Bridesmaid Limbo

Johnny has known who his groomsmen would be since the first wedding conversation we ever had, which was sometime last May. Which makes sense. He has two separate sets of friends, both of which are equally dear and important to him, and all of whom I think are awesome. They're all wonderfully geeky men who know how to get along with and interact with all types of people, which I think is awesome -- I didn't get much of a chance to interact with many socially aware geek men (with a few WWC exceptions) until grad school (and even there, they were still a rarity. Sometimes I'd listen in class and interpret topical discussions in terms of "my library penis is bigger than yours and better at Linux."). These guys -- these guys are awesome.
I have my list of wonderful folks whom I plan to ask to be my bridesmaids, and the asking will probably take place a) over the internet and b) sometime soon. I'm hoping to have my act together by tonight. I have no idea how many of them will agree to come, which is okay... but until I get out of this state of "I know who all I'm asking but can't exactly ask them rightthisminute," I'm posting this.

(Do Bridesmaids Need To Match? by SCEchicago)

Matching bridesmaids outfits are great, don't get me wrong. I honestly love the bridesmaid dress I get to wear in my friend Becca's wedding, which makes me look fantastic and makes me feel like a pretty pretty princess. But I gotta say... I love the mismatched bridesfolk look, too (I keep saying bridesfolk because I also love non-gender-roled wedding parties). Look at how great these bridal parties look. Awesome, right? (Some of the most awesome ones I've seen are on OBB, but they're doing maintenance this morning, which also means that I can't put up the link that made me squeee yet.)

After my Alfred Angelo trip with Becca, I was thinking ahead that I'd probably "put" all my folks in something from there, all alike. But again, I get to thinking about money and the wedding industry, not to mention folks' comfort and financial situations and body structure and consuming habits (also, I started not really wanting to "put" anyone in anything, because people should have control over what they put themselves in!). Doing the whole budget wedding thang makes me think a lot about the cost that goes into weddings... for everybody.  If my folks want to buy a dress/outfit, they can buy it from wherever they want, with their own range of prices (and fabrics and purchasing ethics) to choose from.  Basically, I don't want to limit folks who I'd love to have there and who would come based on what they want and can afford to wear. As long as it's some color close to antique lavender. Guess I should put that in there.

And the paint swatch idea they mention in this link is gold. Snaggin' that one for my own future use :)

ETA: Actually, having just read some forum board posts about how some bridesmaids stress out over too much choice, it makes sense just to ask them whether they'd rather all agree on the same thing or find their own or meet somewhere in the middle and choose between 4-5 options I provide...