My search for the perfect bridesmaid dress is a prime example for over thinking! When I first started looking, I set guidelines: they had to be teal, tea length, we had to be able to see them in person since teal is such a different color, the bridesmaids needed to love them (I was going to let them pick them out), and they had to be affordable!
In a time of a poorly fairing economy; as well as a time with bridesmaids being laid off, college students, getting married, etc… I just couldn’t bear to ask them to pay over $80 for a dress!
Being the researcher I am, I set out on an internet exploration of all that would be wedding worthy! I have to be honest… within my price range, and within stores we could go to in person, there was a lot to be desired as far as teal dresses go! As far as something online goes, there were options, including this beauty from the rose dress.
However, I just didn’t feel comfortable ordering something off of the internet, and risking they not all being the same color, not fitting, having bad fabric… lots of negativity was going through my head about ordering online. I just wasn’t that brave! Being a plus sized girl myself, I know how hard it is to find something that fits right. Regardless if the website says it will fit in its measurement chart or not… sometimes they just don’t fit right! I wasn’t about to put my lovely bridesmaids through that!
My next thought was to enlist the help of my awesome aunt who has some major sewing machine wielding skills… This would have totally been an option but she lives pretty far from my bridesmaids, making fittings tough, therefore we didn’t take that route. While pondering this option, I did find some beautiful, classy dress patters at the craft store, though! Something I loved about the patterns was that most of them have several different options for the dresses, so I could still have that matched, but mismatched look for the BMs that I love! Maybe this could be an option for someone else! If you catch the right sale, you could get bridesmaid dresses for under $20 a piece! Aren’t these delicious?!
After these ideas didn’t pan out, I decided to tweak my guidelines a bit. I had seen some gorgeous black bridesmaid dresses, and I love the idea of them being able to actually use the dress again, so I told the girls to go get a cocktail dress, knee/tea length and black were my only rules, oh, and not to let the boobs hang out too much since you know… this is a classy event, and all. 
*enter waiting and non-response here*
Apparently the open ended option wasn’t working for the bridesmaids because I didn’t hear from them after I gave this option and when I called them, they all said, “Well, just let me know what you want me to wear!” or “Pick a dress for me and I’ll wear whatever you want!” Soooo… back to square one.
I hopped online again, how hard could it be to find a LBD? I was actually kind of excited since I knew I would have a lot more options. This time I was looking for a cute black number for my main ladies, and I struck GOLD!! Black gold that is… 
Having 2 bridesmaids who are plus size, and two bridesmaids who wear a L/XL, I looked at the Lane Bryant website and I found a beautiful, simple, affordable, perfect dress!
Who wouldn’t be able to wear this again? I almost want one myself. lol
So after visiting the dress in person, and confirming the quality, I sent off the info to all the BMs. They each purchased their dress and the bridesmaid dress search was complete! Why didn’t I just think of getting a LBD for a bridesmaid dress before!? Part two – Bringing It All Together, coming soon to a blog near you!
Have you had any details that you were over thinking?
There are just too many tasty options out there for me to go this route!
Exhibit C:
