When Mandy Case recites her vows in March 2013, her bridesmaids will stand beside her in above-the-knee yellow and blue dresses with cowboy boots.
The 26-year-old elementary school teacher has booked a renovated dairy barn in Fort Mill, S.C., for the ceremony, so the rustic attire seemed fitting. Yellow and blue are the colors of Fort Mill High School, where Case and her fiance met.
Case isn't sure how many bridesmaids she'll have - her guess is three or four - but she wants them to have a say in what style of dress she chooses for them to wear. "I want my bridesmaids to look and feel confident," she said Sunday at a bridal showcase at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont.
After last spring's British royal wedding, the bridal industry was watching for a possible "Pippa Middleton effect" after Kate Middleton's sister turned heads in a show-stopper of a gown. Website fashionista.com declared Pippa's ivory satin-based crepe column dress with cowl neck and cap sleeves "the first bridesmaid dress that anyone ever wanted to knock off." In response, bridal boutiques, including many in the Carolinas, rush-ordered replica Pippa dresses.
But the replica dresses didn't sell. What store owners learned, they say, is that brides want to set their own trends on their big day. Individualism, a strong trend in the past few seasons, seems to trump the celebrity wedding effect.
While mom or grandma might have their own ideas about what is appropriate attire for bridesmaids, brides today don't worry much about adhering to rules.
"I joke and say 'All the rules went out the window 10 years ago,' " says Anna Kelly, senior consultant for J Major's bridal boutique in Charlotte. "It used to be that you asked, 'What time is the wedding?' " and that dictated the attire. "But it just doesn't matter anymore. People wear very simple, svelte skinny dresses in an enormous Catholic Mass, and fully beaded ball gowns on the beach."
Oddly, a great example of the trend can be found - as you could have guessed - in a celebrity wedding. Last September the seven bridesmaids for model/actress Molly Sims donned what Sims called "cohesive yet mismatched" gowns by designer Elizabeth Kennedy in shades of tan and black. Each of the dresses was different - some with prints, some solids.
The bottom line is it's almost anything goes when it comes to bridal party fashion. Bridesmaids are no longer limited to the floor-length jewel-toned satin gowns with matching hairdos, shoes and jewelry of yesteryear.
"Brides are taking the reins over their own weddings and are not abiding by what tradition says they should be doing," says Carrie Goldberg, assistant fashion editor for Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. "The one rule is that every bridesmaid should be in a dress that flatters them and that they like."
And if that means bridesmaids aren't all in the same dress? That's just fine, Goldberg says.
"I think the idea of everyone wearing the same dress is on its way out," she says. "There's more of a focus on working with a palate than working with the same color. Not every color flatters every girl in the bridal party."
Suiting themselves
At the Bridal Boutique of North Carolina in Cary, manager Manu Gujral said the store stocked the Kate Middleton replica dress immediately after the wedding, but "nobody is even asking" for it, nor are they coming in with photos of Pippa's gown.
Gujral says the brides she helps still most often put their bridesmaids in identical dresses, but they are often shorter dresses, with flowy fabric. "Basically, (brides) will bring in a couple of bridesmaids and see what looks good on them. ... Then the bride chooses whatever she likes."
Still, buyer Lucie Winters of A Bridal World in Raleigh said that while there are "no major no-nos" brides need to heed when picking out attendants' attire, there are following several hot trends.
Shorter dresses are big now for bridesmaids - "short has exploded," she says - and more brides are letting their attendants pick out their own dress style, so long as they stay within the same designer and color scheme. Dresses with pockets are also popular.
But for all the democracy a bride may want to offer her attendants, Vicki Jeffries of the Gastonia boutique Poffie Girls reminds us that there is still one simple rule: Bridesmaids should never outshine - or overrule - the bride.
"She is the center of attention and they are her court."
