NEW FLASH! Bridesmaids dresses - made to order but the wrong colour, what to do??!!

I am sorry this is being such a pain for you. And I promise you sound nothing like a Bridezilla.

If it were me, I would probably look around for new dresses but be open minded about having them in different styles. Perhaps if you post a picture on here of what you were expecting we could all help look?

As you say the alternative is to wear the dresses you have, but I would perhaps argue that you deserve some sort of compensation for them not being the correct colour and not offering a suitable solution (of course this could wait, but it would feel nice to know you have got something back for it?)

Good luck!

That is a shame - sorry you're having this stress.

Honestly? What I'd do is keep those dresses and kick and stamp for a substantial refund.

Oh no, sorry you're having this stress. It's not being a bridezilla at all. To be honest, don't worry too much about the bridesmaids matching the cake etc. On the day no one will notice this, if the dresses are ok, fit and don't clash badly as you've said, I'd push for a large / full refund and keep these dresses.

The seller won't have any use for the dresses if you are refunded and they are returned, they have offered you alternatives etc. which will cost them considerable time, effort and cost - so it would be in their best interests to offer you this option, which would save them money in the long run.

Can we have a flash? So to see what you have received and what you wanted?

I would do as suggested and keep them and ask for a discount to be refunded to you.

This is poop. Can you add the colour you wanted orginally to make it go abit better?

Hi

Thanks for the lovely replies and seems general concensus is stick with what we have.

I'm farily new here and not sure what a flash is, but I'll try to add a photo through photobucket, just waiting for them to upload.

Ok, going to try and flash!

Here is the dress colour next to our invitations. We feel it is all the same sort of family of colours, but the whole rest of the colour scheme is based on the deep reddy/purple ribbon, the light purple on the card doesn't appear anywhere else. The colour we ordered for the dresses was plum, we couldn't find a ribbon to match so went for the closest which was a bit more reddy and unfortunately the dress has gone the other way :-/

This was the sort of colour we wanted based on this dress we tried at Debenhams (in hindsight would have been much better off buying this and having it altered and now they don't sell it anymore). The colour we ordered was a slightly brighter plum than this.

Dress from the front on both bridesmaids (both are strapless but one bridesmaid was wearing a bra)

and from the back. We thought lace up back would give more room and be eaiser to fit but the made to measure larger dress has come up too small anyway :-(

So what do you think...be honest, I can take it!!

Definitely not a colour I would ever have ordered, I'm not a fan of pink at all, not really a fan of purple but loved the plum at Debenhams, just desperately trying to make the best of it. Thinking ivory bouquets for the bridesmaids and hoping I don't have to encorporate too much of that colour into my bouquet eek!

Hello lovely!

Honestly, I think they are beautiful - the shade is divine and in my opinion looks fabulous with your invite/colour scheme. I think there's a misnomer about having everything match 100% but I love introducing different shades of the same colour to really add depth!

Love this colour!!

xx

Sorry to hear you're having such problems, the colour is really lovely and I don't think anyone will really notice on the day as it's near enough the same range of colours and isn't too far from the ribbon colour. The dresses are a really beautiful style too so I'd keep them if I were you as it's less stress too but as Kharv has said - keep the pressure on the company for a serious refund - especially if one of them doesn't fit properly either.

They are gorgeous, really like them.

I can understand why your upset, I would be the same.

Wouldnt add anything to it, do your bridesmaids like them?

If I were you i'd also keep those dresses and push for a refund, those dresses are a lovely colour and don't clash at all.
I'd bet it would only be you who'd notice at all no guests would be picking those details out still matches anyway just a different shade but they're lovely x

Thanks for the encouraging comments.

My maid of honour is being really practical about it all, her dress doesn't fit great but she is going to add a bolero, trying to see how we can make things work.

My other bridesmaid and MIL keep saying how horrendous the coour is and really clashes with the cake and the invites...although they have back tracked a bit now they know I might keep the dresses.

Biggest problem is MIL pointing out to everyone and giving them the story of what has happened, I've asked her not to spread the word too much as I doubt most guests will notice, don't want their attention drawing to it!

I just keep telling myself it could have been much worse and that they aren't pink they are purple but then I look at them in some lights and just think OMG, they are so bright, so pink and worst of all people will think I chose them!! The biggest shame for me is that they will be that colour in all the pictures, but I don't think there is another solution really other than risk having the dresses taken apart and a substitute dress made from the pattern.

The dresses also were meant to be made without the cheap looking sequin detail but the lady forgot to take that off the order. It can't be removed without ruining the fabric so she is going to try to add some pearls in for me and try to dress it up a bit. Really not had any luck with these dresses!!

On the plus side I would rather they have lovely dresses in slightly the wrong colour than horrible dresses in the right colour.

Just had a look and found that Debenhams are selling the dress that we liked from their but they only have it in a 12...does anyone know where I might find a 20 or 22 in that dress? Do they have any outlets or anything? Would really feel much happier with this sort of colour.

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_008010811356_-1

A Debenhams store might have one? Try ringing Debenhams' customer services, they can check stock in all their stores (although not always totally accurate so worth double checking with the individual store too if they do say they have it first). They should be able to ship it to your nearest store - if not might be worth seeing if there's one nearish you or where someone can pick it up?

