Katherine Heigl starred in 27 Dresses recently, a film featuring a woman whose life could very well be described with the saying, “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” This woman was a professional bridesmaid whose precious New York closet space was being taken up by 27 taffeta nightmares of dresses.
Going along with the trend of being green, more and more brides are easing up on their loyal bridesmaids by letting them pick their own dresses.
Fashion Designer and wedding guru Vera Wang suggests that in order to keep some kind of unity, give your girls a color palette, texture or type of fabric to use as guidelines for when they pick their own dresses. Ideally, these dresses would be something they’d likely wear again – keeping it green and the closet clean!
Designer bridesmaid dresses can be pricey, but Bluefly.com offers a web shopping experience with a complete section of beautiful designer bridesmaid dresses up to 40-50% off the original prices. 
If that’s not your cup of tea, stores like Banana Republic, The Gap or BCBG MAXAZRIA also have great collections of simple dresses that could be great choices for a wedding party.
For the funkier bridesmaid, and if you’re willing to do a little leg-work, stores like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters have great dress choices if accessorized with the right shoe and jewelry. Engagemental has a great post on mix & match bridesmaid dresses.
