The Life and Times..."Always A Bridesmaid"

And so it has begun...it's officially wedding season or at least that's what I've been told by every single magazine that I have picked up lately. But alas, the bees are buzzing and the birds are singing with the love that is in the air and I can't help but get swept up in it. It's nothing but positive energy that I completely love being around. And to be honest...I'm swept up in it for real because one of my cousins is getting married in October and while it is not part of the current wedding season, she is still in the midst of everything with wedding details and decision making for the upcoming nuptials. Along with this, I was given the honor of being one of her bridesmaids. I love weddings and it's a beautiful thing to be a asked to be a bridesmaid, but I have a bit of a phobia when it comes to the bridesmaid dress decision. I have heard of and seen weddings where the bridesmaids dresses were unfortunate or much worse...just plain ol' ugly. Unflattering dresses that I'm sure they had to pay a pretty penny for.

Some brides allow the bridesmaids to pick their own dresses, with their ending approval of course, just following a certain color palette, length, and/or style. Other brides just choose the dress and the bridesmaids wear it.  For the wedding I'm in, I am part of the latter. I tried on the dress the other day and while the cut was nice, I wasn't a huge fan and neither was the other bridesmaid that went to this particular fitting. In my head it was turning into an episode of "Say Yes To The Dress: Bridesmaid"...minus the eye rolling, catty comments and incessant whining (I watched a couple episodes and I either wanted to shake the bridesmaids or shake the bride...those women were just ridiculous at times). And my cousin, seeing our hesitation, kindly reassured us that when it's our turn to get married, we can put her in whatever we want. She says this now, but Promises, Promises...(I should have recorded it for future reference)

Now, when it comes to bridesmaids dresses, it's not about the bridesmaids and it's not about upstaging the bride, it's about complimenting her and the theme/color of the wedding. But please, while complementing you, be kind to your bridesmaids...we have feelings too (have you NOT seen "27 Dresses"!!) and spending money on a dress that we won't know what to do with after can be a little heartbreaking, to say the least. But then I think about it and I smile and realize that at the end of the day...we all love my cousin and it is HER wedding, the wedding that SHE has dreamed about...so her pick it shall be :). However, it doesn't hurt to browse through some other bridesmaid dresses and dream myself, lol! Here are some that tickled my fancy:

Just enough to cover the girls, lol -Vera Wang for David's Bridal
photo: fabsugar.com

The tulle on this dress and the modern shape is just beautiful and fun- Vera Wang for David's Bridal
photo: fabsugar.com

Love the high-low hem
photo: fabsugar.com

Vera Wang for David's Bridal- again the shapes!!
photo: davidsbridal.com

Now...while I love these, especially the Vera Wang...my cousin is going for long and one shouldered, so I looked into that as well and found a dress that maybe she too would like on us (we tried on a dress with a back like this, but this would be a dream to wear) :

The cut of the one shoulder and the flow of the back is just gorgeous!