Wedding: How to select the perfect bridesmaid dress with Watters

I’m back with another installment in the WEDDING series. It was very important to Taylor from the very beginning to make her bridesmaids and house party dresses special. As she says, the wedding day is about everyone feeling good and looking great in what they wear. We’re partnering with Watters to show you how to pick the perfect Bridesmaid Dress.

Remember how I said there are certain things you focus on when planning a wedding in my first installment? The bridesmaid dress is something Taylor started talking about from the moment she got engaged. Maybe it’s because she has been a bridesmaid several times before and knows the process. Fortunately for us, Watters is partnering with us for this story and we are thrilled to work with them!

Did you know that Watters is headquartered and designed in Dallas? Me either! 30 years ago, Vatana Watters made a few dresses for friends and family, and found herself in demand. By the late 1980s, Watters had become a leading brand in bridal. Today it is a multi-tiered, global enterprise serving the needs of diverse brides and bridal parties worldwide. Vatana remains the head and the heart of it all, passionately leading the design team in a truly collaborative effort.

While working with Watters on the selection of the dresses, we discovered that these 5 guidelines really help:

• Plan in advance – Most retailers will tell you that 4 months is optimal
• Be conscious of costs involved – Typically the bridesmaid pays for her entire ensemble (dress, shoes, accessories). This can add up quickly!
• Consider all sizes and life stages of your bridesmaids – People come in many shapes and sizes. Be mindful of this and make sure that the style will work for everyone. An option is to use several styles and let your bridesmaids choose the one they are most comfortable with.
• When choosing colors and styles think about how they will photograph – This is really important! Your wedding day memories will be captured by a photographer and videographer and those will be your lasting images for a lifetime. Does the color photograph well? Are there any wardrobe issues with the style you chose? Resolve all of this when selecting the dresses
• Make sure the dress compliments the bride – A friend of mine once told me that the color of the bridesmaids dress should look good on the bride. Makes sense – they are all surrounding her in the pictures. A trick to help with this is have the bride try on the bridesmaids dresses too. Does the color look good on the bride?

While we are focused on bridesmaid dresses, I would be leaving out a huge part of the story if I didn’t tell you about their gorgeous collection of bridal dresses. When I say there is something for everyone, I’m not kidding. Be sure to peruse their beautiful collection here. Watters dresses can be found at all the best wedding boutiques across the country. For a listing of shops near you click here.

I can’t give away what we selected but I can assure you we have ordered the dresses and can’t wait for you to see them. There will be a final WEDDING blog post in the summer recapping all of our selections. Any guesses? A HUGE thank you to Sarah Kate and Camille for joining us so that we could see the dresses on them. This was so helpful in Taylor making her final decision.

xoxo – Tanya

P.S. We were thrilled that Xay Vongphachanh, Creative Director for Watters stepped in to our meeting and explained the design process to us. Bonus!

photo: Audrie Dollins 

Thank you to Watters for collaborating on this post. All selections and opinions are my own.