Attire-ing decision Part 1

Figuring out what our party is going to wear has been one of the more difficult decisions so far.

I think I went completely out of the order you're "supposed" to plan in and started looking for bridesmaid dresses first - at about the same time I started looking for the venue. I knew I wanted to pick the length & color of the dresses, and then let my bridesmaids pick from one of many styles. I decided on tea-length quickly, but the color was more elusive.

Originally, I was looking for a dark grayish-blue. Then, I found this dress:

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It was the coppery color we were also thinking about - and really pretty. The only problem was that there was only one cut. I wasn't sure that all of my bridesmaids would like it.

It seemed really hard to find the color I wanted, though. I could see it in my head, but there weren't actually any dresses that color. I kept looking and came across the bridesmaid dresses at Ann Taylor. They have pictures on their website of weddings that used the dresses. I saw this picture:

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and I was in love! The color wasn't perfect, but it was freakin' close. So, I browsed around the Ann Taylor site and I found these dresses:

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Plus, they were all about $150 - which is a lot, but not too bad. And, while I don't pretend my bridesmaids dress up frequently, the dresses aren't so formal that they would have to be going to prom to wear them again.

I had the only bridesmaid who lives in Seattle, B, order one to see how it looked in person. It took a couple months for us to make it happen, so I didn't actually get to see the dress until July. Once I saw it, I was convinced & emailed the other bridesmaids to get it. It was a good thing we got it when we did, because when my stepmom called to order the dress for my little sister (who's my junior bridesmaid) - they told her they were discontinuing the dresses.

Luckily, all of my bridesmaids got one - and some of them got them on sale! That's one thing that's completely checked off my list. Yay!

Once we had the girls squared away, it was on to the guys...which was much more difficult. I'll post that story next. In the meantime, what do you think of the girls' outfits?