Decisions, Decisions

Yesterday, 3 of my bridesmaids and I set off to look for the PERFECT bridesmaid's dress. I have 7 girls in my party and not one of them is shaped like the next. I brought my sister with me, who's got more curves, my cousin who's just tall muscular (she runs track for UW-Whitewater) and one of LC's sisters who's shape resembles my sister's but just a bit smaller and shorter. I was worried that it was going to be stressful having 3 different opinions, but we had a lot of fun! I enjoyed playing dress up with my girls.

The first store we went to was Miss Ruby. It was the first time I had ever gone into a little boutique type store like this. When we got there the sales associate explained how the store was set up and we were left to sift through the dresses and find ones that we all liked. We found a good amount to try on and even a few of the dresses were in the running.

Allison in Jim Hjelm Style JH5051

After our appointment at Miss Ruby, we went and got lunch. Our next appointment was at Bella Bridesmaid. Before I got engaged, I had never heard of Bella Bridesmaid and didn't realize that it was a franchise until a few weeks ago when I realized they had one in Chicago too. I went on their website and saw the different designers they had at their store. I was love but I knew that if we went there and I found something I loved, chances were that it would be more than I wanted my girls to spend on dresses. I had actually thought of canceling the appointment because of the price point, but I didn't and I'm so happy that we went there.

First of all, I want to say that customer service was PHENOMENAL!! This is really important to me because I deal with clients all day at work and I know how that can make or break a sale. From the moment we walked in there and were greeted by Kathleen, I knew we were in good hands. She asked if I had been to their website and asked if there were any designers that stuck out to me. There was one in particular, LulaKate. I had first discovered LulaKate from Nina over at According to Nina. She was looking for bridesmaid dresses for her own wedding. I went onto Lulakate's website and immediately fell in love. These dresses would be perfect for what I was looking for. And what I love most about them is that they don't look too "bridesmaidsy". I could easily pick a dress out of the collection and wear it to a shower or rehearsal dinner. So, I picked out the dresses that I liked. A few from LulaKate and a few from Jenny Yoo. Here are a few of my faves.

Kelly, Allison and Melissa all in Jenny Yoo dresses

The rest of the pictures, the girls are in LulaKate, you can see which one I favored

Kathleen said not to make any decisions until the dresses were clipped and fitted to each girl. She also took the time to add sashes to the dress and add some broaches for some added bling. If I had to rate them on my experience I would give Kathleen an A for wonderful customer service. I even left with a little personalized card, that she hand wrote, thanking me for coming in. She also wrote down the dresses that I liked along with their cost and the name of the color I am looking for. And since I have 7 bridesmaids, I have decided to do 2 types of dresses with each girl alternating styles. One dress will be strapless and the other dress with have one strap.

After leaving the third ward, we traveled west to Brookfield and shopped at Savvy Bride. This was our last stop for the day. I love this store. I've been here before to look for dresses and this is where I got my bridesmaid's dress for Becky's wedding. However, I was a little disappointed in their customer service and their selection of dresses. The woman who was supposed to be "helping" us was no where to be found. And when I did find her she was watching a bride try on dresses. It was annoying. Needless to say, we did find some that we liked and that were in a good price range.

I just love the look of the two dresses together!

Allison in Bill Levkoff Style 527

So, now I have to make the final decision to pick one of these or to keep looking. Honestly, the only thing holding me back from the LulaKate dresses is the price that each girl would have to pay. I know that they would never say anything to me about it, but 3 of my girls are in college and one just had a little baby so I have to keep their financial situations in mind. Any kind of advice would be really helpful right now!