Wedding Inspiration: Bridesmaids (Pt. 1)

"What are your colors?"  was not a question I anticipated right after I got engaged.  But it seemed to follow, "Have you set a date?" almost every time someone congratulated me.  "Umm...all the fall colors?" was my unprepared answer.  It's still kind of my answer.

Mustard yellow, mint green, wine red, burnt orange, charcoal gray--all colors I seriously considered for my bridesmaids' dresses.  I even considered having all of them wear a different color.  Then I thought, "They could be my 'something blue!'"  Then I thought, "Blue is not really a fall color, Jordan."  Then I thought, "Nataley could be my something blue and the others could wear fall colors!" Then I thought, "That would look silly, Jordan."  

I think I sent Nataley about 300 different dresses over Facebook.  Now, if you don't know me well, I should clarify something for you: I LOVE DRESSES.  I mean, seriously, I REALLY LOVE DRESSES.  They are pretty much my only temptation while out shopping--I have more dresses than I have nice shirts.  I've felt a bit convicted about my obsession over the past couple of years, so I've cut my collection in half several times.  But I still find the right dress so fun and feminine and comfortable, so I was entirely too excited to help pick out some cute little numbers for my best girls.

I knew immediately I didn't want to have matching bridesmaids' dresses for our lake wedding.  We hope to create a very comfortable, laid back vibe for our day, and matching dresses from a bridal shop just weren't going to do.  

After choosing about twenty dress options for each color scheme I considered, I realized how badly I wanted to highlight every beautiful fall color--I couldn't pick just one.  I began to think more about decor ideas, including the (hopefully gorgeous) trees outside and wildflowers, like the ones I posted last week.  I realized the best way to highlight my favorite fall colors would be to completely contrast them. After realizing my white dress would do so beautifully, I began looking at dresses in the white/cream/beige family.  Ding ding ding--I found the winners!  (The photos below are not of my bridesmaids, but the color scheme is similar.)

Pretty pretties! And yay wildflowers!

Neutrals are so pretty in natural light.

Love the dress on the left. I also considered mixing in some floral ^^, but decided against it for fall.

I began looking for neutral, flowy dresses at all of my favorite online stores--mostly Urban Outfitters and Modcloth --which happen to be partners with Pure Charity.  My girls were able to purchase their dresses through the rewards network and receive money back to donate to our projects! Hooray!

I obviously wanted the dresses to work together, but I also definitely wanted my best friends to feel beautiful and love what they were wearing.  I gave them each several options within the color scheme and relaxed, flowy style, but with different strap options and cuts so they could pick something they thought would fit their bodies well.  Here are some of the options I gave them:

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I hope you're all having a wonderful week!  I think Daniel is narrowing down shirts for his groomsmen today, so I'll probably post on that next Wednesday :)