Girls in Blue (and Grey!) - Part 2

Memorial Day weekend my sister was visiting from Boston, so I was able to gather 6 of my 9 bridesmaids and do a little bit of shopping for bridesmaids dresses.  I had been torn with allowing my bridesmaids to choose anything they want in an acceptable shade of blue to wanting a little more consistency with the look of the bridesmaids. I came to the conclusion that I just needed to see some dresses next to each other to be able to decide. Our first stop was to Macy's Bridal Salon at a mall centrally located for all the girls.

Upon arrival we just starting pulling every blue dress we could find, with the intention of trying them on to see what they looked like next to each other.

Here is the first round of blue:

Linda, Diane, Liz - all in navy and different lengths.  Alissa in an ice blue dress, not sure what the length was supposed to be there! 

It was apparent very early on that pale blue was a no go,  it wasn't really that it was too pastel, but the lightness of it didn't go with the palate I had envisioned in my mind.  It was too... icy?

Round two was a bit better, I decided to throw a grey into the mix and see how it blended, and more shades of blues

Linda in grey, Liz in some bizarre navy dress (and leggings!), Diane in slate blue, Elizabeth in another oddly shaped navy, and Alissa, again in the wrong shade of blue. 

Colorwise, we decided that Alissa's blue - again - was not the right shade for the palate. Poor girl got stuck in all the wrong shades.  The other dresses fit the idea I had pictured. Turns out I wanted grey after all!  But since we weren't buying anything,  we were done playing dress up at Macy's.

With colors in our mind, we went to Alfred Angelo next to try on multiple styles of dresses.  What I like about Alfred Angelo is the variety of sizes and styles available to try on! Everyone was able to find dresses that fit them better than at Macy's, which I think helped the girls find some really great dresses. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures here.  Just one of Diane modeling a dress that another bridesmaid who couldn't make it had requested to see:

Diane modeling Alfred Angelo style 7187

A few girls found dresses they really loved, you can see Sarah in the background wearing this dress (in purple, not navy)

Alfred Angelo 7041 - in Navy 

She was in love with this dress already (her bridesmaids are wearing the short version of this style in her wedding) and didn't realize it came in long too, as soon as she saw it, she was sold.

Another really loved this one:

Alfred Angelo style 7185

She tried on a few others, but came back to this one in the end. I think it's gorgeous, and it has pockets - what's not to love?  

The other 4 girls were uncertain about style, but everyone found something there that they liked. My sister surprisingly found herself gravitating towards one-shoulder styles, which she had never worn before. It looked crazy on the hanger, but actually looked really good on her. 

Alfred Angelo Style 7179

 I don't know if they will all order from there, but at least it's a good starting point for styles.

A few of them tried on some more short dresses, but I think most of the girls were gravitating towards long dresses.  If our wedding were in warmer weather, or a less formal event, maybe I'd reconsider, but  Mr. Ly and I decided that all the girls will wear long dresses. (This was the hardest thing to do, make an executive decision like that - I knew they wouldn't care, but I felt a bit like a bridezilla saying it!) 

We did manage to pick out 6 swatches of fabric for them to use as a base when dress shopping on their own:

I like the incorporation of charcoal grey in with the blues, I think it balances out the tone I was seeking in my mind when I thought of my girls in all different dresses.  Hopefully we will get a good range of colors and not all in navy and charcoal, but if that's what they pick, then so be it. I think all the dresses will be beautiful, and the girls will look amazing.  I can not wait to see which ones they actually pick so I can start visualizing the line up!

Has anyone else played with colors to get the right fit for your wedding vision?