The Death of the Carbon Copy

This past weekend, like every weekend, I came down with a fever… Carrie fever! I am known for watching endless episodes of Sex and the City and I am proud of my weekend addiction. As usual I laughed, cried and laughed some more, but one particular episode hit home for me. Carrie’s wedding… or lack thereof. It feels like just yesterday I was preparing to walk down the isle, and I am happy to say that five months ago TODAY my ending was very different from hers, but the buildup and the process felt so familiar. The excitement in finding the perfect location, the planning, and of course, at the top of the list, was the dress.

Now the details of my fairytale have yet to grace the pages of Vogue… notice I say YET, but watching Carrie receive her Vivienne Westwood wedding dress reminded me of that moment I found the dress of my dreams. There is no feeling like it. I’m sure the only dress-related feeling that could even remotely compare is that of her bridesmaids when they were assured that they would not be in matching bridesmaids dresses.

I, like my beloved Carrie, had the same philosophy, there was no way that my bridesmaids would walk down the isle looking like a batch of Stepford Wives from the 80’s. I know that old tradition requires that the bride (if still pure) wear white, and the bridesmaids match beyond necessity, but let's face it, times have changed and so has wedding fashion. These days a social event is usually held via the net, no one has a paper boy, and marriages ending over affairs with the milkman are extinct. If all of those pillars of the past can become extinct, can’t the matching bridesmaid dresses go with them?

I am seeing a lot more brides choose a different and much more updated look for their maids. I believe that you choose your bridesmaids for their unique friendships and personalities and that's what makes them special. Why would you mask all of their personality with carbon copy dresses? Well there are still a lot of old fashioned, do it by the book brides out there, and that's okay, but I believe that those brides are greatly out numbered by brides that want to do something different but just don’t know how, so they settle for the carbon copy.

I am glad that for my wedding I stuck with my vision, and while my bridesmaids all coordinated, they all looked different and their dresses were styled as uniquely as my girls. For all of you blushing brides that want to go a different route but are not quite sure how, here are a few options to consider:

Same dresses with different necklines

You can easily make the same dress look different by changing from sweetheart to one shoulder, or strapless to cap sleeves.

Different dresses in the same color

Color is one of the first things that grabs your eye, keeping your bridesmaids in the same color provides uniformity while making all of the dresses different keeps it interesting and exciting

Convertible Dresses

These dresses are usually the same in color and length but can be converted into different dresses by manipulating the fabric to change the neckline, sleeves, silhouette and many more options.

There are so many options out there to make your maids look unique but these are some of my favorite. For my wedding I chose a variety of options to make my girls stand out. I went with convertible dresses from Two Birds Bridesmaids for all of my girls. I also went with different colors and lengths depending on their role in the ceremony. I wanted everyone to look different and let each girls' personality show. I was very happy with the dresses that I chose, but I was faced with one small dilemma. I wanted my maid of honor to stand out but with all of the dresses styled differently, and already using two colors, how was I to do that. Well, I chose to have all of the bridesmaids bouquets the same and made my maid of honors' bouquet different, which made it special.

The moral of this story is that everyone in your life is different, unique in their own right. It’s okay to let their individual personalities show. When I look back through the pictures from my wedding day, I love looking at my girls in their dresses, and seeing their individual personalities shine through. I never have to think about which qualities made me choose them… the pictures speak volumes and say more than I ever could. Cheers and best wishes to all of you brides, bridesmaids and brides to be… let's toast to you and to the death of the carbon copy bridesmaids!