and while I do not think they should be in the same dress, I do think they should compliment each other in some way. So, I put together a couple of style boards, one in warm colors and the other in cool. I like the idea of bridesmaids matching in terms of the feeling that their outfits give off, with maybe a couple of unifying themes.

My themes are warm colors, butterflies, and flowers. If you aren't sure of what I mean by "warm" I am referring to the color scale, generally red, orange, and yellow are all warm colors, while blue, green, and purple, are cool colors.

 

My bridesmaid concept is that they match through color tones. I picked one main color, then accented it with other warm colors. For the above, peach is the most prominent color but I also threw in yellow, purple, green, pink and orange. To tie the different dresses together, I added a recurring theme of butterflies and flowers. I believe that the visual effect of this technique is actually much stronger than the matchy-matchy look even though it is more subtle.

Seriousness aside, Kate Spade must be some kind of sand man, coming in at night, looking into my dreams and designing shoes from my subconscious. Then again, she prices them at $300+ so, actually she might just be the devil. I cannot stop fawning over her heels! I'm surely going to end up in credit card hell. Also, please note that I believe a wedding is an excuse to wear vintage hats and hair pieces. Any time you are in one, go to one, have one they should be worn. At my imaginary wedding I am going to have a trunk full of vintage hats for my guests to choose from upon arrival!

Dress designed by SarahSeven, Vintage hat and flower dress from CapriciousTraveler, Monarch crown designed by WhichGoose, heels by The Devil, Vintage butterfly necklace, dress, bag and comb from Etsy. 

Cool tones! Don't you just love this color blue? I lurve it. The theme for this one is pretty much the same except it is cool instead of warm. Love this flower hair piece, it is made by the amazing Etsy seller: whichgoose. Gorgeous hair pieces in her shop, she is also responsible for the Monarch crown above. At my fantasy wedding I will only have a select few bridesmaids and I plan on going shopping with them so we can all agree on which dresses look best on whom and see how they look all together. That is another advantage to this idea, every maid can wear the dress which looks best on their body type, since they won't all be in the exact same dress. Rejoice! Hot bridesmaids for all.

Dress designed by SarahSeven, vintage dresses and gloves from CapriciousTraveler, Head piece by WhichGoose, vintage shoes, hair clip, bag, and earrings from Etsy.