<p>I keep picturing “My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding”. Now THOSE were some hideous dresses, but a warm, lovely wedding, in spirit, anyway.</p>
<p>When we were married 26 years ago, two of my three attendants were from out-of-town. I sent them a picture of my gown and a set of color swatches in a color family I liked. I told them to find a dress they liked in that range that would look OK with my gown. One bought peach, one cherry, and one burgundy. The dresses were all long and simple. The colors looked great.</p>
<p>I also sent the two mothers a set of swatches in a different color family (blue). My MIL got a blue dress that totally clashed with those colors. Which is just as well because my mother called me in tears from a shopping center to tell me that she absolutely could not find any dress she liked except for one in white. So we both wore white for my wedding.</p>
<p>My father-in-law’s wife (not hubby’s mom), used to say that the job of the groom’s mother is to wear beige and blend. She was kind of funny.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me of 26 Dresses in which Katherine Heigl models all the awful bridesmaid get-ups she’d worn, from the Bo Peep one mentioned above to a really trashy short number. It’s a really funny sequence. DD and I have chick flicks together as our guilty pleasure.</p>
<p>DD wants her brother to be her MOH. I don’t think she’ll ask him to wear a dress.</p>
<p>One summer my sister was a bridesmaid for her best friend from high school. It was a white cotten eyelet dress, with all the little holes embroidered around in pink. Kind of southern bell ruffled dress. Three months later she was the maid of honor for her college roommate. Same dress, except the embroidery was yellow. Then about a month later she was in another wedding. Same dress in blue. So there she was with three rainbow dresses she would never wear again. We all told not to even think of asking us to wear them for her wedding. Instead she chopped them up and made baby quilts for the babies of her friends.</p>
<p>"I guess if the bride’s dress had been similarly hideous, I would have been less surprised by the bridesmaids’ dresses. But her dress was sleek and elegant - really beautiful. The bridesmaids’ dresses were about as much of a contrast as they could possibly be. And really, really unflattering on all the girls. "</p>
<p>-Consipiracy plot by bride to stand out as much as possible</p>
<p>lololu,
What a brilliant idea! Using the dress you don’t like to make something meaningful for the bride later on. I’m going to remember that idea.</p>
<p>Actually, we all thought the dresses worked better as baby quilts than they did as dresses for grown-up women.</p>
<p>The very first bridesmaid dress I wore would have made wild looking kitchen curtains( not in my house, of course). Circa 1977.</p>
<p>The ugliest bridesmaid dress I ever had to wear was when I was 8 months pregnant…the dress was tailored to “fit” my body and was made separately for me although it "matched’ the other bridesmaids. it had poofy sleeves and a sash which of course was NOT at the waist exactly and frills and was darling on the “younger non-pregnant” girls…on 35 year old pregnant me it was horrendous. I do not have a single picture of that wedding although the bride remained and still is a very good friend.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, how did the wedding go? I remember you saying a while back that a wedding was in the near future. Any tips or stories you care to share? Hope it was a beautiful and memorable time for your family. :)</p>