Bridesmaids' dresses: Graceful Saga part une

Pretty Pretty Princess and I took a little road trip to NashVegas this weekend. It's not even hardly like a road trip anymore. I just go there and turn right around to come home. I can't think of a time I have spent more than 24 hours there. It's numbing, actually.ANYWAY! To play some lacrosse, we made this little trip. I promise it was about lacrosse. We requested a hotel with a Twilight vibe - Voila, we're in the middle of a waterfall a la Twi. Voila again - hometown lacrosse wherever we looked.We came across a wedding set up. Seriously? You want to get married in the middle of a hotel lobby with men in plaid shorts carrying goodie bags from a convention? I mean, awesome!!!! How romantic!!! I would love to plan a glam wedding in the wide open lobby of the Opryland Hotel with about 20,000 tourists and conventioneers wandering around. My privilege. Call me if that's what you want.
The glam life called us from the lacrosse mission - temporarily. We had to go try on some bridesmaid's dresses for the Graceful Bride. So, off we went from Twi-zone to Princess Palace (aka B Hughes Bridal) to try on dresses.

Actually, we were on a mission from the Graceful Bride to try on a single specific dress.

But I'm not about to get 2 high school lax players out of bed early to go try on one dress. Also, I get to illustrate the step by step process of picking a bridesmaid's dress.Not so fast, Sister. Texting Graceful Bride, I'm sure, but still....Yeah, sorry. Rule #1 - we're going to try on a few more dresses. It helps to have at least two girls (not the bride) try on dresses.

That step thing helps a lot too. Everyone looks better tall. Taller, I meant. You can see how the dress works on different people. The bride doesn't actually have to try on the bridesmaids dress because the bride won't wear it. 13 of her dearest friends do. We need to make sure we don't make it look chaotic up front in the church.Yes, this dress does have pockets. Let's get pockets in the bridesmaid's dresses to carry....oh, the lip gloss! Yeah, that's it.NO, we don't keep our hands in said pockets while modeling, because it makes the shape of the dress do odd things. I think the pockets are to carry the phone. Because who doesn't want 13 bridesmaids with one whole side of the dress hanging down with the weight of a phone that girls will whip out for a quick text during pictures. Pockets, pockets, pockets. There's a wedding conundrum for you. I vote .....(no cell phones in pockets during weddings, please).

It didn't take Graceful Bride's sister long to get the hang of modeling - what with the step-up box and the huge mirror. We are here to look at the dresses. The hair....Thank you.

What? You may not like the color. That's why they make a swatch card. Pick ANOTHER color. Not so sure about that whole swooping piece in the front? Well, being the professional glam wedding planner that I am, I have a special tool to take care of something like a stray swoop. SCISSORS are a wedding planners best friend.
Some dresses are super- flattering to pretty much everybody.
This is one of those dresses. Front . . . back . . sideways - flattering.

The Home Depot industrial construction clips help. Those black strings are there to help the dress stay on the hanger. We tuck them in or cut them off before the wedding. We do not cut them off in the store. They won't even let me in the store with my trusty scissors.We think we pretty much like the first dress, but maybe if it were all the same color - say the navy....Not the exact same dress, but a solid navy dress. Navy photographs pretty dark.
So what does a light colored dress look like? Remember, it doesn't have to be THIS dress, this is just a light colored neutral dress that we tried on. You see a lot more detail with a light color. Nice palette for flowers.
This one doesn't quite fit right, even with the industrial Home Depot clips...and maybe a bit too much of the girls on display?

Let the lady who works there every day help. She knows how to - shall we say - adjust things. Yes, we know this dress is 8 sizes too big. Whatever. The REAL dress will be ordered in a size that fits withOUT the Home Depot clips, and then will be altered to fit the bridesmaid. It's not unusual for one thing to be not quite right. Remember swatch cards? Some dresses...just...no. No. NO.
I told you she plays lacrosse in a racerback jersey.
Then, feed the hungry girls after a long morning's work. Because they have to play lacrosse. Again.I know. Frustrating, this whole thing of 5 games in less than 24 hours. How do you think I felt when we added in the dress expedition?I'm not the only one who wanted a picture to prove they played lacrosse this weekend. "We are a positive and encouraging team!" Indeed.

Hey, Bonus Boy. It's always good to see you. He missed the dress-expedition. Looks a little sad about it, you say?