That is a beautiful dress, though - I'm sure you'll all be able to wear it again. The Grapefruit & Lime sounds a little Lily Pulitzer, but I'm sure it's really sharp!

It's shantung silk instead of that satin-y material, which makes all the difference.

oh crappy and unneccessary. is yours a watters?

It is a Charsa dress. And on second look, the sash part does not hang down like on yours (which I think is a cute look). Sooo really it's not that similar to yours haha. I think that I dislike the whole concept so much that I have avoided looking at it in general.

http://www.charsa.com/photos/SABRINAKNEELENGTH.jpg

What's funny is that none of the dresses even fit the models very well. $240, not including my additional charges for being both abnormally tall and extrodinarily obese.

In addition, I just found out today that the dresses won't even be in the bridal shop until 2 weeks before the wedding. Bride-To-Be does not find this to be a problem so I plan to avoid thinking about it.

I think our dress is pretty good, considering everyone lives far away from eachother, and the bride picked it out by herself. I went and got the thing altered today, so I feel better-- they took out a whole 2 inches of fabric!

Silly bridesmaids shops. The woman told me on the phone that 95% of bridesmaids have to get their dresses altered. She seemed to think that extra alterations were positive. She never considered that this data showed that they NEVER got the sizes right -- in fact she could assure any future costomer that her dress would not fit. Something wrong here?
Yeah.
-M
ps- these are the dresses. The maid of honor wears the 2nd one and the rest of us wear the first. Pretty, but NOT worth the price. There has to be something out there just as cute half as expensive.

http://www.amsale.com/bridesmaids/051130/05113014.shtml

http://www.amsale.com/bridesmaids/051130/05113016.shtml

I've been a bridesmaid 12 times -- I've never "worn the dress again."

Don't plan on it.

I ended up getting the hideous monstrosity that I had to wear to my sisters wedding two days before the wedding. Although that's because the shop screwed up majorily and not only did they not order the correct size, but like you I'm tall and had to pay extra money for length, which they did not add on to the dress. But they were very nice when I first went in to try on the dress to tell me that I gained lots of weight and maybe I grew taller as well. so after I bitched them out they finally agreed to order me a new one at no charge to me. Yeah they wanted me to pay for a second dress when they so clearly screwed up the first one. i was pissed.

ugh.

You see, this is where sometimes brides need to be reigned in a controled. To spend 300 on a bridesmaid dress that you will never wear again is ridiculous and excessive. It's a crappy thing for the bride to do, period. If she wants you all in dresses that are that pricey she should subsidize it. I have a friend who was married a few years ago and the bridesmaids all were wearing Vera Wang...and could anyone tell? no.

Neither my MOH nor my BM had to spend more than 125 and I told them to wear whatever shoes that they had that were comfortable. As a matter of fact, my sister (16 years old) wore her uggs because where we got married it was pretty darned cold, and you couldn't even tell since her dress was long and full at the bottom. (I know, I know, uggs are pretty gross with a dressbut I didn't care...:cool: At least she was warm and not complaining.)

That is so rude of them.

I guess I was lucky. I tried on the dress I liked in my size. They ordered it in my color and size. When it arrived, I thought it was too small. I returned to the store (David's Bridal) where I tried on a larger size which was much too big. The seamstress looked at me in both dresses and told me to wear the right foundation garments and the smaller size would fit perfectly. She was right.

I'm tall also, but I didn't have to pay extra for length. I think the dresses are just cut for tall people.

I think it's stupid to ask a bridesmaid to pay alot of money for a dress they'll never wear again. I know in my situation most of my girls are still in school and don't have the extra funds for it! (Which is why I worked it in our wedding budget to pay for half of their dress, and they can wear any black strappy sandal.) Also, I chose to go with David's Bridal separates. All of my girls have the same skirt, but I let them choose their top. Everyone is a different size/height, so I wanted to do what I could to make them comfortable.

At any rate, I'm a bridesmaid in a sister's wedding, and here's the gown I'm wearing. I personally think it's cute, and I may even wear it again. (Although, I'm not a fan of purple.)

http://img.davidsbridal.com/db/s05_8...ei=460&cvt=jpg

I actually did wear my bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding again--twice, actually! I'm really glad my sister has decent taste.

However...I'm with you all on the sizing hassles. When our dresses came in, they were not the right size, I don't care what the tag said! My dress was absolutely huge, and so was everyone else's. A couple of the other girls didn't get their dresses in time to have a seamstress fix them, so they had to struggle to hold their tops up through the entire wedding (the dresses were strapless). Luckily, my mom is very good at sewing and she was able to fix mine but it took her f-o-r-e-v-e-r...the top had boning and an invisible side zipper, so she ended up having to take the whole thing apart and essentially remake it. I don't see why bridesmaid dresses can't run true to size...sure, some people fudge and order a smaller size than what they need, but we all ordered the correct size and they were at least one--and I'm thinking probably even two--sizes too big. They were loooooooooong, too...even longer than normal.

We went bridesmaid dress shopping yesterday. We all liked the same dress (thank goodness) and decided just to find sheer shawls or jackets to go with them.

http://www.billlevkoff.com/images/255/l_255_v1.pgj

Women's clothes don't really have a size standard these days. You will wear a different size depending on how expensive the clothes are, typically. At the more expensive stores, sizes are smaller. This is because they cater to women's self esteem.

That said, bridesmaids dresses still use the old "dressmaker's" standards for sizing. Sizing standards changed several years ago because women were getting bigger and were upset about being in larger sizes, so a 12 became a 10 (or maybe even an 8, I don't remember). I have a pair of size 11 jeans from 1984 that I saved and they are much smaller than the current 11.

The dressmaker sizes are the old sizes. They take your measurements and order your dress for the largest measurement. So, if your bust is a 12 and your waist and hips are an 8, you get the 12. If your bust is an 8 and your waist is a 10 and your hips are an 8, you get the 10. They can take things in, but they can only let them out so much. The dressmaker sizes also use a standard which most women don't fit.. I believe it's bust and hips the same measurement with the waist being 12 inches smaller (like 36-24-36).

This is the bridesmaid dress I am wearing in a sister's wedding this summer:

http://pics.livejournal.com/dglaura/pic/0000x5q3

This makes me think of the oft-misquoted stat that Marilyn Monroe wore a size 16.

Yes, she did, but it was a size 16 from back then, which is like a size 6 now (sizes were revamped in the early 60's, I think - not sure why.) She was not a size 16 in today's clothing.