The bridesmaid dress: re-use and recycle or a museum piece?

I was thinking of 27 dresses with Katherine Heigl and the yummy James Marsden as I flipped through some wedding pictures posted on facebook.  Afterall, it is weddding season, and lots of weddings are if not on their way, then have already gone on recently.

With the details of flowers, a beautifully decorated hall and a stunningly (and equally) beautiful bride and groom are the entourage attire.  The groomsmen are easy--err i mean that they are usually in matching suits with only their vests or ties/bowties matching.  Usually white shirts and Black tuxes/suits are the norm so no surprises there.  The bridesmaids and maid of honor however, can prove to be difficult when trying to make it a beautiful and yet re-useable dress.

Is that possible?  A bridesmaid dress that can be re-used and recycled?!?



If you're one of those brides that opts out of a theme/culturally costumed wedding ie: wild west or a kimono for bridesmaids dresses, I would think you'd be able to get away with providing your bridesmaids with dresses they may be able to wear again.  Let's face it, how often do we really wear these dresses again? I've never been a bridesmaid--the closest i've been to an entourage is to be a flower girl at my god-mother's wedding when I was 6 I think.  I looked like a whole roll of peach taffeta and tulle had thrown up on me and made itself into a dress.  I was mortified upon seeing it, and eventually wearing it.  It felt itchy and tight--like a prison uniform...Of course, I might have only felt this way since I was a tomboy back then lol.  Needless to say, I have since parted with the flower girl dress, and have never used it after that wedding...It could also been attributed to it's itchyness and my mild trauma to anything fluffy, tulle and peach coloured after that wedding lol.  Alas, my taste has changed since then, I've grown (or so in my mind) a bit of a lady-like backbone in me, and I'm willing to wear abit of tulle and lace every now and then...

While the days of the ugly bridesmaid dresses are now behind us and more and more brides are kinder and going for the simplistic, trendy styled dresses (which in the long run may cost you less!) it's still yet to be seen--at least in my eyes, whether people can actually re-use their entourage gowns...

Then again, because they were made/bought for a special day, were they really meant to be re-used in the first place?