I need some help, please!

The short version of the story: I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding that will probably be happening on August 27th. I say probably because the bride is currently in India awaiting her fiancee visa approval to come to the States. The wedding date has already been changed three times, and the wedding party (many of whom are internationally based with schedules that are not their own) has also changed in that time. Which means, yes, the wedding is in about 5 weeks, and we have NO bridesmaids' dresses.

Some specifics. Now there are two bridesmaids left standing, myself and another woman. The other bridesmaid arrives back in the States this weekend, so we can both go to physical stores to look at things/try them on (she'll be in Denver, I'm in Atlanta). The bride can only look at online options, but I've been taking pictures and emailing them to her.

I've been to David's Bridal and some things there would work, but color choices are limited and time is a huge factor. Many of the dresses/separates there have been quoted to me as needing an 8-12 week lead time.

Any suggestions? Ordering from a catalog (J Crew's formals?) is a little dicey because of time, and I'm almost certainly going to need to hem anything long-ish.

Oh, if it helps, neither the other bridesmaid nor I need plus sizes. I think she's about a size 8 or 10, and I'm was a 6 in the formal dresses I tried on at David's.

Ideas for something fast? Easy? Um, not a million dollars?

Major department store like Nordstroms, Saks 5th ave, Bloomingdales, you may be able to find something in Ross dress for less!

I would say major department stores too. And, what some brides do is to tell the bridesmaids to pick their own dress that is flattering to them in a certain color. Like, off white, red, green, purple... Of course, things might not match perfectly but then that way everyone gets a dress they will wear again and will flatter their bodies too. Or just get a dress in the wedding colors. So if the colors are green and purple - one get a green dress and one a purple dress... I think, especially in a situation like this bride is in, you need to be extremely flexible.

I would LOVE to have Ross as an option, but I can't see how to coordinate it with the other bridesmaid.

Sigh. The plan had been to not match, just have something in the wedding colors (which, by the way, we still kind of don't know! ). But, here's the kicker, the GROOM vetoed that idea! In many ways, he's pickier than the bride, and he thinks that would be "tacky." I know and love the groom and bride both - we worked together for years and he's like my brother, but in this case I want to bop him upside the head.

And the dear bride is completely overwhelmed with a million things right now, including moving to the other side of the world. There are some cultural issues as well - she doesn't really understand how American weddings work, or what her options are, so basically I kind of feel like I'm in charge of the dresses but I feel really uncomfortable making decisions like that for someone else's wedding.

A major department store does seem like the best option. It's times like this I wish I liked shopping.

I was also going to suggest that you just pick dresses in matching color/style/length, but looks like the groom already vetoed that. Who asked him, anyway? LOL If you hadn't told him, he probably wouldn't have even noticed ;0) When I worked at a wedding center, Indian weddings were huge affairs, so I can see where the groom is coming from, but this wedding seems like it will be less formal without even a set date or color and only a month to go. Too bad it isn't prom season. I guess the best option would be to find a department store that both you and the other bridesmaid both have in your area, go try on some dresses, pick two you like best, take a photo in the dressing room to show the bride and the other bridesmaid, then have the other bridesmaid go try them on at her local dept store and pick which she likes best? And I guess be glad the other three women dropped out of the wedding party because doing that with five women would be a huge pain in the butt!

You should have plenty of time to order & tailor from somewhere like JCrews (where my bridesmaids got their dresses) they have a great selection of bridesmaids dresses!

If not, I would def go with the major deparment store suggestion, or even order online somewhere like overstock.com, which will overnight. If you find something at a Ross, or something thats not in her area, can you just buy both your and her dress?

I would second Nordstrom's or something like Macy's. I went into Macy's the other day and they had a boatload of gorgeous formal dresses. Good luck!!

I was in a quick wedding in college and we ordered our dresses from the Chadwick's catalog, they have some cute ones there now and you can look at them online. Delivery was fast, and at the time at least they guaranteed that if ordered at the same time that they would be out of the same dye batch.

Sounds like an ideal situation for everyone to wear Sari's. Bride could even pick up a stack of matching ones before she left India.

And you could use them after the wedding.

Spent an annoying afternoon at the mall. Lots of clearance dresses, but no idea if the other bridesmaid would be able to get the same thing. There were some dresses, but I know the bride does want a shad of blue, so I eliminated non-blue dresses.

I think we're going to have to go catalog. I hate bothering her with this, but I'm going to send the bride links to J. Crew, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Chadwick and tell her to just pick something! Like, yesterday!

Bill - That is a GREAT suggestion, and I wish it would work. However, the bride is from a tribal area of India and they don't actually wear saris where she's from. I've asked if there's some other sort of traditional clothing we could wear, but because she's going to have a white, Western-style gown (the groom's American, by the way) that's not something she wants.

limited has really cute options, some even in store if you're weary about online

http://www.thelimited.com/bridal

There are JCrew stores with a bridal section and you can buy off the rack. The website's store location feature tells you if there is a wedding collection available.

When I got married, my bridesmaids were all in different states. I originally tried to go the Nordstrom route, but the dress I chose was available for pre-order and when they finally came in, one turned out not to fit right and by the time she actually received the dress, the sizes were so picked clean she couldn't get a different size.

So they returned them and instead we went the J.Crew route. The color I wanted was no longer available but they still carried the same style dress (I think it was the Sophia) in the store. Someone on ebay with great reviews had it in the right color in pretty much every size they offered, and it was cheaper than the dress was in the store, by a good $50+. The girls were able to go into the local J.Crew stores and try them on and figure out their sizes and got them super fast from the ebay seller. They all looked FANTASTIC that day!

This thread is a week or so old, but I thought I'd throw it out there, that I rented my bridesmaids dresses at a formal wear (tuxedo) rental place.
A lot cheaper than buying something that you'll probably never wear again.
Maybe that's an option for you?

I was in a wedding in July and ordered my dress from David's Bridal in the Boston area. They told me 6-8 weeks and it came in a week and a half later! Might be worth ordering and seeing what happens.