Bridesmaid to Brunch

Would you believe me if I told you that this was a bridesmaid’s dress? Well believe it, sister, because it is. Long story of how I ended up with a bridesmaid’s dress and no bride.

I’ve been known to peruse the bridal suite on Nordstrom sometimes late at night imagining a re-styled wedding of my own this side of Pinterest (same groom, of course). It would be outdoors with soft pinks, flowy hair and every trend known to mankind. I was feeling so inspired one evening I ended up buying this dress, ignoring that it is, in fact, a bridesmaids dress. But the upside is — I actually can wear it outside of the bridal party.

The one downside of being a bridesmaid sometimes is the dress. We’ve all been in that conversation where the bride shows you a $300 bridesmaid dress that you can never wear again, but in a selling point that never comes true she mentions how easy it will be to wear it again. And as a good friend, you nod and say of course I will but inside your heart is crying and shaking it’s head saying no, why do you lie? I, too, was this bride forcing dresses onto my maids that they will never or could never wear again. (In my defense, the wedding industry has come a long way. It was slim pickings when I got married back in ’08. I shudder thinking about the options.) But now, I am sure I would pick simple but re-wearable bridesmaid dresses like this one from Nordstrom. In fact, I did pick this one. For myself. Without a wedding to attend, but I’ve got lots of places to go in a simple, sweet maxi dress. Sunday brunch is the first thing that comes to mind, which is exactly where I wore this pretty pink dress this weekend.

All of this to say, I love how easy it is to find wedding styles these days in exactly what you want them to be. Nordstrom’s wedding suite is perfect to peruse and find dresses you would actually want to wear again and your bridesmaids will be so happy they can. I also love that they have all different sizes and patterns in multiple dresses and brands that I love to wear outside of wedding season. They have a boho line too that carries Show Me Your Mumu and Paper Crown are two of my favorites. A few of my favorite let’s-pretend-I’m-getting-married-all-over-again dress options below!

And for those of you, like me, with no wedding in sight sometimes a dress is just a dress and that is the beautiful. (But in my heart I’m a bridesmaid.)

*You can find all of the Nordstrom’s Wedding Suite selections here! Special thanks to Nordstrom for collaborating on this post.