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| My lovely nieces. Courtesy of Documentary Associates. |
One
of the most surprising things to me when I planned my wedding (and there were a
few) was the difficulty of finding flower girl dresses. Not only did I need the
two dresses I required to be suitable for children of different ages (6 and
11), but I also needed them to be inexpensive, fit the overall theme of my
wedding and – of course – match the décor.
The
problem wasn’t that there was a dearth of available dresses. In fact, most
major department stores have at least one rack of flower girl appropriate dresses
(at least according to their buyer’s definition) available at any time on their
main floor. The problem was that these dresses were usually over $100 (and usually
closer to $200) and …well… ugly.
By
ugly, I mean scratchy, cheap-looking fabric (if I can see my reflection in it,
it’s not the best fabric). They often also had ridiculous amounts of bows or
flowers on them or, even worse, were so plain that they were boring.
Additionally,
although I wasn’t against dressing my beloved nieces in white, doing so wasn’t
my favorite idea. In my opinion, they were young girls who should be dressed in
a fun color (and since pink was a main color in my wedding, it seemed
reasonable to want them to wear a version of that shade) (also, to be honest, I
wanted to be the only person wearing white). Yet, when I shopped, all I found
was starchy, reflective white dresses with an interchangeable-colored sash. To
add insult to injury, I had to pay for a swatch of fabric for the sash. The
costs for these dresses just kept adding up - too high in my book.
When
I look back, I shopped longer and harder for those dresses than I did for my
own gown. Urg…
After
traveling to my fourth boutique and finding the same dresses I had just seen at
a different store, I got creative. Here’s what I found:
Quinceanera
shops: by far, these stores offer the most variety of unique and inexpensive
dresses for young girls. Usually, the same dress comes in infant through
15-year-old girl sizes. Score! To make it even easier, they also offer matching
shoes and hair accessories. Coincidentally, I purchased my flower girl dresses
from one of these stores. The only warning I have is to check the price tag on
a dress you like before falling in love with it; these stores are meant to
serve customers ranging from those wanting to spend very little on a dress to
those who don’t blink an eye at spending over $500.
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stores: although I found these stores to be more expensive than quinceanera
shops, they usually offered dresses in more colors and lengths. Some of these
stores even rented dresses, which may be a bonus for parents reluctant to spend
$300 on a dress that will fit their child for months, at most.
Seamstresses:
at my most desperate moment I searched for local seamstresses. I was amazed when
I found out just how many experienced seamstresses are able to design and sew
girl’s dresses. In fact, the seamstress at the drycleaners in my building had
27 years of experience and had designed numerous flower girl dresses. The per-dress
cost for her to design a plain pink dress for me: $60 – next to nothing
compared to what I found at traditional wedding gown stores!
