The Purple Dress and Some Intros

Way, way too long ago I spoke about our bridesmaids dress inspiration - and then Christmas happened, other posts happened and I got sidetracked from sharing what we actually picked.  Well here's that much anticipated part deaux, y'all, with some introductions of my bridesmaids!

We were looking for a short dress, in an eggplant purple, a full skirt, and maybe some kind of straps.  And it was a challenge.  Online searches left us underwhelmed - I'd definitely recommend going into the store and looking at dresses in person if you're struggling.  

Pretty close to the look we were going for./Photo found on JLM Couture/Photo by Melissa Jill

One day, Momma P and I were running errands near the salon I bought my dress at, and we decided to stop in and see what they had for the bridesmaids.  And I couldn't believe it - we found a dress that I loved!  The sample was in grey, but we scoured the racks for purple dresses by the same brand.  I actually nearly passed on the dress since the only purple we saw was a bit too bright and bluish for what I wanted, but they had swatches available of the other purple by the brand that was just perfect.

Oh hey, perfect plum purple, who's that you've got with you? 

And there you can see the other part of the dress, the lovely lace overlay!

Sorella Vita Style 8278 (shown on the left in our color, aubergine)

Sorella Vita is the bridesmaids line associated with Martina Liana, which has some gorgeous wedding dresses!  The dress felt really high quality, was comfortable, and I loved the lace detailing and the deep V in the back of the dress.

I tried the dress on and sent a picture off to my girls.  After they told me to stop hogging all of the dress buying fun, they agreed that the dress was really pretty and something they'd like to wear!

Long story short, we ended up ordering the dresses from a salon in Baton Rouge, instead of the one in New Orleans.  The BR salon was a little cheaper, had a "Bridesmaid' Night Out" event where they offered an additional 15% off, and we were turned off from the NOLA salon because they made you put 100% down on the dresses.  They said they've gotten burned too many times by bridesmaids never returning to pick up dresses, which is understandable, but for us it worked out better to not have to pay it all upfront.

When you're dealing with bridesmaids in different cities, people's natural reaction is to say "Oh, I guess you'll go to David's Bridal, since those are everywhere!"  We checked out David's and it was fine, we just didn't see anything just right there.  But dress brands are available in stores all over the country, so we didn't limit our search.  Once we found a dress, we had to decide if we wanted to order them here and ship the dresses to girls elsewhere, or have each girl order a dress in their area.  For various reasons, we decided to go with the former option (except for BM Perk who wanted to handle hers on her own).

We haven't gotten the dresses in yet, but they should be soon.  They're picking out their own black shoes to wear with the dress, and I'm getting some sparkly chandelier earrings for them to wear.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

I know I've mentioned the girls here and there, so here are my official intros where they're showing off our pick of dress (or something like it).  You'll be hearing more and more about them in the coming months, so I wanted to make sure you knew who I was talking about!

I was picking up my dress at the salon, and we didn't get any pictures without me!  Thus the awkward crop.

BM Dino is Sphinx's younger, strawberry-blonde-haired sister.  She and I are closer in age, and I actually knew Dino from high school before I met Sphinx.  I used to joke that I was only dating him to hang out with his cool sister.  That may or may not still be true.  We both went up to LSU and had some great times up there.  I'm so glad that we are officially becoming sisters because we've treated each other that way for so long.  Seriously, the welcome that the Sphinx family has given me over the years is better than any future wife could ever expect.  And her nickname comes from her love of dinosaurs, of course.

BM Duffy was able to find the dress in Pittsburgh and confirmed that she liked it too. 

BM Duffy was my roommate for the Disney College Program a few years ago.  We bonded over the craziness of our jobs and our coworkers, and the fact that we both had long term boyfriends who needed to pop that question!  We've remained close, and confided in each other when we needed someone who would understand how it felt when the guy had the ring and it was driving us nuts.  They were engaged soon after us, and I'll be standing in her wedding one month after ours!  Her nickname comes from this little guy that she has a love/hate relationship with after selling stuffed versions at EPCOT for months.

MOH Curls (right) with her roomie helping us compare dresses in BR.  

My little sister, MOH Curls, is a natural choice for my maid of honor, but not just because of our sisterly bond.  She is the most on-top-of-it, no-nonsense person you'll ever meet when a job needs to be done.  She made a flowchart for her senior prom group to show who was riding in which cars and limos between dinner, the prom, and the after party (little engineer after my own heart!).  She's the right kind of person to have around when things start getting overwhelming.  We're very different in so many ways, but we're also so similar it scares people and they can't always keep up with our inside jokes and one-liners.  And she doesn't sugar coat anything; she'll give me the honest truth when I ask for an opinion or advice!  Her name obviously comes from her naturally curly hair, which I was not blessed with.

BM Taco and BM Perk weren't able to try on the dress, but they trusted me and the other girls!  I was able to find some pictures of them rocking purple frocks.

Perk showing off how good she looks in purple.  This was from David's Bridal last year, I was out in L.A. visiting her and living the Hollywood lifestyle.

BM Perk and I go way back; in middle school we were more "at school" type of friends, but I think we both agree that our friendship officially started in high school at a math competition. We realized that we shared a love of Gone with the Wind.  So she came over to my house to watch it, and when my parents returned home my mom pulled me aside and was all "Are you sure this is an appropriate movie to be watching...?" And I was like "Yea! We're cool, we both love it!" The rest is history.  I'd call us Lucy-and Ethel-esque in our shenanigans, and even though we've been apart for the last eight years (holy crap is that how long ago we graduated high school?), we make it a point to stay in touch and whenever we get back together, we pick right back up where we left off and others can't keep up.    

  

Reaching way back in the vaults for a purple "dress" - at our college apartment celebrating Taco's birthday with a toga party (plus cake and daiquiris!).

BM Taco is one of my very oldest friends.  We grew up down the street from each other, became friends over roller blading and trampolines and dance classes in about third grade and that turned into us living together all through college.  So Taco was front and center for all of the Pyramid courtship, and even took on the role of our "daughter" on a trip to Disney World (not as creepy as it sounds).  She put up with a lot of me being lonely, sad, or angry when Sphinx wasn't around.  She's also moved away (but she's trying to move back before the wedding - fingers crossed for her!), and we don't keep in touch as often as we should, but when we get back together it's like no time has passed.  Her nickname comes from her very favorite food - tacos.  You see why we get along.

Well, that wraps up my ladies and what they'll be wearing!  Did you have a wide-spread bridal party?  How did you go about picking your dresses?