My $40 Laundry bm dresses! Nordstrom Rack is awesome...

[flopkins]

I was totally stressing about these, bc I ended up getting the shantung/dupioni silk wedding gown, (see here for finally resolved the drama) and I wanted silk bm dresses to match the fabric, but as some of you may know, shantung bm dresses cost a pretty penny...

but then I went to the wonder that is Nordstrom Rack, and found these shantung silk dresses by Laundry at sooper dooper clearance... for $31.99(plus tax and shipping)!!!!!! orginially they were $290!! I was ecstatic!! Esp since they''re PINK and since I didn''tget the pink wedding gown... I am now subjecting my bm to wearing pink instead! hehe.

Except there were only 2 at that store, and I needed 5!!! I ended up calling around to a dozen Nordstrom Racks around the west coast, and can I just say, the customer service at NR is awesome... I found 3 more dresses at two different stores and they were shipped to me within a week!

Anyhoo- here are the dresses!!!

Front

Back

3 of my lovely bm in them! (they all need to be altered down, which is why they''re holding them in the back and their arms look funny!)

Hooray! One more thing to cross off the list!

 

[FireGoddess]

What a deal! Talk about chipper chicken...that sure is cheap! And they are fabulous...love the color, the material...just scrumptious!

 

[diamondfan]

You are so lucky to find a gorgeous, flattering dress for that price! I was in a friend''s wedding many moons (1 ago and paid 200.00 for a dress that I would not use as a drop cloth. It was an ugly pink (and I like pink) a gross material (think shower curtain and you have the idea) and NOT flattering, even though I was a size 4. I literally threw it in the trash after, and it was falling apart from one wearing. My friend was insecure and even had made a joke that since she had attractive bridesmaides, she did not want anyone looking better than her...oy. It taught me a lesson about bm dresses...and yours is lovely!

 

[flopkins]

Date: 7/21/2005 2:27:08 AM
Author: diamondfan
My friend was insecure and even had made a joke that since she had attractive bridesmaides, she did not want anyone looking better than her...oy. It taught me a lesson about bm dresses...and yours is lovely!

You know, this had never even crossed my mind, until the other day, when a coworker told me that her friend chose her bm based on whether or not they were a) shorter than her and b) less attractive than her! I could not believe it!

But, I did tell my bm not to wear shoes that are *too* high, bc three of them are taller than me, one of them by at about 5 or so inches! hehe. Ah well, that's what good photographers are for, right?!

ETA: Although, now that I think of it, I don't recall ever seeing a wedding party pic and thinking, boy, the bride is really short compared to her bm... so I don't imagine that anyone else would either!

 

[diamondfan]

I have no doubt you will be stunning. I also truly believe that you could have supermodels as bridesmaids and no one will outshine the bride...it is HER day, and the glow and happiness that radiate from someone cannot be matched. When is the big day?

 

[flopkins]

diamondfan- I''ve still got a while - April 8, 2006!

I can''t wait though!!!
FI and I are waiting until we get married to move in together, just to make it super special, and it''s been killing me lately w/commuting!

On a side note- My FI said to me, "Why, of all the things to find a deal on for the wedding, did it have to be the bm dresses??! We don''t even pay for those!!" Sigh. You can''t win!

 

[diamondfan]

Men, lovable though they are, are a bit clueless about such things. Asking someone to be in your wedding is an honor, yes, but bm''s incur costs and not all of them are financially able to handle all the costs. There is hair, makeup, shoes, etc...I ahve know brides (more like bridezillas)m who insist ALL the girls have the same accessories, shoes, hairdo''s but do not contribute to cost. Single girls especially have trouble coming up with the money, and often have a closet full of expensive and not nice dresses. I think it is SO considerate of you to find something flattering, that they might even be able to wear again (shortened afterward?!) that does not break the bank! Tell your fiance that you want to still be friends with these girls after the wedding lol. Honestly, though most normal girls know it is the bride''s day, I think it is a truism to say 1. No one wants to break the bank on a bm dress and 2. No one wants to look terrible even when it is not their wedding!!! What are your details?!

 

[icekid]

wow, that is a great dress at a great price! how lucky for your bms..

 

[abradabra]

Flopkins, what a great deal and what great dresses! I am sure your friends are very appreciative of how much effort you made to get them a steal. I feel your pain about tall bridesmaids though... I''m 5 foot 4 and one of my bridesmaids is 6 feet--even in super high heels, I''ll be dwarfed. Actually, I think I might be shorter than all of bridesmaids (except for the 9 year old junior bridesmaid and well, she doesn''t really count). Oh well!

Diamondfan, you bring up an interesting point... When I was at my bachelorette party, my bridesmaids were asking me what I wanted them to wear for accesssories, shoes, hair, etc. I told them that I thought it was bad enough that they had to wear the same dress for the wedding/reception--I didn''t want them to all look exactly alike. I find that rather creepy, to be honest with you. It looks great at the ceremony and in pics, but at the reception it''s weird to see 6 girls in the same dress.

 

[njc]

What a steal! At $40, even if you had to pay $60 for alterations, youd be right at what my girls paid *just* to get their dresses and half of them need hems! I think they look great on your girls!!!

Flop - I was MOH in a friends wedding and the bride wanted us to all wear the same 3.5" shoes (everyone else was about 5''5")... i kindly asked if i could have a shorter heel (we were getting them all dyed anyways). I''m 6''0" and she is 5''3" and i sent this GREAT picture of a really short bride with one really tall BM and wrote something about you dont want your pics to look like this do you?? I cant find the picture now though! But im still looking...

 

[teebee]

Oh Flopkins I love those dresses!!! What a find!!! I wish we had NR here... last time I shopped there was several years ago in Salt Lake City visiting a friend (and now my matron of honor) I came home with 8 more pairs of shoes than I''d left home with... But I couldn''t help myself, they''ve got the best stuff and great prices there!!! Your BM dresses are such a great color and look great on your girls even before alterations!!! I''m also wanting a silk shantung or dupioni for my BM dresses, I wish I could find a good deal like that ~ especially 2 of them will have to travel to Arkansas from California & Utah, I want to make it as affordable as humanly possible...

I''ve kinda thought about the short bride/tall bridesmaids thing... but even asking my girls to wear flats would be pretty useless: I''m five feet tall and my shortest bm is 5''8" and the tallest is 5''11"...

Oh well... I can''t say that I''ve ever really paid that much attention to that kind of thing in wedding pictures. Although, I do have a bunch of pics of a trip to Mexico I took with a girl friend that is about 5''10" ~ all of my work friends who don''t know this girl were looking at the pictures and kept asking "Is she standing on a step or something???"... she totally looked like an amazon standing next to me... sad, because I was wearing heels...

 

[kanne]

Flopkins!

What a steal! Great material and very cute. I love them! Another thing to cross off your list.

 

[Morticia]

Flopkins,

Those are great BM dresses. Very pretty and what a steal! I was a BM this past May and we wore Shantung Silk. Not cheap. My BM dress cost me about $300.

Great find!

 

[MelissaSue]

THOSE ARE BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAID DRESSES! I love the color. I actually would love to have BM dresses that style.. but with my giant boobed BM (who is now pregnant and soon to have even MORE GIANT BOOBS), nothing with that small of a bust area will work. I LOVE THEM though and your BMs look fantastic in them.

 

[curlygirl]

Girl, you got the deal of the century!!! I love the dresses--the pink is such a pretty shade. I got a kick out of your FI''s comment!! Mine would say the same thing!

 

[flopkins]

thanks everyone for all your responses!

diamondfan- I''m not going to hold my breath that any of my bm are going to wear the dress again - and really, at $40, I''m not going to cry if they decide to chuck it after the wedding.

I''m still working on the small details, but we''ve got most of our vendors. The last one is the DJ, and I''ve got one guy who seems like he''s perfect... but gotta check him out in person first!

abradabra- I''m letting my bm do their own shoes. I don''t know, I feel weird making them wear all the same shoes, esp since their dresses are long and it prob won''t matter, and I hate cheap uncomfortable shoes. The jewelry I''m hoping one of the bm can help me make, but if that doesnt work out I don''t think it''s a huge deal either. Hair and makeup is their own deal, they know how to make themselves look beautiful!

njc- the alterations will prob run them about $100, bc the sizes I was able to get are all too big for them, so in the end, it will probably end up the same price as a regular bm dress before alterations - any way I look at it, I think they come out ahead on average, which i''m super happy about. And I love the dresses! Oh, and if you can find that pic it would be great!

teebee- if 2 of your bm are in CA, they can go shopping at NR out here and scout out any dresses for you! hehe. or even accessories and stuff. I love NR, ross, all those discount places.

MS- Hehe that''s funny about the boobage- I didn''t have that prob w/my bm, all of them are skinny, w/small boobs!

 

[AndyRosse]

WOW, what a steal!! Congratulations!!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Fab find!! I love ''Laundry'' and have been wearing her (S Segal) funky stuff for yearsssss.

cheers--Sharon

 

[LollyBear]

Ooh, they are lovely dresses.

Congrats on finding such a great deal and on getting pink into the wedding like you wanted.