Planning ahead

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

Hello everyone! I would like to introduce myself. I am from Louisiana. I will be a May 2011 bride. I became engaged in April of this year and I'm loving ever minute of it. I've got a few questions though. I've already bought my dress and I was wondering how I needed to store it so it would not be damaged in any way.

I also have another question. I'm planning on doing an outdoor ceremony with maybe 75 guests max. I want everyone comfortable as possible, including the bridesmaids. I thought of having the bridesmaids in different style dresses, but yet the same color. Is that a good idea?

I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm just in the early stages of planning. Hope I get to know a few of you around here.

[gwenshack]

Hello there and welcome to OW! This is a great board, full of really supportive brides who are in various stages of planning, and many of us have already gone through it and love it so much here that we're sticking around past the wedding...:)

It's great you already found a dress! I stored mine in the garment bag in my closet. I'm sure there are probably better ways of doing it, but that was my easy solution. Before the wedding I had it steamed to remove any wrinkles.

As for the bridesmaids, I think it's nice to pick a color and allow your bridesmaids to pick a style that best suits their body type. A lot of brides choose to do that these days and I think it looks really nice, and the BMs tend to be a lot happier! :)

Good luck to you in your planning!

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

Thank you so much for your advice! :)

My Matron of Honor knows what she's doing and what her duties are. She has helped me SO much when it comes to planning. My future husband is not interested in the planning at all. He just wants me to let him know of the date and time so he can know when to show up.

[FFC]

Congrats! Welcome to OW! We have lots of brides who are giving their girls a color and letting them pick their own style of dress. As for storing your dress - do you have a coat closet in which you can keep it? Is it in a garment bag? If it's not in a garment bag - I recommend putting it in one, having it pressed (if it's not already) and put it (and ONLY it) in the coat closet and tell FH he's banned from the closet :)

If that doesn't work, do you have a family member or friend who's house you can keep it at?

[MrsDM]

Welcome and congrats on your recent engagement!

Definitely store it in a garment bag in a closet. Try not to take it out too much, because you are that much more likely to get something on it, even with the cleanest hands in the cleanest area!

As far as your FH goes with planning, my FH isn't that invovled in planning either, he says its kinda "my thing", and it is. He has helped here and there and when needed!

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

I don't have a coat closet in my itty bitty 1 bedroom apartment. My matron of honor has gladly volunteered her closet at her house that doesn't have anything in it. I'm a little hesitant on that though because she has a 2 year old and he might accidentally do something to it.

[FFC]

I don't have a coat closet in my itty bitty 1 bedroom apartment. My matron of honor has gladly volunteered her closet at her house that doesn't have anything in it. I'm a little hesitant on that though because she has a 2 year old and he might accidentally do something to it.

Maybe you can change the door knob to a locking door knob on her closet - that way the 2 year old can't get in there. She'd understand - and you can swap it back once your wedding is over. Just a thought - door knobs are very easy to swap.

Or you can put a chain on it, but that consists of putting holes in the walls and the door. :snide:

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

She lives in a rent house so it wouldn't be possible to put a chain over the closet door. She has assured me that her 2 year old won't go anywhere near the dress. She's going to store it in a closet in their "office" (an unused bedroom). Thanks for the help everyone! I am going to have to post a pic of the dress. It's beautiful!

[pinkbride]

hey congrats on your engagement :D im having bridesmaids in diff styles, im letting them choose their own dresses but as long as its the same colour, as i want them to feel comfortable too ;) xxxx look forward to seeing your dress!!

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

Bad news on the dress...David's Bridal's website no longer has the picture up. It was being discontinued when I bought it, but I do have some pictures of what I would like my bridesmaids to wear. My matron of honor has a problem with showing her legs so I'm probably going to have her wear a longer dress than the others.

This one, my matron of honor actually tried on. She liked it and so did I:

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998973&colorName=Mermaid&subCategory=-49998976|-49998975|-49998973&top_category=&catentryId=1000237

This one is the one I want for the rest of the bridesmaids:

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998973&colorName=Mermaid&subCategory=-49998976|-49998975|-49998973&top_category=&catentryId=1000120

(The color for those dresses is Mermaid.)

Here are some others that I really liked as well:

http://www.alfredangelo.com/Collections/ProductDisplay.aspx?productID=49987b23-385d-4ef9-8700-0afdc5b1c8bd&categoryID=772f03c9-de43-4942-bfa0-da77e21ebd65&pg=0

http://www.alfredangelo.com/Collections/ProductDisplay.aspx?productID=e20c87e4-ea86-4f3e-a34a-cc8d928f6f39&categoryID=772f03c9-de43-4942-bfa0-da77e21ebd65&pg=0

http://www.alfredangelo.com/Collections/ProductDisplay.aspx?productID=8cef50ae-c622-4e5f-b8db-23b4ec2c98e0&categoryID=772f03c9-de43-4942-bfa0-da77e21ebd65&pg=0

The colors for these would be Jade.

Let me know what you all think...

[FFC]

I *really* like the styles of the first two (David's Bridal) dresses. They go great together - they're the same style but just different lengths. Beautiful!

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

Thank you so much! I really liked how the long one looked on my matron of honor. She liked the fit of it as well. I haven't gotten my bridesmaids to go try on the short one yet, but I will.

[MrsDM]

Yeah, I agree with Justina - love the DB ones. In fact, I was considering wearing the second one to our rehearsal dinner :) They both look so feminine and I love the color you picked!

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

Thank you!

I was wondering what other colors you all would suggest to go with the color I picked out. Just open for suggestions. I'm at a loss right now as to what color I would like with it.

[FFC]

Jade is a tough color to match with another green - unless you go with like a lime green (if you really really like green). However, I think a gray-blue would go good with it. What colors do you like? If you want the other color to pop or just 'be there'.....? I mean, the jade is kinda subtle, and you can make it pop with hot pink, yellow, green, blue, orange, etc. Or you can keep it subtle by going with brown. I love love love green and brown together.

Just a few ideas :)

[FutureMrsDuke0511]

I was thinking more of a pale yellow or something along that line. I want something that is going to look good in the wedding photos and not make them look pale and washed out. I am still leaning towards using daisies for the wedding. They are my favorite flower. I'm staying away from the color pink. It's used way too much in weddings, in my opinion. Thanks for all of the ideas! :)