Take a cue from Sandra Bullock’s recent nuptials to Jesse James by personalizing your wedding. This down-to-earth bride wore white satin cowboy boots to her ranch wedding, and tied her bridal bouquet with a riding crop. Even if equestrian is not your bridesmaid bag, bridesmaids should insist on choosing their own bridesmaid shoes and accessories. These small concessions will help you feel less bitter about letting the bride pick the bridesmaid dresses. Brilliant!
December 2005 Archives
Elton John and David Furnish wed on the 21st of December, in one of a flurry of unions that resulted from the United Kingdom’s legalization of same-sex unions this past week. The couple kept the wedding small, only friends and family, though a few celebs were reportedly dying to be made bridesmaids. Apparently, Latina beauties Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek approached the couple at the Cannes Film Festival and lobbied for the bridesmaid role. Looks like they didn’t get their wish, as it was reportedly just the couple’s parents and a few close friends present at the Windsor Wedding.
With all the talk about bratty brides, it's easy for bridesmaids to forget their true competition: the flower girl. No matter how elegant the bridesmaid gowns, angelic flower girls float down the same path in frothy flower girl dresses, throwing petals and looking utterly adorable.
These sweet flower girls also get to walk down the aisle first, thus setting a precedent that is difficult for bridesmaids to live up to. To steal a little of their glory, add a floral accent to your own bridesmaid gown.
If your bride complains, remind her who threw that awesome bachelorette party!
Some brides will do anything for a dream wedding: max out their credit cards, suck up to their wealthy family members, marry 80-year-old men (sorry Anna Nicole). But desperate bride Emma Johnson did more than max out a credit card. She maxed out a credit card she had stolen from an unnamed woman who was traveling abroad at the time. With the stolen plastic in hand, this jailbait bride charged bridesmaid dresses and tiaras for all her bridesmaids, flowers, reception costs, and more, racking up a wedding bill of about $6000. As a wedding present from her UK judge, Johnson got ninety days in jail. But don’t worry; her bridesmaids are busily baking a nail file into her (stolen) wedding cake!
Here's an interesting tidbit: CareerBuilder.com just published their annual survey of most unique jobs. One job was stand-in bridesmaid. Though the job description stated that a stand-in bridesmaid is a bridesmaid couples can hire if they don't know enough people to sustain a bridal party, we think this could spawn a whole new bridesmaid business. We're thinking stunt bridesmaids, bridesmaid clones, genetically enhanced bridesmaids... The only thing tricky is the bridesmaid dresses: Alfred Sung separates anyone?
Can’t stand the sight of the old bridesmaid dress in your closet? Well, here are a few creative ideas for what to do with it: 1) attend one of those Ugliest Bridesmaid Dress Fashion Shows to laugh at other hideous bridesmaids gowns while modeling your own, and possibly win a prize. 2) Go to one of those Bridesmaid Gown Bar nights, where girls in bridesmaid gowns get free drinks all night…just be sure you have the right night! 3) If you really want to get rid of your bridesmaid dress once and for all, take a cue from Jennifer Aniston, who recently burnt her wedding gown to be rid of bad memories. Bridesmaid dress bonfire anyone?
When one bride’s wedding boutique went under, her bridesmaids almost paid the price. Several of the bridesmaids had paid for their bridesmaids dresses with personal checks and would have had no way of being reimbursed. Luckily, smooth bride Jaclyn Zendrian had purchased the newly-available wedding insurance, and was able to file a claim and reimburse her bridesmaids for the cost of the dresses. Way to have your bridesmaids back, Jac….And if you’re looking for some hot new bridesmaid dresses, click here.
As the Northwest Herald’s Jana Thompson so aptly points out: why is it fair that brides get showered in culinary delights and home décor on their weddings, while all you get is this lousy bridesmaid dress? It’s unjust! Thus, Thompson, a once-upon-a-time bridesmaid herself, had the genius idea of a Single Girl’s Registry, where bridesmaids can register for every wedding gift they've ever had their eye on, but could only buy for others. Just because you aren’t a bride yet doesn’t mean you are not entitled to being showered with champagne flutes, crystal serving sets, sugar and spice, and everything nice, at least once! Pick an occasion: your birthday, your promotion, your Master's degree graduation and register to your heart’s content! Trust us, this will make your next bridesmaid stint a lot more bearable…
