So yesterday I told you how I chose my colors, now let me warn you: Don't Chose My Colors. Why? Well they are kind of hard to find. White and green hard to find? Yep. Colors come in and out of season and if you pick a color that isn't one of the "it" colors of the moment then you may find it difficult to find bridesmaid dresses, decorations, invitations, etc. Save yourself a lot of time and stress and pick a neutral like brown, silver, gold or a super common color combo like sage green and pink, but whatever you do don't pick "kelly green."

My biggest frustration has been trying to find bridesmaid dresses. For a number of reasons my bridesmaids can't wear strapless or spaghetti strap dresses and I need a style that works for both large and small frames. At the very least the shoulders should be covered but I don't want to make my bridesmaids suffer through carrying around a light wrap with them all night and feel like they have to cover their dress. Ever try to find a bridesmaid dress that wasn't strapless? Apparently they don't exist. Or if they do exist they aren't in kelly green. Naturally, I have a lot of other demands....must be around $200 or less, can't be matronly or look like it came out of the 80s, needs to be dressy enough for an early evening wedding but not too formal, etc. I check the Nordstrom, MaxStudio, Ann Taylor, JCrew, Banana Republic, and Bluefly sites on a regular (o.k. daily) basis and I have for months but no luck so far.

I am considering the below skirt from JCrewpaired with a white wrap blouse or white lace jacket but at almost $200 for just a skirt the price needs to come down a lot.

I'm also trying to open my mind to alternatives like white dresses with possibly a spring weight green sweater (no I don't care if other people besides me are wearing white at the wedding). The advantage to that is that white dresses are easy to find and re-wearable after the wedding but I'm worried the look will be too casual.

Invitations are another problem. My sister is handling my invitations and we've been on a hunt for kelly green cardstock but most of what we've found is too dark or too light. I even went to the sacred Paper Source and they didn't have anything anywhere near the right color. Sigh.

I think I'm going to head over to the new Bloomingdales in Friendship Heights this weekend to browse around and continue the search. If anyone has any suggestions for dresses I'm all ears!

https://picasa.google.com/blogger/'>