I have been so incredibly lucky in my experiences as a bridesmaid in that I either was too young to have anything down in front that required the use of a bra or I was given complete freedom to choose my own dress. For real, I have never had a bride friend tell me what she wanted me to wear other than “something purple” or “any one of the dresses from this company.” Being that I went from having nothing in my sweaters to filling them out some completely that I can’t help but size up and alter down, this has been a blessing.
I don’t know what I’d do, for example, if a bride friend asked me to be in her wedding party and then told me we were all going to wear bridesmaids dresses like these.
That’s not to say that Karen of Blush Photography has not captured what is essentially a lovely dress. While I’m not a huge fan of the color as it comes off on my monitor — I see a sort of peachy coral — I like the belt effect and the apparent structure of the lower part of the skirt. What I don’t like… and HATE, really, as a busty gal, is the back. How exactly does one put a bra under there? The dip is too low for a standard racerback. The only option, as I see it, is those stick-on cups that really don’t do anything for us double Ds.
Brides, please take note. As the lovely Julie reminded us in this post, do take a moment to think of your bridesmaids’ physiques before finalizing your bridesmaids dress choice. Busty bridesmaids, for the most part, HATE going braless.
I’m not particularly busty, but now that I’m on the other side of 30, I don’t much care for braless either. Support is good!
NtB, while it is too low for a standard racerback, it seems as if it would possibly work with the dreaded Convertible Bra (in matching colour). I say this as someone who cannot herself go braless. Ever. Even while sleeping. I would certainly want someone I trusted to monitor the backview as I tested my theory, and I would especially want the aforementioned trusty person to be standing there with a needle and matching thread in case the back had to be strategically basted to the bra in a place or two. In my experience, those stick-on bra cups do absolutely nothing for a D or double D; it’s virtually the same thing as going braless, except if you go braless, you haven’t wasted X dollars.
I will second your request: please, brides, do consider the physiques of all your bridesmaids. Let the ones who want or need to wear bras wear a dress that permits wearing of said undergarment. One bra-wearer trumps all the other bridesmaids who are perfectly comfortable going braless – or she should. Either go with another design for all of them, or the same colour in a different dress for the bra-wearing contingent. For a lot of us, it’s not attractive and it’s really not comfortable going braless – and in ten years or less, there will be a lot of snarking on sites devoted to Ugly Wedding Dresses and Ugly Bridesmaids’ Dresses, and the stars of the snarks will be the strapless dresses that have enjoyed such a vogue for the last few years. They may have been fashionable, but they haven’t been nearly as flattering as their wearers have believed. Sadly, their erstwhile wearers will be able to recognize this for themselves, once the fashion for wearer strapless wedding/bridesmaids’ gowns begins to subside.
I had one bridesmaid who strongly prefers to wear a regular bra, and I was really surprised at how hard it was to find a dress that would accommodate that. At first I wanted to say “just pick any dress from X line, in Y color,” but so many bridesmaids’ lines didn’t even have ONE dress that was bra-friendly! And “bra-friendly” and “not frumpy” turned out to be even harder. Thank goodness for J. Crew and Black Friday sales.
Last year, I had to wear a gorgeous brown A-line, greek-inspired bridesmaid dress that was absolutely gorgeous except for the REALLY, REALLY deeply cut top. I spent the entire wedding either pulling either side of the top over toward the center (as discreetly as possible, though I did catch the bride snickering at me a time or two. The tape backup failed.) or inching my bouquet higher and higher until I felt a little less exposed…
Loved the dress otherwise, though I may have it altered a bit before I wear it again (and it’s rewearable! It’s a cocktail dress, mostly!) It was about 90% win, that could have used about 10% more fabric.
My sister, the lovely MOH in my wedding, is a double-D, and made absolutely certain she was going to be able to wear whatever bra she wanted with her dress. One of the other ‘maids is also a well-endowed gal, so I just picked the shop and the color and let the girls choose whatever dress style they liked the best. All three of them chose different styles, and they looked fab, so I was happy and they didn’t have to spend the whole wedding fidgeting.
God knows if they will wear them again, but at least I tried.
All I can say to this entry is amen. My prom dress was a classic example of something I really shouldn’t have tried with those stick-on cups.
Well, when i became a bride I was determined that by bmaids would not wear the same style (so everybody type was flattered and people would not compare them!), but would buy something off the rack (cheaper), and wear something that they would feel comfortable in (bra!) and look hot (happy!). Yesterday, we went shopping and they all loved the same dress, in a satin fabric with one strap! I am glad I am not one of my own bridesmaids because I would never feel comfortable in that! Anyway, they all look good…which is the most imporant thing! Sometimes, you can’t win! haha.
I think it’s always best to enlist the maid of honor – or another bridesmaid whose style-sense you trust – to pick out the bridesmaids dresses. As the bride, you can give her color and style direction, and then have her come to you with 3 or 4 options. I just think it’s best to have input from one of the girls who will actually be wearing the dress before making your final selection.
Women go out in public without bras? Seriously? I’m a *only* C cup and the least I’ve ever done (since the age of 13) is to wear a tight-fitting tank with a well-fitting built-in bra. And that’s only when it’s 90 degrees out and I’m in “screw it!” mode.
My bridesmaids get to pick their dress.
I plan to tell them:
Light Pink.
Knee length (since I’m wearing a short dress)
Go.