Just a little note to tell you that I've been featured over on Oh Lovely Day ~ I'm sharing my bridal musings and advice for brides to be. Go check it out for my must have vendors and the one thing I don't think couples should worry about on their wedding day! It begins with f…any guesses what it could be?
There have already been some sweet comments on Chandra's feature, with readers liking my choice of blush pink mismatched bridesmaid's dresses (which made me grin from ear to ear). You see, lots of people looked at me quizzically when I explained that I didn't want my maids wearing the exact same style of dress, shoes, jewelry & hair-dos…
But the thought of my bridesmaids looking like cookie cutter clones of each other was very weird to me!
My Beautiful Mismatched Bridesmaids
Photos by Funky Photographers
As you can see my bridesmaids are different shapes and sizes and I love that they each have their own unique sense of style so I didn't want to settle on a dress and ‘a look' just because it was the only one appropriate for all of them. So here's how I mismatched my maids so that I got the pretty, romantic overall look I was aiming for and they each had their own individual style:
Same designer(s) ~ by asking the girls to choose a Dessy dress I could be sure that the colours would be exactly the same and I love Dessy because there is such a wide variety of styles! 3 of their dresses were from Dessy, one was from the more luxurious Dessy collection Lela Rose (my cousin has expensive taste!) and the one shouldered dress was by JLM and was carefully matched to the other dresses.
4 of the dresses were from Jane Jordan in Kingston & 1 was from Ozone in Brighton and I can highly recommend both shops for their brilliant service!
Same colour, fabric & length~ pale blush pink, floaty chiffon, knee length. I think different hem lengths would have looked a bit odd, also I wanted to stand out from them in my floor length wedding dress.
Different designs – sweetheart, halter, one shoulder…whatever their hearts desired!
Same colour shoes but different styles – gold (but not garish gold ~ the more antique and muted the better) and whatever tstyle hey wanted ~ flats or heels, open toed or closed. As long as they didn't want to wear gold boots I was happy. (Who owns gold boots anyway?!)
Different hair-styles – whatever they felt most comfortable with, be it up down or to the side. I'm very fussy with my hair and am not a fan of up dos on me so I did't want to dictate how my girl's wore their hair. (Hopefully they'll remember that when I'm a bridesmaid for them!) They all opted for quite natural, classic looks which I was pleased about as it fitted the dresses well.
Different jewelry – I left it up to the girls to decide what they wanted to wear ~ in the end, they kept it simple & delicate which was so pretty with the pale, pink chiffon.
Same Bouquets – small, simple posies of cream roses ~ while my bouquet had blush pink and cream roses and white peonies.
Photo by a wedding guest
Other ideas I love for mismatched bridesmaids:
Different textures & patterns ~ lace, silks, chiffon in similar colours and even different patterns can look stunning (when done right) as seen at this rustic yellow & grey wedding
Same dress colour but different coloured shoes ~ this works well with black bridesmaid's dresses as seen at this eclecticly chic wedding
Different coloured dresses and bouquets ~ as seen at this rainbow coloured dream of a wedding
Different dresses same shoes (or boots) ~ as seen at this rustic chic wedding
Use paint chips ~ those Dulux paint colour strips you get from hardware stores can be such a big help for helping you with your wedding colours! Including flowers and bridesmaids' dresses. You could chose one colour from a strip you love & mark it for your bridesmaids to go forth and find their own dress. Or let them choose within that particular shade range. You would end up with some very pretty ombre action!
Have you got any more tips or ideas for mismatching your maids? I'd love to hear them!
