It seems that you are always the bridesmaid and never the bridesmaid with the pretty dress. One of the longest running jokes of all wedding situations is that when it comes to weddings, the bridesmaid dresses are always a spectacle. You know that this is your friends' special day and that you would do anything for her. But where do you draw that line of friendship. I tend to draw it right around big poofy sleeves and pink feathered hats (no I am not making that up; those were actually bridesmaid dresses for one of my friends weddings). But I figured, hey if you stuff the poofy sleeves with enough cotton balls they can make great pillow and you look like a vicious line backer. Anyways going back on topic, I love my friends, and I know that I would do most anything for them; however, I have to draw the line somewhere.



As a seasoned bridesmaid I have had my share of interesting 'tales from the crypt' style wedding stories. I have been in every kind of dress and the dresses have been in every kind of color, some even multi-colored. This leads me to believe that the insane Hollywoodized version of bridesmaid dresses is not that far off from the actual truth. I plead and ask the question: WHY? Why do countless bridesmaids have to suffer on this day? I know that the simple answer is that the bride is supposed to be the most beautiful one there and no one is to out shine her, but come on now! It is possible to look better than everyone else with out having your bridesmaids look like cartoon characters from Rainbow Bright.

Being a bridesmaid I have learned that you truly have to be supportive of your friend and her special day. However, while going shopping with her for the bridesmaid dress I have done my best to calmly talk my friend out of some poor dress choices. One of my favorite dresses that I talked my friend out of was what I like to refer to as the mermaid color throw up dress. This dress was the epitome of the bad bridesmaid dress. I kid not; there were many sequins, ruffles and toole. It was a mermaid style dress that was tight at the top of the legs and flared out at the bottom. Then it had ever color imaginable in the rainbow that was on this dress. It literally looked like the color fairy had thrown up on the dress; there was no rhyme or reason to it. Thinking that this was the ugliest dress ever, my friend looked at me and said, "What do you think?" I almost laughed in her face when I figured out that she was serious. I told her that I loved her but I was not too sure that I loved her that much. I proceed to do my best at talking her out of the dress and we found one that was a little more bearable to wear. I had never been so happy to be in puffy pillow sleeves.

So how can one find that bridesmaid dress that will not cause the bridesmaids to run away in tears and change their identity? There are many places that one can go to find those bridesmaid dresses and those dresses might even look nice and not like a side show attraction. However, your standards are a little different and you need to find that perfect dress that is not immodest and doesn't look like a fabric fest of toole and puffy sleeves in order to be modest. Luckily the internet provides many great resources that one can use to find that perfect bridesmaid dress. It gives a variety of places where you can find stores near you or you can just shop online. It is easy, quick and oftentimes cheaper.

Most of my favorite dresses have come from online stores. But you have to do your homework. Have an idea of what you are looking for, make sure that you are on a creditable site and ask lots of friends for their ideas. Word of mouth and friend referrals have always worked out for the positive for me. Again, when looking for a bridesmaid dress remember to have lots of patience, listen to your friends and try to avoid too many feathers and sequins.