Inexpensive - and they looked great!

by Kim
(Port Angeles, WA)

I got married in 1994, and I was 23 - my husband and I were just finishing college. Of course, we were poor students, and we lived in the Midwest -- weddings were not the lavish celebrations they are today. Even "modest" weddings today blow my mind! Our whole wedding - dinner reception included - cost less than $5000. My parents didn't have to take out a loan! :-)

My bridesmaids - all college-age like me - didn't have a lot to spend on dresses. So I pored over catalogs and finally made my bridesmaid dress choice from JCPenney. It was a very simple design: velvet bodice with a plain neckline and 3/4 sleeves, with a V waist and a satin skirt (tea length). The color was a deep teal blue. I believe the dresses cost around $80 each. I bought simple pearl costume jewelry from 1928 (the jewelry company) for the girls. They carried arm bouquets of 3 ivory roses each, with greens and ivory ribbon.

It was a winter wedding, so they wore black hosiery and black velvet shoes. I thought they looked lovely and I still love both my dress (also inexpensive, though not from JCPenney) and the bridesmaids' dresses I chose. You don't need to spend a fortune!

I looked at the JCPenney bridal catalog recently and there's still some lovely, simple dresses there. There's no need to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for bridesmaid dresses!

Note from Karen: My daughter's bridesmaids dresses were from JCPenney's too - that was only in 2003 and they looked lovely!!