Where to get casual bridesmaids dresses?

Q. I live in the north ga/tn area. I would prefer stores I could actually visit. We are having an outdoor August wedding. The groomsmen are going in slacks and white button-ups. Our colors are pink, black and white. (Black and white are more of the accent colors) I want something casual, but not too casual. This is still a wedding, after all. Any suggestions? I'd like to keep it under or around $50. They are paying for their own dresses and I see no reason to make them spend an arm and a leg.

A. As it's a casual day wedding, look around at different stores for a nice sundress.

Something like this at Macys
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=462032&CategoryID=26860

for a little more trendy wedding
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=455283&CategoryID=26860
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=453397&CategoryID=26860

A maxi dress would be great and it would be something they could wear again. That might be too casual but a nice chiffon one or one with ombre dye. I know the simple cotton ones are too casual.

There are a lot of dresses on sale in the store though that aren't on the website that look similar to this
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=452996&CategoryID=22120

Do you have a Maurice's near you? I've bought several of their dresses. Look at New York and Company as well (though their website is horrible).

For online sites, I've ordered from several. I don't have many stores so I have ordered from Body Central, Chadwicks, Newport News, and Venus. I've loved all their dresses though Body Central...isn't for larger women. I am self conscious about my midsection as I could stand to lose 10-15 lbs but I'm usually a size 8 and not a large woman but I wear a large in Body Central and couldn't begin to wear a medium. Most of their dresses don't come in XL.

I would look at Kohl's too. They have a lot of nice summer dresses. How old are your bridesmaids?
http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/womens/dresses/work/PRD~597043/Simply+Vera+Vera+Wang+Chiffon+Shift+Dress.jsp
http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/womens/dresses/work/PRD~572689/Chaps+Empire+Dress.jsp

Also don't overlook a big bridal store like David's Bridal. I don't know how many bridesmaids you have but they have many discontinued styles that you can get on sale.
http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=3001552&currentIdx=46&subCategory=-49998492%257c3001454%257c3001552&catentryId=6092295&sort=

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=3001552&currentIdx=52&subCategory=-49998492%257c3001454%257c3001552&catentryId=6087315&sort=

Don't overlook how you can accent a dress. You might find a great dress that doesn't quite have enough pink. You can go get hot pink shrug or sashes to go over it. Black and white prints are big.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_031J5974000P?vName=Clothing&cName=Women%27s&sName=Dresses
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_031DM230000P?vName=Clothing&cName=Women%27s&sName=Dresses

You could easily include a bright pink in with accessories--bangles, chunky necklace, bright shoes.

Stores like Sears, JC Penny's, H&M if you have one, Jones New York, JCrew all carry dress that would be perfect. Any chain that is located where your bridesmaids are would be great. I'd overlook anything that would be too difficult for them. Many stores are in Atlanta but no where else in the South. Also overlook discount centers and places like TJ Maxx as their inventory isn't consistent. If you are all close by, you could do a weekend trip to an outlet mall. I know there is a Tanger Outlet in Sevierville, TN; Commerce, GA; and Locust Grove, GA. This site can help you find more
outletbound.com /usa50.html

Where can I find pewter or charcoal shimmery bridesmaid dresses?

Q. Davids Bridal carries pewter dresses but I am not really a fan of any of their styles. I don't want anything super expensive either, under $180. I can't believe dresses in that color are so hard to find. Pictures or links would be great, thanks!

A. You can always look for a pattern that you like either online or in a craft store and then purchase the fabric. Depending on who you call, you can probably have a dress made for $50 or $100.

How did you save money on your wedding?

Q. I already have some plans on how to save, less flowers, single flowers or candles for center pieces at the reception, my moms wedding dress or one that is on sale, small number of people in attendence, only one bridesmaid, that sort of thing. How did you all save money on your wedding to keep it from being way too expensive? Any tips?

A. My wife and I got married in January. We didnt have lots of money for a wedding and neither did the parents. We settled on a budget of $1,500.00 and actually came UNDER. We also had over 200 guests!

We where able too get a wedding dress on sale at Davids Bridal for around $600.00. That was the most expencive item, I think it was a waste of money but she wanted too look amazing, and she did. She had her two bridesmaids get their dresses online, i think they paid around $30.00 for each of them. There is no need too spend a couple hundred bucks from a store when you can shop online!

We found a free venue. It was the clubhouse of a gated retirement community that one of our family friends lived it, this is a HUGE cost if book a venue plan on spending between 1,000 and 3,000 depending on where you have it and IF you want ANY food, including a cake they usually charge you more because they have too get a licence too have it on property. So think hard, and do research, you can find very cheap too free places too have the event and using the next tip, you can dress the place up too look exactly like you want it for cheap!

Go too your local Dollar Store, we used Dollar Tree (see link). They also have bulk prices if you are buying in quantity. From them you can get all of your glass vases, fake crystal rocks, candles, fake flowers, table cloths and everything for very cheep.

The centerpieces we hand made using items from Dollar Tree~!
Lets say you want a glass vase/candle holder with decorative glass rocks on bottom and a floating candle in it on each table. That would cost less than $3.00 per center piece, if you had 20 tables all youve spent is $60.00 and it takes just a few minnutes too put them together!
We based ours off of websites where you ordered them, those websites charged around $50.00 per center for basically the exact same thing that we did ourselves for $3.00!

We had my aunt do the pictures, with digital cameras these days you can go buy a brand new camera if you need too for a coupel hundred bucks and not pay a photographer several hundred if not thousands of dollars too do what you could do on your own! I think our pictures cost us under $100.00 with all the prints! Once again, they look like a pro did them!

ummmm what else.....
We where able too get a DJ for very cheap, and where able too afford it due too all the other saveings.

The guy who married us was a family friend, so no charge

FOOD/CAKE
You can get a custom cake from a grocery store with a bakery for under $50.00. There is no need for a multi tier wedding cake, they all taste the same!
We also did not pay for a caterer, we had a potluck type thing, and it turned out great!

Invites,
Dont pay some invite printer too do custom jobs, shop around and maybe do them yourself. We found very classy looking blank invites at wallmart that came with the gold embossed borders and everything, we just took them too Staples and had them printed!

The other thing we did was find friends who had recently had weddings who had purchaced all the stuff and then threw it in a box in the garage, we got all kinds of lights, and linens that we used for FREE

Looking back we are SO glad we didnt drop the average cost of a wedding, I think it is like 10K. We where in a daze the whole time and would not have known the differance!