RMW Real Bride Diary {Emma & Dean: Bridesmaids}

Happy Sunday lovelies! Today’s post is dedicated to our best girls, but with that vague brief in mind I didn’t just want to talk about pretty dresses... For some, choosing your bridesmaids might have been a done deal from the minute you got a ring on your finger, but I don’t think I am on my own in finding selecting my beautiful maids one of the toughest wedding decisions of all. There are more than ten lovely ladies in this world that I would genuinely call a best friend. Some may call it greedy; I just say I'm blooming lucky to have so many fabulous creatures in my life. And that’s before I even get to family, which is really important to me too. Short of having an endless entourage (and very deep pockets), I had a very tough decision to make. As it turns out, we are having Dean’s niece as a flower girl, and I am going to have five of the very loveliest of ladies behind me as my bridesmaids (or in front of me, that's a whole other question). I will always wish I could have squeezed in a couple more, but I can't wait to see the smiling faces of rest of the girls on big day too. They are all without doubt a huge part of our day. Someone else that will be a huge part of the day is my dear friend Lou, the inspiration behind the Year of the Yes blog, who we sadly lost in 2013. I had known Lou all of my life and, though I didn’t give bridesmaids much thought before I was actually engaged, it always seemed a given that she would be one of them, if and when I got hitched. I won’t dwell on it too much here, and some might find it strange, but I still wanted to honour Lou in the way I would have hoped to if she were here. So, although I will only have five bride’s babes with me on the day, I fully consider myself to have six in total, and will be taking a bouquet to Lou’s memorial trees the day before the wedding. Now onto the fashion... When I was bridesmaid for my lovely friend Christie (also one of my own tribe), we all chose our own dresses in various shades of blush. It worked really well, giving everyone the chance to be individual, whilst looking equally as fabulous together (even if I do say so myself). However, the choice of raspberry for the colour made it quite difficult to get completely different dresses; the tone seemed too deep and too varied to mix shades cohesively. I considered Dessy, choosing a shade and giving the girls the chance to pick their own style, but couldn’t find the right colour in their range. I also kept trawling ASOS in the hope that raspberry dresses would be in greater supply as Autumn approached. No such luck. In fact, the colour selection on the whole was slightly tricky. I was looking for a pinky/red shade of raspberry, but the raspberry palette seemed to include varying degrees of pink and purple hues. Frankly, I became a bit colour blind. As the hunt went on, I discovered that multiway dresses were in fact the dream; allowing the girls to adapt to their own style if they wanted to, and eventually I came across the fabulous Victoria Lou Multiway dresses. After some online chat, she sent me a swatch that came so close to the spot that I had high hopes my long search was over. There’s a fabulous system where you can order a sample dress online to try with your girls, and then send it back in exchange for the dresses you order. Luckily for me though Victoria Lou happened to be opening a bridal shop just over an hour from me, so we popped along on her first day to try them on (minus one maid who was busy travelling the world, the lucky thing). The dresses are so beautiful, they hang perfectly, and we opted for a beautiful tulle overlay to add some softness. The girls loved them (at least they told me so) and I am only jealous that I haven’t got one myself. So that’s the bridesmaid dresses ticked off the list. How easy did you lovely lot find it to get dresses for your girls? What have you opted for? And what’s your colour of choice? I would love to hear all about it. Pop me a comment in the box below you lovely lot... Lots of wedding love, Emma {Year of the Yes}