Dear Bridesmaids: Here Are Your Dress Options

Hive, I've finally made a decision on bridesmaid dresses. Thank you for voting and giving me your opinions! They were so helpful. What I've come up with is a collaboration of all of my thoughts so far.

After filling you in on my idea to use various J. Crew dresses (thanks to their many color-coordinated dresses right now), I hoofed it over to the store. I was a little worried that some of the dresses would be too casual and, boy, was I right. They didn't have the dresses I was interested in there (regardless of the fact that some weren't b-maid dresses), but they had other items in the same fabric so I was able to nix anything that wasn't dressy enough. (And thanks to reader Slicey19 for telling me that linen wrinkles easily).

After my little research trip to J. Crew, I wrote an e-mail to my bridesmaids to present them with their options. I really wanted to make them adorable hand-written letters with printed pictures and swatches but I was too worried that one of the dresses would sell out. And anxious to share my thoughts with them and get theirs.

So here you go. My bridesmaid dress choices. Finally. The girls will be able to pick from these:

Option 1: Embossed Cotton Printed Lorelei Dress. Color: Papaya. $118.


Option 2: Any of J. Crew's silk chiffon knee-length styles in Light Shell. $165-$180.


Option 3: Any of J. Crew's silk chiffon knee-length styles in Deep Rose . Again $165-$180. This color becomes available in August.

Thanks Ashley from J. Crew for sending me images of fall's selections

And, for all you Sarah Seven lovers out there, this is still an option. For the girls who liked these custom dresses, they can choose one of four styles from her and get them in a coordinating color. Here are their four options:

The Tulip Dress

Raspberry Perfection Dress

Peachy Keen Dress

Flock Dress

The last option is for the girls to find dresses elsewhere, but to run them by me before they buy anything. I don't want to be a bridezilla but I've put so much work into making it look coordinated, too. It's so hard to balance all of that.

Next, I'll be getting a few swatches in the mail as well as the printed Lorelei dress to try on. Hopefully, these swatches will confirm my final decision. If not, well, you're in for another round of bridesmaid dress drama.

So far, two out of five bridesmaids are opting for silk chiffon J. Crew dresses while another wants a Sarah Seven dress. I haven't heard from the final two yet. Can't wait to see what they pick.

Did you have trouble balancing bridezilla-ness and letting go completely? I'm hoping I've found a good balance.