Fic question

[doyle]

A quite naive question from me, since I've never attended a wedding much less participated in one - where do you get bridesmaids' dresses? Are they custom made or bought off the rack? (I assume you can do both, so which is more common?) If they're custom made does the person have a shop, do they come to the house, what?

(This is for the backup Dawn/Xander fic, _green_, I promise I haven't forgotten *g*)

ETA: 763 words and Xander hasn't managed to make it into the fic yet. Dawn's just too demanding...

Comments

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

You can get them off the rack or custom made, and in a middle-class family, it's probably about even. (The pricing is even pretty much similar depending on where you shop.) Custom made would probably be considered classier, if there's somebody in the fic who'd care about such things. ;-) Anya's bridesmaid dresses were undoubtedly custom made by a blind lunatic.

If you get them custom made, unless you're quite well-off, you'd usually go into a shop to be fitted.

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

In the US, chain stores like David's Bridal (http://www.davidsbridal.com) are the norm (depressingly). They are found in shopping malls in the suburbs. Any bridesmaids who are local show up and try on hideous monstrosities for the bride to approve or deny. When the bride picks something, it's ordered and takes about 6 weeks to come in. The store will do alterations (since those things fit no-one) for a nominal fee, necessitating a second visit. These horrid stores thrive on the fact that many bridesmaids live far away from the bride but can visit their local chain to try things on since the selection is more-or-less uniform nation-wide.

The dressing rooms are tiny and have no mirrors, and it's also common for there to be a limited selection of sample sizes. So, a hapless bridesmaid ends up standing out in a lobby full of mirrors and strangers holding an ill-fitting garment on and spinning for the bride to look.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you!

(And on Anya's dresses: dear lord! I assume she designed them herself on some kind of Little Mermaid theme...)

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Damn -- I must just have gotten lucky (ish, considering the relative attractiveness of any bridesmaid gown) -- we *have* David's Bridal scattered throughout the state (Indiana), but we also have plenty of small bridal shops who will make dresses from scratch. Or who can do whichever you like -- order them or handmake them.

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

Anya's bridesmaid dresses were undoubtedly custom made by a blind lunatic.

Hahah:) Actually, I am a bridesmaid in an upcoming March wedding, and I saw stuff just as hideous at the local David's Bridal. :)

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

Sure, here in Minneapolis we have plenty of small and very expensive shops that do custom bridal work or order stuff from designers, and do bridesmaid dresses as well.

But it seems like most people I know end up throwing up their hands and going the David's Bridal route. So, so tired of that place. So, so tired of being a bridesmaid. :)

Plus, I could totally see Dawn/Xander smut in one of those little dressing rooms. At a seamstress or a small store? Not so much. ;)

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

We took the other end of this (Men's Warehouse in Castleton) when I was a groomsman last year.

Isn't the idea of the gowns to be of significantly lesser attractiveness to make the bride's gown, and the bride herself, look so much more attractive?

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

I think that's an apocryphal sort of thing that came about as a joke, pointing out the genuine bad taste of so many brides. Oh lord, I hope it is, anyhow. Most brides I've known actually want the bridesmaids to look good as well -- it's kind of illogical to fuss over how pretty the church and the reception hall and the candles, etc etc are, and then deliberately make one huge aspect of your wedding look unattractive.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like your new poetry layout. The Tony Harrison poem in particular struck me; I remembered deleting, from my mobile phone address book, the entry of a friend who had just committed suicide and wouldn't be answering his calls anymore.