With summer fading into our memories, the busiest wedding season of the year has ended as well. Great food, funny dancing, beautiful decorations … and some questionable fashion choices are standard for most of these events. Once the DJ goes home, the cake is eaten, and the happily wedded couple are off on their honeymoon, what do you do with that bridesmaid dress that you don’t ever see needing (or wanting) to wear again?
As expected, the folks working at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s Blueprint Magazine have assembled a nice collection of ideas on how to revise those silk taffeta nightmares into something you would actually be excited to wear on a nice night out or a casual weekend.
If the thought of wearing that bridesmaid “beauty” again gives you cold chills, there are other options. Author Cindy Walker published an amazingly tongue-in-cheek book called 101 Uses for a Bridesmaid Dress in 1999, and the tips are still relevant. Though there are no actual patterns of directions in the book, Walker does offer an intriguing collection of part-joking, part-serious ways to reuse that hunk of fabric hanging in your closet, such as “you can never have too many hair scrunchies” and “how about a taffeta hammock?”
Maybe you have long since donated your bridesmaid gowns to a non-profit, but can’t help but remember the happy moments and unique experiences you went through to help one of your close friends have the perfect day. Then there is a another book for you. Meg Mateo-Ilasco’s You Can Wear It Again: A Celebration of Bridesmaids’ Dresses “pays loving tribute to fifty years of bridesmaids’ dresses, as featured in real-life weddings.” While there is no doubt that bridesmaid dresses will never be “in fashion”, this book is a great gift for that bride who you care so much about that you spend a whole day wearing a puffy, peachy nightmare.
[Image courtesy of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia/Blueprint Magazine]
Seeing what other people have had to wear as bridesmaids has made me glad that my sisters and I have a tradition of letting the bridesmaids choose their own dresses to fit within certain criteria, often just color. We’re all married now, so no more dresses, but it sure helped with the hideousness, even though I think I’m the only one who has managed to rewear a bridesmaid dress. They were generally not standard “bridesmaid dresses”, which really helped, even if there’s little call for formal dresses in general.
Hi Stephanie,
Having not gotten married yet, I can’t help but be amused with some of the choices folks make, especially when it comes to wedding dresses. I think giving the bridesmaids a general idea of what to wear and letting them choose the style that is right for them is the best way to go.
VE
I have been in 17 weddings and maid of honor in 6 of those! I have never reworn a dress. But I have recycled my experiences into a modern day fairy tale where the princess is single, like me, and told she will wear the bridesmaid dress again and learns true happiness comes from within.
http://www.PrincessBubble.com
17 weddings – wow! I don’t know if I could survive that many … I’m impressed. The book you wrote looks quite nice; congrats on your appearance on the Today Show as well. 🙂
Thank you so much for checking out our site.
When life throws you lemon taffeta- do like Martha and make lemonade!