Bridesmaid-zilla

My fabulous BFF Jessica is getting married! And I am honored to be a part of her wedding party. I like nothing more than all of the excitement of planning and throwing the parties, dressing up, stuffing my face with passed hors d'œuvre and champagne, and dancing the night away. There is also the fun fun fun of trying on (dun dun duuun), the dreaded bridesmaid dress. Unfortunately, the lovely ladies of this wedding are scattered across the country from California to Rhode Island, making it impossible for us all to get together for a day of bubbly, giggling, and bridal boutiques. This has, of course, left us with the only realistic option. David's Bridal.

Now I'm not going to hate entirely on David's Bridal here because I am a realist. My friend Jen and my cousin Libby both bought their gowns there and they were gorgeous! I even loved the bridesmaid dresses we all wore for Libby's wedding. However, the general experience I have had in several David's locations have, to put it bluntly, sucked. A few examples:
- They wanted to charge me over 200 dollars to hem a dress, which my mom ended up doing herself in under an hour.
- The seamstress who worked with Libby was argumentative, rude, and inexperienced, and my aunt had to re-pin the entire bodice while the seamstress was out of the room. The anxiety and stress resulted in tears, which no bride wants to deal with!
- While planning out the gown for my wedding, my mom and I went to try on dresses for shape ideas. I literally hated everything I put on. Half of them had no lining and showed every curve. The other half just felt cheap. I came out of the dressing room at one point saying, "Now this one is just awful..." only to see the salesgirl's face and stutter, "awful on me! Yeah, just awful on my body type. I'm sure it would be adorable on other girls!" Turns out she had just finished telling my mother how she wore the dress at her wedding a few months earlier. My constant foot in mouth syndrome marches on.

Luckily, I have a generally positive outlook, so this weekend I grabbed a girlfriend and my camera, and headed over to David's to take one for the team ;) We had had quite an evening just hours before, so we were in high spirits. I tried on seven dresses in under 30 minutes, while my friend snapped quick photos. She took one shot of each dress, which often caught my immediate reactions upon seeing myself in the wall of many mirrors. I don't mince words, and I make judgments very quickly, so it was a painless enterprise.



Allison's comment: "What is that thing hanging between your legs?" I think it's to soak up thigh sweat.











This one is made of what they call "crinkle chiffon." It actually feels like public restroom toilet paper. Handy for wedding tears.












This time, Allison said, "Um, I like your shoes." Yeah.














I didn't actually think I dress could make me look more flat chested, but I have been proven wrong.











Now this one we both liked! Cute shape, nice fabric. Overall, an adorable little black dress. In yellow? Maybe.










This one is also cute and very comfy. I love jersey. Again, I'm not sure how it will look in yellow, but it fit well, and that's half the battle.





Why I do declare! I think we found a winner! I love this dress. Great fit, great shape, great fabric, and pockets! I love pockets. Ignore the fact that this color is atrocious (Tangerine? Really?) and you'll see why this is my favorite.

You are probably wondering at this point why on earth my friend would choose me to be in her wedding party. I am clearly very opinionated. I am not going to wear taffeta or a butt bow and I'm not going to cut or color my hair. But guess what, she wouldn't ask me to. She's stylish and normal and actually likes her friends enough to not want them to look shitty at her wedding. Plus, shitty looking bridesmaids ruin the pictures.