The one where everyone tries to find bridesmaids dresses - Episode One

It was a busy (but super fun) weekend - and I even did some wedding stuff :) Javs, Kels, Isabel and I braved a Bridal Expo at the Patriot Center on George Mason's campus on Sunday morning. I'll give you guys details on that in a bit - but afterwards (feeling inspired) we headed to Tysons to do some bridesmaid dress shopping!

I'm realizing at this point that I have not shared with you my "plan" for my maids' attire. (I put plan in little quotes there because I'm learning that its really a lack-of-plan that I have for the maids more than a plan...yikes!) When I asked the girls to be my maids I mentioned my only real idea for their dresses and that's what we've been going on ever since. Javs and I hadn't really talked colors (and still haven't) but a quick conversation with him early on suggested that we'd be going for warmer colors - specifically browns - wherever we wanted neutrals. (this is a palette I found on Pinterest that I have been keeping in mind, but only shared with javs this weekend so who knows if its really what we'll do...)

So I told the girls I wanted to give them a range to work with from the neutral spectrum- but each should buy their own dress in the design and style they felt most comfortable. Easy enough, right? Right? Well...we're still finding out.

So we set out - walking briskly through stores, scanning for anything in the cream/beige to camel/khaki to chocolate/brown family. We were in and out of a lot stores - quickly realizing that grey seems to be more 'in' this season, but not dissuaded.

After some strike outs we decided to head straight to Banana Republic where I had scoped out a tan dress I wanted the ladies to try on earlier in the week. Its hard to see in my IPhone pic but, it was a winner in some cases: loved the color, had the length we needed for these tall girls and didn't have the bridesmaid dress look. However, it was one of those dresses that looked better on the hanger than on a body - it was a 'no.'

We pressed on and decided to try on two dresses in Express that we didn't love, but fit the color bill. (I'll be honest, we - ok I- was starting to feel a bit desperate. Where were all the beige/camel/chocolate dresses?) Everyone else was concerned that the white polka-dots in Isabel's dress might be too close to white my dress (I did not think so and I think the pic proves that the dress overall looks much more tan than white) but everyone decided it was a 'no' as soon as she walked out so it didn't really matter. Kels' dress inspired a lot of doubt going in - but it really looked much better on her than on the hanger. I actually...kind of liked it. (YAY! some progress) We all agreed it was a 'fine,' if not 'maybe,' and moved on to Nordstroms where we were hoping to find some volume!

Nordstorms came through with a variety of cream/khaki/brown options for us to at least try on! I didn't take pics of them all, but you'll get an idea from these. This is one (pictured left) that Javs picked out (bless his heart). Actually - we didn't love it on the hanger, but thought it was definitely better on a body (isn't it funny how some dresses are like that?). This is another one (pictured right) that Javs grabbed for us. Kels liked it the most, but we all agreed that a more interesting/lower neckline would have drastically improved it. Both were a 'no. **Side Note** Our shopping trip proved to me (once again) that Javier is destined for sainthood. He was a trooper - offering opinions, making suggestions and holding dresses we wanted to try on as we walked around.

We did find one dress that we liked though! Isabel loved it actually :) It fit lots of requirements: brown, soft and feminine (but not too poofy of a skirt like a similar dress had that Isabel tried on and denied). It was long enough too! The one pictured is actually a size to big for her (we found one in the right size that was bright blue...you may see her holding it in the pic above.) so we ended up ordering it from Nordstrom in the right size and color! Its scheduled to be delivered to the Cabezas casa sometime soon so that she can try it on for Mrs Cabezas and decide. Nordstroms is wonderful (of course) and said it would be no trouble taking it back if they decide this isn't the one. Our biggest concern: the neckline. Its a sweetheart, but one of those deep sweethearts and we can't decide if its too deep. More discussion will commence when it arrives and I'll keep you folks posted! Either way - I'm counting the trip a victory because we proved that there are dresses out there (and even some that we don't hate!)