News on the Wedding Front: Bridesmaid Dresses

Do you remember this post with my first inspiration board? I had included pictures of the JCrew dresses I had bought my bridesmaids. If you need a reminder, here they are:

I bought these dresses using a 30% off coupon online back in July. I took a chance on the dresses because they were on JCrew's final sale list, i.e. you can't return them. Unfortunately, my step-mother just told me last week that my step-sister wasn't comfortable with strapless (another addition to the emotional roller coaster of last week). I talked to J about it and showed him the dresses. He was quick to remind me that I have commented many times about not being comfortable in a bridesmaid dress and/or never wearing it again. I had really liked the idea of using the two different colors of dresses in this fabric. I was excited to see that they offered this same fabric in the colors I love in a tank version. Unfortunately, neither color were available in my step-sister's size. Ugh. My only choice now... all different styles and different fabrics. J was very opinionated that if the girls were all going to wear different dresses, then they would have to all be the same color. (Isn't it amazing what they choose to be adamant about?) I was a little disappointed because some of my favorite inspiration pics are of mismatched colors. Similar to this found via The Knot:


So, I went back to the final sale and decided to take another chance. Here is what I came up with:

For my sister:

For my step-sister:
For KA:

For Jen:
Jen's dress is the only one I had already bought. I ended up having to "win" my steps-sister's dress on Ebay, and the color looks exactly like the other dresses, even though the picture doesn't. I didn't get my order confirmation for nearly 8 hours, so I was nervous that our new plan wasn't going to work. Also, I have gotten confirmation before and had a final sale item become unavailable before the order was shipped... so I was a tad nervous. Thankfully, I received the shipment confirmations for all three dresses on Saturday. One huge plus for using the final sale option-- all dresses were under the $100 mark! The girls were definitely excited about that!

Here's the kicker. I took the dresses over to Jen's house to show her once they all arrived on Tuesday. Even though the girls had gone by the measurements on the size chart, three of them were too small! I thought I was going to cry, but I refrained. I decided that Jen was going to get the same dress in a size bigger (because they actually had it still) and KA was going to get my step-sister's dress. My step-sister is going to JCrew in Dallas this weekend and figuring out her size. Unfortunately, I know that her size in unavailable in the final sale items online, but her size is available in the full price items. Bummer. I am hoping that the stores can work their magic and find her a different non-full price kelly green dress. How ridiculous is this? (Check my eBay listings if you're interested in the other dresses!)

Did you order traditional bridesmaid dresses, or did you go the non-traditional route? How hard was it to find the dresses in the sizes your girls needed?