Failing that have your checked ebay?

Also in some cases Debenhams seem to run out of stock when they have a sale then have the same product afterwards for full price with more stock so you might find it hasn't properly been discontinued yet and they might have it full price again in a few weeks?

Ok, can't fault the shop they are trying to do everything they can to help.

They have found some Gino Cerruti dresses that would fit my bigger bridesmaid and could be altered to fit the smaller bridesmaid. They come with shawl and bolero and they have suggested incorporating the shawl as a sash around the waist to add a little more intrest to the dresses. They have offered to replace with these dresses free of charge, but I'm not sure of the make and the quality. MIL is like a steam train and keen to go ahead with any suggestion, but an unbias view would be appreciated!

The plum colour looks like it could be a good match to our colour scheme and no where near as bright as the dresses we currently have.

https://ginocerruti.com/item/1009GD

What do you think?

As the other BM dresses work .... could the maid of honour have the duskier shade? that emphasises her role and you then have both shades from your invite?

I completely understand why you are upset. I would be really upset too. The dresses you have are a little bright and are more purple and plum but they fit your BMs really nicely and that's the most important thing. Can you try and incorporate the purple of the dresses into other parts of your decoration/ flowers?

I personally would steer away from the stain dresses. I think they are a little plain and can be very unforgiving on a curvier lady.

Most definitely get some compensation from the dress shop.

x

I actually prefer the dresses you have, to be honest.

If your BMs feel nice in them, that's the main thing. Believe me, no one will notice the colour difference on the day

I prefer the dresses you have and the colour is lovely. However it isn't what you ordered and you have the right to be upset. Is it too late to change the colour on some other things. Although seriously the cake doesn't need to match

Ok...another optino! MIL has been very busy and managed to find discontinued Debenhams dresses in the sizes that we need! The dress is one size too big for my bridesmaid so not as fitted as it should be but will be easily altered. Colour is more red than we were going for with the chiffon but fits very well with the rest of the colour scheme (that's why she is holding the invitation in front of her, it is the ribbon on the front that ties in with cake, favours, flowers etc). The dress is taffeta and desperately needs a good press, but should give you all an idea.

So what do you think?

Have put a picture of both dresses for comparison.

Honest opinions?

I like them both but get the feeling you're leaning more towards the new one. It does look like it matches well with your colour scheme xx

I think I still prefer the original ones tbh. The material is much more flattering IMO. But you have to be happy with them - after all it's your photos!

The original dress does look better in these pics but I think that's just because it fits well and isn't creased, the new dress is a very different style but still lovely and I prefer the colour. If I remember rightly one of the original dresses is a bit too small as well as the colour being not what you wanted. I'd say if you and the bridesmaids like the new dresses, they fit (or can be easily altered to fit) and are more of the colour you wanted then go for them.

This probably not helpful given your situation and the various options open to you, but I prefer the dresses you already have. It's a lovely colour which, given how nice your invites look, should coordinate beautifully with your scheme. I much prefer the style to the satin ones and even the red taffeta, and I think it's a more flattering shape for everyone. If your bms feel genuinely physically uncomfortable in the dresses then you may need to look at getting something else, but if not I definitely say stick with what you have- they look lovely! But still push for some financial compensation just on principle if nothing else xx

Basically agree with all of this!

Honestly? I prefer the "wrong" ones you already have - the style is much more flattering and although, like you, it's not the colour I would choose, I think it's much nicer than the redder shade, which sounds as thought it's not perfect either. Sorry, probably not what you want to hear.

Can you not try and add some of the more purple shade into your scheme to tie everything in?

My MOH isn't very keen on the new dresses so a lot will depend on what happens when she gets hers and tries it on. If she doesn't like it then we will stick with the original dresses as I don't want anyone wearing a dress they really don't like.

If we do end up with the bright purple/magenta dresses then I don't want to incorporate that colour into the rest of the colour scheme really because it is a colour that I don't like so I feel loathe to have it encroach on the whole wedding day :-/ If the bridesmaids have to wear it then fair enough and I will have to accept that some of the photos will have the colour in it, but I don't want it appearing through the wedding as it just feels like adding insult to injury :-( I think it fits in enough with our general colour palette that we can probably get away without having it appear anywhere else (plus everything else has been bought now anyway and reluctant to spend even more money as a result of wrong dress colour!).

MIL is still keen to go down the unpick and remake route which should give us the ideal dresses in the right colour but I can't help feeling that we would be losing our back up dresses then and don't want to end up with nothing (although at least now we would have the red dresses to fall back on).

The dresses you have are a really lovely style and colour and if it were me I would stick with these ones. But from what you've said, it sounds like you really hate this colour and it sounds like it's going to really get to you (especially if you don't want it in to many photos etc). If this is the case, go for the red ones. they're still nice dresses and if you're more comfortable with the colour then go for it.

I'd be worried about unpicking, especially as that potentially leaves you with paying for the unpicked ones, the new ones and the Debenhams ones depending on how much they were discounted (Debenham's will only give you a voucher for returned items that are 50% or more off).