Inexpensive bridesmaids dresses

[packrat]

A girl I grew up with just got engaged and is getting married in March. She lives a couple hours away and is home for Thanksgiving so I went up to see her tonight, and check out the ring of course! She's busy making plans for the wedding and seems a bit stressed b/c the girls standing up for her don't have a lot of money, and she found dresses she likes that are...I think $145. It's a separate top and long skirt. I wondered if you guys had any ideas where else she could look (the one she liked is from David's) online for some other more inexpensive dresses. She said they don't have to be specifically bridesmaid's dresses.

Would Macy's or JCrew maybe have long pretty dresses that could work?? Or heck, Sears or JCP or someplace?

Any thoughts or ideas would be really appreciated!

 

[Clairitek]

If she's open to dresses that are not sold specifically as bridesmaids dresses in a regular store I think the options for an affordable dress would be wide open. Plus, then theres a chance that the maids could re-wear the dress so the money isn't used on a one-time dress (as a lot of the David's Bridal stuff is in a material that sorta screams bridesmaid and isn't as easy to reuse for another event).

Honestly, if she's really concerned about the budget I would gently suggest that shes more open in terms of what style she wants them to wear. If shes really stuck on one particular thing it will be harder to shop around but if shes open-minded then finding a bargain will be soooo much easier.

Congrats to your friend and I'm sorry I can't be more helpful with specific ideas on a search. If you can post the dress she's interested in (or the pieces, top and bottom) then it might be easier to help find a better price if shes really stuck on that style or color.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

Hi Packrat!

Congratulations to your friend

I am a bridesmaid for a friend next year and we are getting dresses like these from etsy..

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56652022/my-wrap-dress-rehearsal-or-reception?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=bridesmaid+convertible+dress&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade

We had one sent over to try it out and i was pretty impressed with the quality of the material and the colour (red). It was easy to do up and i found several different ways that i will be happy to wear it.

I noticed that you said your friend was looking for a long dress? I am sure you could probably get them made with a long skirt as most are made to order.

Goodluck!

 

[vc10um]

Packrat...I know several brides on here have gotten dresses for their maids from Target, Macy's, or Nordies...but IIRC, in every instance, the dresses were short. Is there any reason in particular that she wants long dresses (aside from the fact that March is colder)? It seems to me that wanting a full length dress will limit her options in terms of sourcing a cheaper bridesmaid dress, as well as limit the chances of the girls to be able to wear it again.

I like HOT's idea of the convertible dresses, but in the full length, they may run close to the David's dress in cost anyway.

JCrew dresses will be MUCH more expensive than David's Bridal, though much more re-wearable.

Any chance she'd just let them run wild and choose their own dress within certain parameters so they can choose their own price point? I know C-tek did this with her bridesmaids and ended up with a beautiful array of blues in her bridal party and the look was very cohesive. I'm doing the same thing with my bridesmaids, but with black, and they're all choosing beautiful, flattering dresses from Macy's and White House/Black Market.

 

[packrat]

Thanks guys! I can't link anymore in Firefox but I'll switch to Explorer in a sec and see if I can link the dress. I looked it up and it's a long skirt w/a spaghetti strap blouson top. We'd asked about the shorter skirt b/c it was cheaper but she liked the longer b/c it was more elegant.

She did say she was in a wedding before, I don't recall how long ago and the bride, b/c she knew her maids had financial things going on, just asked them to find a black dress below the knee and she really liked how everyone looked and was able to wear the dress again. I forgot I was going to add that last night and see what you guys thought-seems like a neat idea then if C-tek did it and you're doing it VC! C-tek, did you post pics on here of the wedding party in their dresses? She was concerned last night about wanting this wisteria color (that's the color she likes in the dresses) and it not matching w/the flowers she wants, but our lavender color ended up being about 10 different shades of lavender/lilac/aubergine etc between the flowers, dresses, decorations, and I thought it was really pretty-if she wanted to stay in the same color family w/the dresses and they were all a different shade I think that would look lovely. C-tek's sounds so pretty! I like when everything's not all matchy matchy.

HOT, those convertible dresses are really cute! I saved the seller just in case!

 

[packrat]

K, now I'm in explorer. This is the dress, not sure why it says one shoulder? http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Chiffon-Blouson-One-Shoulder-Top-with-Long-Skirt-83961-83801_Bridal-Party-Bridesmaids-Separates-Outfits

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Hi Packrat, we had a lot of people with financial concerns in our wedding party, so we just asked everyone to wear a brown knee length dress. My Bro and SIL got married a month ago and they just asked us to wear a black kneelength dress. I am a big fan of that look and how easy it is for everyone!

Alternately, JCPenny, Kohls, Target, and online places like coldwater creek, newport news...

There are also some really inexpensive bridesmaid dress sites like therosedress.com. I can't remember all the other sites, but check bridalbargains (the book) and it has lists and lists of them...

 

[Upgradable]

Packy, let me alert OUPeargirl. She works in a bridal shop and has wonderful ideas. I'll bet she can give you some help.

 

[packrat]

Thanks Bella, I'll go check those places out. Thanks Uppy, I appreciate it!

I did find a few black dresses I bookmarked and will email to her, maybe they'll be something she likes, maybe not, but it might help get the ideas going for her at least. One is at JCP and it's on sale for $50, really long and goddessy.

