Bridesmaid Dresses: Found!

After the initial trip, Bridesmaid R and I decided to continue our search at Lasting Bridal Couture where I had purchased my bridal gown. I cannot speak highly enough of Sarah, the consultant at Lasting Bridal Couture who helped me find my gown. She has been so helpful and patient over the phone as well the multiple times I have been back to the store to show different family members/bridesmaids my dress. I knew that if we went to check out the dresses there we would not only get a better price for the girls on their dresses, but we would get the wonderful assistance of Sarah. So, off we went!

Just a reminder, we were looking for:

• A non-strapless dress
• Some sort of detail on the shoulders - beading, flowers, etc.
• Light, flowy material
• A dress that was offered in a nice shade of red

After the previous trip, I had found a few dresses online I was really hoping to see in person: a one shoulder option, similar to what we had already tried, as well as a two shoulder option with beautiful draping on the shoulders:

After Six 6638 

Lela Rose LX 160

Unfortunately, Lasting Bridal Couture only carried one of these options. Bridesmaid R was able to try on the two shoulder option, and we loved it, but not the one shoulder option. She also tried on two others that we liked, one very similar to the dress she had tried at Georgio's with the flower detail: 

After Six 6611

We decided this one was a little more flattering and it became a front runner in the decision. After trying on a few others, including the two-shoulder option I had found online, our top three choices were the After Six Dress above, as well as the two dresses below:

Bill Levkoff 115  

Again, the After Six 6638 / The sample was big on
R's tiny self, but still beautiful!

After much debating we decided to knock out the first option. (Side note: I have no idea why each of the sample dresses we liked happened to be in blue! Crazy coincidence!) I wanted something a little more unique, and I felt as if I had seen this option a lot. 

So, our top two were the Bill Levkoff dress and the After Six I had found online previously. I really liked the Levkoff dress. I thought the sweetheart neckline and the shoulder detail was gorgeous. On its own it was a beautiful gown. However, the decision came down to what we thought would look good on three girls standing side by side, as well as which dress would look good next to mine. Again, Sarah was a tremendous help. We agreed that the After Six dress would really compliment the look of my gown, and this was the deciding factor.

It. Was. Tough. They are both beautiful dresses, and in some ways I liked the Bill Levkoff dress a little more, but the other gown was beautiful as well, and it happened to be significantly cheaper, which made a difference. (I actually discovered later that the Bill Levkoff dress was not even offered in a true red option, so that would've been a huge letdown if I had my heart set on it!)

So, we had made the decision! ...... Well, not so fast. 

Remember that one shoulder option I had mentioned earlier that I had also found online? Lasting Bridal Couture did not carry it, but another shop literally five minutes away had it in the store. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see that dress in person. 

We hopped in the car and hurried over to Circle Park Bridal to try on the dress before they closed. The dress was beautiful and it looked great in person, but we both quickly agreed that it didn't match the two shoulder draping of the other dress. Bridesmaid R came out and went back in the dressing room so quickly I didn't even think to snap a picture - we knew the After Six dress was the one.

Lasting Bridal Couture has a great online setup to order the dresses, which is great for my girls because they are in three different cities. They were each able to order theirs online shortly after we made the decision, and got to take advantage of the great online rate that was offered. I chose to go with the color option Flame. Although online I thought another version of red looked better, the swatches in store said differently and Flame was the choice. It will (hopefully!) look like this once the girls receive it. I can't wait to see it in person!

After Six 6638 - Flame 

Am I the only one who just HAD to see one more option before I made the final decision? Or were you able to say yes to the (bridesmaid) dress as soon as you saw The One?