Twin Cities Bridesmaid Dress Shops, Part 1

I went a lot of stores and boutiques and did a lot of research before finally deciding what bridesmaids dresses to go with for my ladies.  Part of it was my indecisiveness and my perfectionism, part of it was wanting to get a good look at the different places to get dresses in the Twin Cities.  A huge part of it was the fact that I decided to go with different dresses in different colors for each bridesmaid.  A decision that took a considerable amount of work.  At first it seemed like perhaps this would make the process easier, because then each person could choose the best fit for her body.  Thing is that finding 3-5 colors that go well together and fit within your color palate, all from the same designer, is difficult.  I am putting up an additional post here today about the dresses I decided to go with.

I went to the following shops and have reviewed their selections below and in Part 2 of my posting on Twin Cities Bridesmaid Dress Shops:

Priscilla of Boston, Edina

After having such a nice time working with Sarah at Priscilla I emailed her to see if I could come in and take a look at bridesmaid dresses and heard back immediately from her associate that she would be in that afternoon.  I went on in and she took the time to not only show me all of their long, chiffon dresses and color swatches, but also to look through the new shipments that had come in to see if they had received a new color they just came out with.  I would recommend working with Sarah to any bride who is interested in exploring Priscilla of Boston, Vineyard Collection, or Melissa Sweet dresses in Minneapolis.

Priscilla of Boston's Edina Storefront

The best thing about Priscilla in Edina besides the staff and the lovely store set-up is that they have a huge selection, including most of the dresses offered within their three lines, and almost all of the colors in the materials they are offered in.  It's wonderful to be able to see the selection all together.  If you are like me and are choosing different colors and different dresses for your bridesmaids it's nice to be able to hang the different dresses next to one another to see how they complement each other.

I liked a few of the dress styles they had available and Loved the color gray they had for the crinkle chiffon, called Dove.  My only difficulty was nailing down whether or not the dresses would all look good together when matched with the Amsale blush color I had my heart set on from the beginning.  Trying to match colors and dress styles from different lines is a task I wouldn't recommend for those who shy away from lengthy processes.

Details:

Website

Priscilla of Boston - Edina
3926 West 50th Street
Edina, MN 55424

Phone: 952.922.2106

Rush's Bridal, Downtown Minneapolis

I called Rush's Bridal and asked if I needed an appointment to come in and take a look at dresses in their showroom and was told I did not need one if I was a bride coming in to look at dresses.  I originally wanted to be able to try on the dresses because I feel that is the way that you get the best idea of fit and draping in each of the dresses.  Although many of the fitting rooms were empty, this request was received with unease so I let it go.  I know it's odd for a bride to want to try on her bridesmaids' dresses but when your bridesmaids live across the country as mine do, I don't want to recommend them going to try on dresses that look different on the hanger than on.

Rush's selection was Huge.  They had so many designers and dresses at their location that I proceeded to pull dresses off the racks (I was the only one looking at bridesmaid dresses that day in the store) and hang them on the outside of a dressing room, where there were hooks available, so I could see the dresses next to one another.  At this point a sales associate came over to assist me because I was pulling so many dresses off to take a look at them.  I think that my process was out of the norm for the store but they seemed to be OK with it once I explained that I was looking for different color dresses in different styles for women who live in different places.

I ended up finding quite a few styles that I liked but none within the same designer line or lines that flowed together as well as I wanted the dresses to.  There were a lot of mid-range designers available at Rush's and their prices were incredible if you were buying multiples of the same dress.  The issue with bridesmaids dresses is that you usually have to buy three dresses by the same designer to get any markdown off the retail price, which is anywhere between 10-30% higher than the multiple-purchase-discount price.  I would recommend Rush's for anyone looking to get a good glimpse of a lot of different dresses and colors at a range of prices.  It would be easy to outfit your maids for less than $200 each at Rush's.


Website


Rush's Bridal - Minneapolis
927 Nicollet Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phone: 612-343-WEDD (9333)

Dresses, Round 2.1

Round 2 consisted of visits to the following three bridal salons with my bridesmaids Amy and Jessie who came up from Chicago for 36 hours of dress mania. It was Jessie's first trip to Minneapolis and although dresses were the point of the trip I also wanted to give a little tour of Minneapolis so I set up our appointments for Edina and downtown.  Our first stop was Priscilla of Boston in Edina and then we headed down to the Macy's Bridal Salon by Demetrios.

Priscilla of Boston

I really liked all the options they had in stock at Priscilla and the salesperson I worked with, Sarah, was fabulous.  The ambiance was great too but the fitting room was a little on the small side.  I like it when the people who are there for the experience can be in the room.  Especially in my case where all of my bridesmaids are flying or driving in for the experience.  I want to chat while getting into dresses!  There were refreshments provided to all three of us and I ended up liking quite a few dresses.  What I also liked is that there was a large price range and the quality of the dresses didn't take such a huge aesthetic dip as the costs went down.  There were plenty of samples for sale too.

These are the highlights...

Melissa Sweet Billie Short

This dress is around $3,000 and comes in a longer version too.  The dress feels great on and is super flattering.  I was told that the foof on top can be added to or taken away as desired.  I fell in love with the dress when I saw it on the Wedding Chicks blog in this post. I fell so hard for that particular bride's style though that I couldn't imagine it Without aqua pumps, which is when I knew I might need to move on.  If an extra $3,000 falls into my lap between now and my wedding I am absolutely buying this dress for the day of festivities before the ceremony day.  I love the idea of being super dressed up but having something on that is easy to move around in.

Kenneth Pool

I loved this dress on but when I went home to look at pictures of it I wasn't as excited about it.  The swirl on the side of it is my favorite part because it reminds me of the Vera Wang Diana I had my heart set on when I tried this dress on.  I also love the belt portion of this.  It looks great with a crystal flower in the hair.

Dresses, Round 1

I went for Round 2 of trying on dresses this weekend.  Two of the attendants in our wedding came in for a whirlwind tour of Minneapolis Bridal Boutiques.  Prior to this trip the only bridal shop I had visited was L'Atelier Couture, where I was lucky enough to work with Amanda, the owner.  I knew that experience would be hard to top but the saleswomen I had at the places I visited this weekend were really great too.

I will detail each of my experiences over the next few blog posts...

L'Atelier Couture

I had the most amazing experience at L'Atelier Couture.  There was so much space for trying on the dresses and such a huge selection.  There was also a bottomless cup of coffee for my bridesmaid Kristen who had flown in on a late flight the night before from New York.  Much appreciated.  Amanda was really understanding that this was my first time trying on dresses and that I had no idea what I might be interested in.  She was also super helpful in suggesting where my partner, who at the time was not sure if she would be wearing a dress or something different, could find something she would be comfortable in.  In fact, Amanda followed up with a link to La Sposa in an email after my visit because she thought that Jesse might find something she liked in their line.  So thoughtful!

The dress highlight...


Vera Wang, Diana
I love this dress.  The pictures of it don't really do it justice, which I actually find to be the case with most of the dress I like.  I think it has something to do with how they all move, especially this one.  The pictures of Chelsea Clinton in it walking down the aisle capture more of the liveliness of it.