Wedding

Shopping With And For Other People (Bridesmaids) by Vanessa Larkey

Matching dresses? Not anymore! 

Matching dresses? Not anymore! 

Shopping. Browsing. Malls. 

Three words that make my eyes glaze over -- especially browsing. Why look at a bunch of stuff you can't afford/don't need? Clearly I'm in the minority on this given the fact Canadian household debt reached a record high of $1.68 for ever dollar of disposable income.  

Staggering Canadian debt aside, there are three people that still need outfits for our big day -- my bridesmaids. I've been putting this task off because of my lack of enthusiasm for shopping, and that one of my bridesmaids was pregnant until very recently (she now has a beautiful baby girl!) 

With the arrival of Quinn (the newborn) and the rapidly approaching wedding date, 2/3 of team bridesmaids headed to the Eaton Centre in search of cranberry coloured dresses. 

The Bay? Nothing. J Crew? Nada. Club Monaco? Nope. H & M? Zilch. We headed to the new Nordstrom at the Eaton Centre where we saw some beautiful gowns at horrifying prices. Not to mention the selection of cranberry dresses was minimal. In fact, that was our issue with each store. Lots of purples, not a lot of cranberry. A couple sales representatives told us it's still a bit early for cranberry coloured clothing -- it's more of an October/November colour. 

When we did find a cranberry dress, the consensus on whether everyone liked it varied big time. With each store we went into my patience waned. It probably didn't help that the mall became increasingly busier throughout the morning. 

After a quick regroup at the Urban Eatery, we decided that it's best that my bridesmaids go shopping by themselves and pick out a cranberry coloured dress that they're comfortable wearing. Initially I was into the idea of everyone wearing the same dress, but, after watching my bridesmaids try on the same dress and how different it looked on them, I decided against it. I want everyone to feel comfortable.

Plus, it really doesn't matter if everyone is wearing the same dress. Once we've all cleaned up, everyone is going to look and feel good and that's what matters the most.