Bridesmaid Dresses: The endless search

So...the search for bridesmaid dresses has begun. I have seen many approaches to the bridesmaid dress over the years. The long, short, tight, loose, a-lined, two-piece, whimsy, formal, unique, off the rack, handmade...I've seen them all. The one thing I do NOT want to do is put my bridal party or myself through a bunch of rigamaroll.

The thought years ago was that having a seamstress sew all the dresses for the bridal party somehow comes out cheaper and nicer, because it's custom fitted for each girl. I've seen that turn out to be a nightmare. I don't know if pieces got mixed up or if measurements weren't taken accurately or what, but the end result was a frantic call to the seamstress in the 11th hour BEGGING her to high tail it to the church because NOBODY'S DRESS FIT!! We ended up having to safety pin here, and tuck there...and nobody probably noticed, but we knew and the bride knew and it was just enough to cause a little bit of additional stress on a day that stress already was a-plenty.

I have never been in a wedding where the price of the dress was outrageous, and I'd like to make sure the same is true for my wedding. I don't know how my cousin did it, but she managed to pick a nicely priced dress that I could definitely wear again, should I ever need a long black formal dress, and didnt' require me to get any alterations at all. I would like to do the same for my bridal party.

Here are a few dresses that I really like.