One of my friends was recently invited to a bridal luncheon, a pre-wedding event that usually involves the bride thanking her bridesmaids, plying them with lunch and wine, and giving them their "thank you for being my bridesmaid" gift. (I don't know if the bridal luncheon is still popular, but I went to several in my bridesmaid-ing days.) Anyway, at this particular bridal luncheon the bridesmaids were asked to bring their bridesmaid dresses and shoes for the wedding, which my friend had never heard of. (And neither had I.)
Here's what all the dress-bringing was for: Before the festivities began, the bride asked all of the girls to change into their dresses and shoes, and she lined 'em up, execution-style. Then she busted out a box of pins, and started pinning up hems so they all fell in a straight line across. Can't visualize what I'm talking about? Here's a fun little illustration:
The bride felt like the bottoms of the bridesmaid dresses should all fall in a straight line in her wedding photos. Of course the bridesmaids were all different shapes and sizes, as bridesmaids tend to be, so some of their dresses were 2 inches above the knee—fine—but some (including my friend's) were like 8 inches above the knee. No consideration was given to the bridesmaids' height or comfort level, the bride just wanted an across-the-board hemline in her wedding pics. Any wear-it-again bridesmaid dress potential was dead in the water at this point, since the "approved" length didn't particularly flatter any of 'em.
Oh, and of COURSE all the 'maids had to pay to have their dresses hemmed.
Like I said, PSYCHO BRIDE, with a capital everything.
Have you ever heard of the uniform hemline? Have a totally missed a hemming memo? Are you a little bit afraid of this bride?
P.S. Obviously the bride in the photo above let her bridesmaids' hems fall where they may—and I think they all look lovely. I found the pic, which is by Vanilla Photography, over on SouthBound Bride, a South African wedding blog. Check out the rest of the pics from this gorge wedding here!