From A Bride’s Lens
Choosing the Bridesmaid Dresses

My wedding is less than three months away. OMG. So very excited to marry the man of my dreams! Today’s post is about bridesmaid dresses and this was a much bigger deal than I thought it would be. All is well now, but I wanted to share some of my experience with you guys, to let you know you’re not alone!

At first I wanted to do the whole mismatch dress thing, because I like the idea of having the girls wear something they feel comfortable in and it’s not so neat and tidy. However, the mismatch dress idea really works when you can go shopping with all the girls and really see the look side-by-side. It looks weird if one of the dresses is a shiny fabric, or one is 8 inches longer than the other, but they are both purple. I do feel like very similar dresses, for instance the same exact color dress in all different styles looks best in photos. I think JCrew does this well. My sister (MOH!) was planning her trip to teach english in Thailand, so we didn’t have much time to find the perfect dress. We started hunting and hunting we did! We went to many different stores looking for the right look and I starting finding that so many of the dresses looked the same, and oh-so bridesmaidy. Although I did like the idea of going with a unified look, I wanted something unique, oh and it also has to come in a size 2 and a size 16 to accommodate my beautiful group. So the hunting continued… Around this time I started asking around and a bridesmaid friend who was in a mismatch dress wedding told me that it was much more stressful having to pick something out that you would hope the bride would like rather than just being told what to buy. And the hunt went on.

What color? I do think that the bridesmaids dress truly sets the color palette for the day as it’s the largest amount of color in one location throughout your photos. At first, I was thinking nudes and blush tones, which is so stunning and timeless, but not really “us”. For the overall concept of the day we want a casual and fun garden wedding with old-world class. We decided on deep blues and taupes and ivories. The blue is like a peacock blue color, almost teal. SO pretty!

I have photographed a lot of bridesmaids and I wanted to share a few that stood out to me as particularly inspiring for my own wedding. If you like their style, click on the image to take you to the full gallery. Enjoy my dress reveal at the end as well! Keep scrolling and enjoy!

Annie’s bridesmaids wore BHLDN and I loved the color and the bow details. So pretty.

Desiree’s and her ladies went classic vintage for their Portland wedding at the Benson Hotel. Always love the timeless black dress look.

April’s winery wedding looked perfect with the subtle lavender shade, and it was flowy and light for hot weather.

Lea’s crew all wore mismatched teal lace dresses at her wedding to Andy at Anderson lodge. I think this group pulled off the look really well!

Brianne’s girls looked fun and bright in berry tones. Perfect for their Hawks View Cellars wedding in Oregon famous wine country!

Mailee’s team had the incredible opportunity to wear lehengas, or traditional Hindu wedding attire to their Portland Art Museum wedding.

Callie’s ladies went for a deep purple complimented by pearls for a very Jackie O, vintage look.

Amy’s Castaway Portland wedding included beautiful blues and lace, it was dreamy.

Here are those cute Anthro. dresses from Annie’s wedding. Pockets are fun and oh-so handy.

Anna’s girls wore blush tones in a floor length chiffon. It doesn’t get much classier! The light pink is so flattering.

Again with the class! Kelsey and her ladies looked oh-so very elegant and timeless for their Left Bank Project wedding in Portland.

So much beautiful silver draping on these bridesmaids dresses! Kelsey and Josh brought the style to their gorgeous urban Portland wedding.

Mismatched yet chic bride and bridesmaids dresses at Opal 28 in Portland. Remember to click on any image to see the entire post!

So cool and different to do a print! Love the sunny and bright color from Kate’s lovely group! This image was also published in a magazine in Hong Kong. Pretty cool.

Anna’s tribe showing off the back side of their light pink dresses at their Lake Oswego wedding.

Drumroll please! Here’s the elusive winner in the middle! It’s an embroidered knee length dress by Tadashi Shoji. Although they make it in a ton of colors, the “starry night” blue goes perfectly with our autumn wedding. I love the jewel tone and vintage inspiration and I’m so excited to have all my nearest and dearest friends with me. <3