Diary of a Boho Bride – Claire and Tom, Entry 4: Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Today we are meeting up with Claire one of my lovely Brides who is getting married this September. Last time we chatted with her we were talking mood boards and how to make the colour scheme she had chosen work for her big day .

Since then Claire has had the mammoth job of choosing her bridesmaids dresses, which by all accounts wasn’t an easy job.

So I will pass you over to Claire to tell you all about it………….

Bridesmaid dress shopping had been a hot topic of conversation with me and my bridesmaids for a long time! I had spent lots of time looking for dresses in bridal magazines and on the internet and felt like although I had a good idea of what I liked, I also knew that I wasn’t to set on one idea which would hopefully ensure that I didn’t become disappointed if I didn’t find exactly what I wanted. The things I wanted were;

♥   Colour- purple, green or a nude/pale pink colour

♥   I didn’t want a stiff dress from a bridal shop that my girls would be uncomfortable in

♥   I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the dresses as I knew that there were some great dresses on the high street

♥   I liked the idea of the girls wearing different dresses. If they were to pick their own style then I knew that they would be comfortable.

(Photo credits 1) source  2) source  3) source 4) source  5) source  6) source )

One of the first challenges for me and my bridesmaids was actually finding a date when we were all available to go shopping! I have three bridesmaids. Gina lives only 30 minutes away from me in Leeds but Heather lives in Bristol and is in the middle of writing up her PHD, and Hannah was living in Seville until February and then was home for only one month before heading out to America until 1 week before the big day! Once the date was set that was it- we knew we had to get it sorted that weekend!

We decided to get together on the Friday evening and discuss ideas and flick through the magazines again and then head off bright and early to Meadowhall in Sheffield.  I was dreading being in Meadowhall on a Saturday so it was nice to be there early before the queues in the changing rooms started.

After about an hour it soon became clear that this wouldn’t be the easiest day! There didn’t seem to be any purple or green dresses and the few that there were didn’t appeal to all the girls. There were a few nice nude dresses but they weren’t really appropriate for a wedding.  The other thing that became apparent was how hard it would be to find different dresses that would complement each other. After we had covered the whole of Meadowhall we were feeling a little flat! We went decided to get some lunch and then head in to Leeds for a change of scenery!

Once we had recharged our battery’s and arrived in Leeds we were ready for part 2. We headed straight to Monsoon as there had been a few options in there from Meadowhall and there was also a dress that we had seen online that they didn’t have in the Meadowhall store.

We crossed our fingers that it would be there and we were really happy when we saw the dress in the window! Crossing my fingers that the dress would look good I was so pleased when the girls all came out of the changing room with smiles on their faces. We had found the one! It was a lovely mink colour and was a flattering shape on everyone.  It was formal but fun and different from everything else we had seen. Only small alterations would be required on the length on one of them but they looked great and I was more than happy with the £85 price tag! Drained from our long and exhausted day we headed home for a well-earned glass of wine. Mission accomplished!

I’d love to hear from you about your stories of bridesmaids shopping, has it been easy or has it been a total nightmare? have you chosen to go for all matching? or are you going for all different dresses? I’m  sure Claire isn’t the only one who has had trouble finding her dream bridesmaids dresses.