 

[vc10um]

Packrat, you can see a picture of Ctek's bridal party in this thread from Newlyweds:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/week-12-share-photos-favorite-bridesmaids-photo.133617/

 

[packrat]

Oh thanks VC! Soon as I saw the picture I remembered seeing them before, and thinking cool and different it was. I think it would be such a great option for her girls, and would be so pretty in shades of lavender/lilac etc.

Gah I wish I'd been here 9 years ago when we got married, all these cool ideas..ah well, just means JD is probably stuck w/a renewal ceremony hahaha!

 

[vc10um]

Oh thanks VC! Soon as I saw the picture I remembered seeing them before, and thinking cool and different it was. I think it would be such a great option for her girls, and would be so pretty in shades of lavender/lilac etc.

Gah I wish I'd been here 9 years ago when we got married, all these cool ideas..ah well, just means JD is probably stuck w/a renewal ceremony hahaha!

No problem! I think various shades of purple would be STUNNING!

And when do we start planning???

 

[lulu66]

well, my bridesmaids dresses were very cheap ($40). but they weren't long. they were short, black dresses from target.com.

i was also worried about cost for my bridal party, as all of the girls were traveling for the wedding (a flight & cabin for the week), so i didn't want to add a super expensive dress to the mix. originally, i was going to let them just choose a black dress but i came across the ones from target, everyone liked them, they were cheap...done & done. you can see pics in my wedding recaps (probably a few pages back).

my advice, is for your friend to let go of either the long dresses (short dresses can be found for so much less) or give them guidelines & let them search out there own for a price they feel comfortable with.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

Pretty maids by House of Wu has some great stuff. I have this dress here http://prettybridesmaids.com/Bridesmaid-Dress-22388.html and it's $98. Most of their stuff is $120-150. I adore their dresses!

Allure bridals also offers dresses that are fairly inexpensive. http://www.allurebridals.com/allure-bridesmaids-gallery.html

Those are the two I know of that are inexpensive and cute that are traditional bridesmaids. I have other ideas, but it depends on color.. So what color is she looking for?

 

[packrat]

Thanks OU! I'll go check those links out tonight!

She'd originally wanted this wisteria color from David's..it's kind of a lavender color. But then she thought about telling the girls to just get a black dress that was past the knees. She thought the lavender/lilac colors she likes for the flowers would show up better w/black dresses. Far as I know, no executive decision has been made..it was late last night when we were talking and she was tired and seemed kinda stressed/bummed about it, so I thought I'd get some help here!

I told her last night that I'd planned on lavender/silver for mine, and ended up w/aubergine/lilac/lavender/violet/victorian lavender/and even a really deep purple, every possible shade between the dresses, flowers and decorations, and I loved it, so it's not a big deal to not have the dresses match the exact color of the bows and the candles and everything else.

Thanks lulu, I'll go check out your pics!

VC-hehe I'm still trying to decide if it's tacky to have a renewal..just seems so fun tho. Pretty dresses and flowers everywhere..a kick ass cake. Any excuse for pretty dresses and flowers and cake I guess right??

 

[jstarfireb]

My bridesmaid dresses from Alfred Angelo were in the $150 range and very well-made. They're also easy to alter, as AA builds an inch of extra fabric into the seams so they can be let out.

 

[Clairitek]

Oh thanks VC! Soon as I saw the picture I remembered seeing them before, and thinking cool and different it was. I think it would be such a great option for her girls, and would be so pretty in shades of lavender/lilac etc.

Gah I wish I'd been here 9 years ago when we got married, all these cool ideas..ah well, just means JD is probably stuck w/a renewal ceremony hahaha!

No problem! I think various shades of purple would be STUNNING!

And when do we start planning???

Thanks for finding the link, V! I forgot to come back and follow up on this thread earlier today. Looks like you've gotten some nice help packrat.

One of my maids from my wedding got married in October of this year. We all wore whatever orange dress we wanted to wear. She was inspired by my wedding and appreciated the autonomy I gave her when she was in my wedding. I'll dig up a pic and post it later to show the effect.

I agree with VC that many shades of purple would be awesome. Sounds like your bridal party covered the full spectrum!

 

[vc10um]

Hey packrat! Thought of you while I was surfing Target's website today! They have some seriously adorable purple dresses on there right now, and while they're not exactly the purple your friend was looking for, they're still cute! They even have a convertable dress now like the twobirds/VS dresses!

http://www.target.com/Mossimo-Multi...e-bin,price&searchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1

Others of interest:
http://www.target.com/Merona-Collec...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

http://www.target.com/Mossimo-One-S...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

http://www.target.com/Mossimo-Cross...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

http://www.target.com/Mossimo-Strap...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

http://www.target.com/Merona-Collec...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

http://www.target.com/Merona-Collec...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

and
http://www.target.com/Merona-Collec...rchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1&qid=1291232485

 

[packrat]

C-tek, well it wasn't my bridal party that was all different purples, it was all the decorations..the cake, ribbons, flowers, all of it. Everything from a pale lavender to purple-purple. If I'd had the imagery from *here* I'd have had my (2) girls wear different shades, and maybe the guys too..I had 2 guys on my side as well..and I'd probably have dyed my dress or gone w/something more colorful somehow.

Awww..VC, thanks for all those links! I really like the 1st too especially. Maybe I'll just email her this thread along w/the links I found! That was sweet of you!