Beautiful Bridesmaids All in a Row

Since I extensively posted on the groomsmen's attire, I thought I should give the ladies some attention too!  Here we are on dress shopping day:

Back Row: Momma, Aunt Jill, and Laurie (Step-Mom)

Front Row: Bridesmaid Annie (little sister), Me, MOH Sarah, and Bridesmaid Rebecca

I have yet to find a blog with much information on wedding planning in Cincinnati, Ohio or Tennessee.  We're planning a Knoxville wedding, but since most of my girls live in Ohio we went dress shopping in Cincinnati.  It was one busy, busy day but we had two wonderful and one not so great experience.  

I wanted to find bridesmaids' dresses that the girls would love and that they could wear again.  This was most important to me.  Since the groomsmen are wearing suits, I wanted the girls to wear tea-length dresses.  The first place I looked was J.Crew.  I love J.Crew!  There I found several styles I liked and thought the girls could pick which ones they wanted to wear.  

Pretty, pretty...I like this color scheme too!

I spoke to the customer service people at J.Crew several times!  They are fabulous!!  They sent me swatches several times, advised me about fits and sizes, and informed me about styles being releases soon.  I would highly recommend J.Crew, A+.  

However, we could not order from them because they do not carry sizes small enough for my sister.  She's 11 and altering a women's petite 0 for her made me really nervous.  Also, I wanted the girls to be able to try on dresses so we could figure out what fit them best.  So, in Cincinnati we went to a boutique called Carrie Karibo Bridesmaids.  We had a great experience there!  Carrie and her mom were working that Saturday and they were incredibly helpful.  They had the girls try on all different styles and designers so we could figure out what worked best for each of them.  They pinned dresses and made suggestions.  They helped us to find exactly what I had envisioned in my head.  We chose dresses designed by Charsa:

These are a few of the styles they chose.  Love 'em!

I let each girl choose which style they wanted so they would be comfortable and happy.  I would highly suggest letting your bridesmaids try on dresses.  The styles I would have picked did not look the way I thought they would at all.  We ordered the dresses in a cerulean blue with ocean blue sashes.  All of the dresses are considered knee length and have the sashes sewn into the seam.  Now to decide...tie in the front or back? 

 I highly recommend Carrie Karibo (in Cincinnati) and Charsa, as well as J.Crew!