Ugly dress? What about ugly flowers?

So it has become a cliche, the ugly bridesmaid's dress forced upon young women as there recently engaged friends and family suddenly loose all sense of taste and fashion in the excitement of planning their wedding.

You hear about it all the time. The fluffy peach chiffon, the slinky aqua satin, the mint green number with puffed sleeves. There is even a website devoted to the ugliest of the ugly: http://www.uglydress.com/

But what about the horrible flowers some bridesmaids are forced to carry. In the effort to save money, to make everything match, to force flowers into styles and colors which are not natural, brides can really choose some awful things for their bridesmaids. Maybe it is just because I work for a florist, but I could probably suck it up and wear an ugly dress to be a good friend. HOWEVER, when it comes to the flowers I would just have to say, " sorry, not going to be seen holding THAT!"

Some of the worst I have found:

Personally, I am not a fan of calla lilies, however, a single flower can be beautiful. But it just looks cheap if you try to bulk it with leaves AND rhinestones AND an enormous amount of baby blue ribbon.

Some people really just aren't into flowers, which is fine. I know feathers and crystals are popular alternatives, but you can do it classy or tacky. There is a very fine line!

And sometimes people just try much to hard, like this beauty. Kale is going to almost always going to be a bad idea for a bouquet, you can't get around that, but the pearl pins in the button mums are the detail that really brings this over to the dark side. Who thought that was a good idea?







But this one is the worst of all. oh the horror! Why would someone think that this was attractive?

photos from: http://www.sarahsflowers.co.uk/, http://www.weddingfavors.com/, http://www.wedding-flowers-and-reception-ideas.com, http://www.flower-arrangement-advisor.com/

Sometimes I just don't understand

Courtney Here -

Nico wanted me to blog about something that I hate about the wedding industry. Seriously, don't get me started, there are many many things.


But let's start with something I really just don't understand.

This denim wedding dress from Sat'n Spurs. (http://www.satnspurs.com/) They have a whole line of western bridal wear & accessories, including lots of denim. Some of their stuff is really hideous, but they do have some cute stuff mixed in.

I actually think this dress is kinda interesting. I can see a funky bride totally rocking it (slightly tongue in cheek of course) with a cowboy hat and boots at a casual ranch wedding. Sometimes the big poofy beaded white princess dress just doesn't work. Beach weddings, ranch weddings, intimate ceremonies at the courthouse, etc. require a different look than a big formal event. Now to wear the denim dress in a cathedral or a ballroom - not such a good idea.

So, what don't I understand? The freakin' styling! Why oh why would you add white satin gloves, a parasol, a purse, AND a hat/veil to this dress? And it's not that the photo is dated (which it appears to be), it's just the horrible combination of formal and casual makes it look even MORE awkward.

Trying to style the dress into looking more formal completely ruins the look. It already is a denim dress with embroidery, a corset, and a poofy skirt - a parasol is really not needed.