jotting jennifer

Throughout the wedding process, it’s natural for people to ask about the process and how things are going. I have so many ideas, plans and details floating through my head at a given time so keeping track of who I told what to began to be a big mess. I’d start telling someone about a restaurant we found in San Diego that Mr. PB and I really want to go to and they’d look at me puzzled. Turns out, I hadn’t told them that was our plan. Oopsies. Or I’d go to tell them about the aisle runner and they’d look at me like I have eight heads because they heard about it seven times already.

I definitely didn’t want any information confusion or omission to happen when it came to the bridesmaids and important information like dresses, accessories and timeline. I could easily send out a quick email to the bridesmaids, but that’s too easy and simple for this girl. No, I like to make things complicated and pretty.

I decided to put together a Bridesmaid Bulletin. I designed it quick in Adobe InDesign but anyone could do something similar using Microsoft Publisher.

Ohhhh, ahhh, pretty. // Personal photo

Things I included in the bulletin:
- A general note to all the ladies (including a countdown)
- Dresses – Info about the dress including style, color, date to when it needs to be ordered, cost
- Hair and Makeup – I let the ladies know that I would be hiring Ella in Harmony Salon to do their hair and makeup for the day of the wedding. (Looking back, this could have been clearer as some of the ladies didn’t totally get the message that I will be paying for the services for them. Make sure your super clear in what you say.)
- Accessories & Such – I gave the ladies ideas about the shoes, cardigans and jewelry I was looking at. (Not-so-surpringly, especially with my indecisiveness sometimes, I changed my mind on this topic but that’s for a later post.)
- Project Updates – Just a quite run through about the things in progress (in case I hadn’t mentioned it to each bridesmaids)
- Tentative Timeline – I included this as just a reference for the bridesmaids (again, in case we hadn’t talked about it)
- Upcoming – Yet another thing I included as an FYI. This also allowed them to see the plans and attend as well, if they were interested.

Could I have just sent a quick email with all of the same info and it work just as well? Absolutely. Did I complicate things by doing it this way? Sure. Would I do a Bridesmaid Bulletin again? Of course

How did you keep your ladies informed? Did you stick with email or was mass text good enough? Am I the only one who had a hard time keeping track of who knows what?

In the world of wedding attire, I think the bridesmaid dress ranks number two, right behind the bridal gown. Not to slight the groom and his gang but for most men, it’s a matter of going to a cookie cutter tuxedo shop and selecting from their options.

Bridesmaid dresses have evolved and expanded greatly over the years. There are now hundreds on options at any bride’s fingertips and even more available online. Satin, chiffon, dupioni. Floor length, tea length, knee length. Straps, sleeves, strapless. You want blue? Well there’s horizon, marine, navy, royal, blue velvet, peacock, midnight, cornflower, oasis, sapphire, serene, bluebird, new sapphire, capri, malibu, mist, peri and pool. And those are just the David’s Bridal options.

Luckily for me, Pinterest was a huge help throughout my navigation of the bridesmaid dress world. I went from my original Pinspiration to a slightly altered variation to my final vision by looking at pictures. Seeing things in photos was a great way to differentiate between an idea and reality. Once I knew I wanted a gray dress with a cardigan, it narrowed the options greatly. I found a couple I liked early on.

Bill Levkoff 482 in Pewter // Source: Bill Levkoff

Bill Levkoff 386 in Pewter // Source: Bill Levkoff

David’s Bridal f15555 in Pewter // Source: David’s Bridal

I coordinated a day with the bridesmaids to go look at bridesmaid dresses and try them on. Luckily, six out of the seven were able to make it, including out-of-town Cupcake. The first store we went to had Bill Levkoff dresses and to say we were less than impressed would be an understatement. Each of the dresses were either a 4, 6 and maybe one 22. What girl wants to spend $200 on a dress they can’t even try on? My bridesmaids come in all different sizes, as do many bridesmaids, so the dresses should be available in a variety of sizes as well. After that experience, I nixed the idea of a Bill Levkoff dress and decided to head to David’s Bridal.

We didn’t have an appointment at David’s Bridal (shame on me for not making one) but the staff was still accommodating. While we didn’t get the one-on-one service we would have had we made an appointment, the girls were able to try on different styles and the consultant let us use two available rooms.

Looking through the racks, it was impossible to find a chiffon dress in pewter. I thought I was going crazy until I asked someone and they said it’s not a color they keep in stock, they have a swatch they can show me but no actual dress. This made me a little grumpy but I still wanted to see the girls in dresses. My maids looked through the racks for strapless, chiffon, long dresses and pulled a bunch. There were some doozies that definitely weren’t going to be it but a few of them did try on the f15555.

DW, Sharpie, Cupcake and Frack in f15555 // Personal photo

Maybe it was because it was in the light pink and the off color gray but I just wasn’t feeling the dress the way that I thought I would. Plus, I wasn’t a big fan of the center pleating. The girls found another dress with a little bling and an empire waist so we gave that one a go.

Frack, Homegurl, Sharpie, Cupcake and Moo in f14867 // Personal photo

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the knot at the top but I really liked the sparkle it had and the girls said it was more much comfortable than the other dress. I decided that I was sold! F14867 in pewter for all the girls! The consultant said the color was a 12-week order so all of the ladies needed to have their dresses ordered by Nov. 1 to make sure there was plenty of time for the dress to come in and alterations. I was a little nervous to order the dress without actually seeing it in the gray but I decided to let it be and have faith I’d like it. We left David’s with a bridesmaid dress plan, another thing checked off the to do list.

Was your bridesmaid dress selection a spur of the moment decision? Any tips you found useful when navigating through bridesmaid dress options?