16-in-1 Bridesmaid Dress

All the bridal media seems to be raving about this one bridesmaid dress company: Two Birds. Two Birds sells these dresses that are stylable in 16 different fashions. They come in two lengths, and two sizes, and 20 colors; there are a few different styles of hemline too. The top part of the dress consists of two strands of fabric that can be tied and twisted to create all these different looks.

It's a really cool idea, I agree. Ingenious from an engineering standpoint. But--and maybe it's because the company is based out of New York City and LA--no one has yet pointed out that most of these 16 styles are backless (or close enough). Several of the designs have a little comment that says "bra friendly!" and I'm thinking, What kind of bra are they talking about? Do they have some magical contraption in LA and NYC that we don't have in Detroit? Or maybe the girls in those cities are just so skinny that they don't really need more than two band-aids. Of the 16 styles, there's really only one you could wear with a regular bra, and one with a strapless bra--see for yourself.

To be honest, though, I'd like to see how they work. It should be noted that you can buy a $30 "bandeau" to make the styles a little more modest (and not backless). Maybe I'll get another bridesmaid gig soon and I can talk the bride into letting us make use of their through-the-mail try-on program.

The dresses are $270 for the tea-length styles, and $290 for the full-length. Size A fits sizes 0-14 and Size B fits sizes 16-24 and costs an additional $20.

I think it's a little pricey for a dress made of a nylon/jersey/spandex blend that you have to put together yourself, but maybe that's just me. Perhaps when the novelty wears off, they'll go down in price. Dessy makes competitors for $140 (tea-length) and $180 (full length).

Bridesmaid dress for Andrea's wedding

Hi everyone! Andrea's wedding is in 11 days! A few weeks ago I got my bridesmaid dress back from alterations, and I wanted to share with you how it turned out, which I think is pretty well.

The dress is from the Jasmine Bridal Belsoie line and cost $194, although I believe that was with the 15% discount we got because Andrea's mom ordered all the dresses through the same store in Minneapolis. The color is called "berry." Derek thinks the dress makes me look tall, which I don't often hear!

Alterations came to a total of $70, which, while it sounds expensive, I actually think is pretty reasonable (remember, at David's Bridal, my alterations came to $65, and I think these alterations were more complicated). I had the alterations done at a place called "Expert Tailoring" in Troy, Michigan on Maple Road. The reason the price is so high is that the dress has three layers of skirts, and all of them needed to be hemmed. The dress also had to be tightened in the bust and the straps needed to be shortened.

When I tried my dress on in the shop after it was done, there were a bunch of other customers there, and they all commented on how pretty I looked! I'll probably go back to that shop in the future for other alterations.

The bridesmaids are wearing black shoes--I'm wearing the same Caparros shoes I wore for Theresa's wedding. I'm finding that Caparros makes really comfortable evening shoes, and 2.5" heels is just the right balance for style and comfort.

I'm wondering if I should invest in a nice black shawl to ward off the Connecticut fall weather?

Bridesmaid Dresses!

Hey everyone,

My sister and I came to a quick decision once she tried on the right dress. We have decided to go with Alfred Sung dresses, made by the Dessy Group. Each bridesmaid gets to choose between the following 8 dresses, in peau de soie fabric (which I have found is just a fancy name for duchess satin). The color will be daffodil.



The store we went to, Demetrios (located in Troy, MI), offered us a 15% discount if we ordered all the dresses through them, even though each bridesmaid will order a different dress. This is pretty common but not necessarily a given--I called Konja's Bridal in Berkley, MI, which also carries the Alfred Sung line, and they only offer a volume discount on dresses over $200 (which these are not). The annoying thing about Demetrios--and I should have watched out for this--was that Kaleen, the saleslady, said she could only hold the discount open for five days--I had to pay for my sister's dress in order to reserve the discount for everyone else.

Here are the prices we got, for your reference:

Style # D434--originally $175, with 15% off is $148.75
Style # D435--originally $180, with 15% off is $153.00
Style # D436--originally $180, with 15% off is $153.00
Style # D437--originally $185, with 15% off is $157.25
Style # D438--originally $185, with 15% off is $157.25
Style # D439--originally $185, with 15% off is $157.25
Style # D440--originally $190, with 15% off is $161.50
Style # D441--originally $190, with 15% off is $161.50

Feedback from my ladies has been pretty positive, although one has mentioned that she had to make appointments at five stores to try on all the dresses, which I didn't anticipate. Hopefully the benefits of having so many choices outweigh the disadvantages.

Several Bridal Shop Reviews

I forgot that part of why we started this blog was to review the wedding planning experience! So here are a few shops I've been to recently:

1. Demetrios. Date: early January 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns. Location: Troy, MI (although they have several other stores around the country)
Demetrios was not too bad. The staff was very attentive, and great at suggesting gowns that I didn't think I'd like, but turned out to be great. I would go again if they had had THE dress, but for the most part my mom and I found Demetrios dresses to be too gaudy, particularly for a summer wedding.

2. Alan Ray Bridal. Date: January 30, 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns. Location: Columbus, OH.
Very good store, the saleslady was very patient with me, and very attentive. She also let me and Theresa roam the store to pick out whatever we wanted for me to try on. They didn't have a huge selection, but Theresa and I did like the gowns they had, particularly the Maggie Sottero ones (I don't think it's just me--Maggie Sottero makes great gowns that seem to make every girl happy). They take very good care of their store--you are asked to take your shoes off when you enter the bridal salon.

3. Aria Bridesmaid Try-On Program. Date: March 6, 2010. Shopping for: bridesmaid dresses. Location: Lititz, PA (but it could be anywhere--read on an I'll explain).
This is a great program. Aria only has retail stores in DC, Boston, and LA. Since it is difficult for some to get out there to try on their beautiful, well-made gowns, Aria has a program where they send a potential customer dresses to try on at $15 each. You get to keep the dress for a few days and then you have to mail it back. Andrea ordered a bigger size so all of the bridesmaids would fit in it (so we didn't have to order two dresses for each girl), and we used potato chip bag clips to hold the smaller girls in. Unfortunately, neither style that we tried on was well-loved, but it's good to know that this program is out there.

4. Enchanted Evening. Date: March 6, 2010. Shopping for: bridesmaid dresses. Location: Lebanon, PA.
Great store! They are very careful with their merchandise; for example, I was not allowed to hold the gown until I had to put it on--the saleslady held it outside the dressing room and then passed it to me through the curtain once I was undressed. This makes sense--as the saleslady explained, when many people try on a dress, it can get snagged or ripped.
Additionally, Enchanted Evening offered a 20% discount if 5 or more bridesmaids ordered from them! On a $200 dress, that's a lot! (For those of you who are interested, Andrea ended up choosing this dress from Avalon Bridal for her bridesmaids, which we really do all love. It will be in dark red, with the sash being the same color).

5. Alfred Angelo. Date: March 6, 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses. Location: Lancaster, PA (although Alfred Angelo has several stores around the country).
I wish I had more good things to say about this store. My appointment started almost a half hour late (admittedly, it was a Saturday, and I understand they were busy) and the sales lady was particularly pushy. She kept pushing me to name one dress "THE dress", when, to be honest, none of them were even close. The wedding gowns felt cheaply made; none of them felt right.
The bridesmaid dresses were not too bad, though. No sales lady was needed for my girls to try them on, so I think they had fun, and we found some good dresses. Although--another demerit for our saleslady--we asked her what fabric one dress was made of, and she said chiffon. We didn't believe her, so we looked it up in the catalog, and it was crepe (good job Kristy, sticking to your guns!).
So overall, the Alfred Angelo store did not leave a great impression on me. I liked their bridesmaid dresses,* but their wedding gowns and salespeople were below par.

That's all for now, but there's more to come! I'm headed to the Mon Cheri Trunk Show at Bella Bridal this weekend in West Bloomfield, MI and then I have an appointment at The Wedding Shoppe in Berkley, MI. I'm having so much fun planning this wedding (and helping in all my friends' weddings), and I hope you all enjoy reading the blog and following along.


*I may still end up with Alfred Angelo dresses for my bridesmaids--my sister likes their designs, but she is in Argentina on study abroad right now, and I don't want to make any decisions until she can try something on.

Ann Taylor Tulip Jacquard Dress http://www.anntaylor.com/

The other day, I tried on my bridesmaid dress for an August wedding and was pleasantly surprised to find that although the dress had been tailored for someone else, it fit me perfectly! Before the wedding some minor modifications will need to be made, such as removing some cream accents added to it by its owner, so that it will match the other bridesmaids' dresses. A wrap of sorts is in order, and right now we are planning to make them out of light green shimmer organza. The stiffness of the new fabric is giving us a little trouble right now, since it resists draping softly around the shoulders and instead stands up high at the neck. Perhaps washing it will help, and if not, we may decide to tailor the wraps to a more fitted shape. The bridesmaids will also be wearing simple veils of white tulle edged in green satin ribbon. We have decided to add a sash to define the waistline of the dress a bit more, most likely in a coordinating shade of green, either of satin ribbon to match the edging of the veil or organza to match the wrap. White shoes will finish off the bridesmaid's outfit. Since the wedding colors are green, white, and yellow, the bride has been thinking about having her maids carry small bouquets of daisies. These dresses will look perfectly elegant for my friend's summer wedding!