Let's Talk Wedding: Bridesmaids' Dresses Part 2

Since I was still thinking I might use purple, I started looking at David's Bridal to see if they had anything that I liked before I had Moe custom make dresses. I LOVED the color "Lapis" that DB carries and it was perfect for the wedding!!! Here are some pictures of Michelle trying on a dress that I actually thought we were going to use. You can see it in black and purple. I had her try on the black b/c I still wasn't a fan of how the purple was photographing. You'll see in the professional pictures, that where we did use the purple, it actually turned out really well! I ended up not using this dress b/c by the time I bought them and had the alterations completed, it would have been the same amount to have them made...so, I figured I would have exactly what I wanted! This was another dress I had her try on, just b/c I thought it was really pretty and it was in the "lapis". I still think its beautiful, but it just wasn't the look I was gong for. By the time, I was ready to sit down with Moe, these were the pictures I showed him (the top one was my absolute favorite...and pretty much the one we based the girls' dresses off of, with some minor changes):
He said the "trumpet" look would be the best and would be more flattering. Some of the pictures had a more "mermaid" look and he said that would draw ALL attention to the girls' hips. Now, all of my girls are tiny!!! However, I do know the areas that they do not happen to just love about their bodies...so I knew that was out. I know that the bride is supposed to look "the best", but I really wanted my girls to feel pretty and feel good about what they were wearing. Here is what we came up with:
Surprisingly, I chose black (instead of purple) as the color of their dresses. I asked Moe A LOT of questions! One of them was, "In your opinion, is dark purple going to look good?" I didn't want to look back at my pictures and think my wedding looked cheesey or dated. Moe started drawing a picture. He started with the bride and groom in the center...she obviously in white and him in his black tux. Then he started drawing all the people that would stand up there with us. He said the more color you add to side of the bride and groom, the more it takes away from the bride and groom. I started looking at pictures that he had laying out from past weddings, and I saw his point. I went with a black dress and a dark purple sash to bring in the color.