Look at JCrew. My daughter's bridesmaids were all different shapes, and they lived all over the east coast. My daughter was able to pick the fabric and the color, and there were about 5 different style dresses in her fabric choice for the girls to pick from. They could try them on at their local shop and order them.

BHLDN, J Crew

For people of varying body types (or changing body types) who want longer skirts and maybe even sleeves, the Komorov brand for dresses can be quite good. They seem to have a lot of scrunchy fabric. They expand. They contract. They're...different. Might be targeted for older women but for expectant and post-partum women, can't beat the flexibility.

I don't think anyone in their age group will have seen anything like it, but I think young women can pull it off without looking like grannies on a cruise. :)

(Think you can buy from their web site and places like Nordstrom.)

Totally agree with Sas, Chickadee and Mtn. I always feel sorry for the bridesmaid or two that looks horrible (and miserable) in THE chosen dress.

So nice when the bride allows her attendants to choose so that they look and feel their best walking down the aisle on display.

Has your daughter thought of having her bridesmaids pick their own dresses in the same neutral color and then accenting all the bridesmaids with the same colored wrap? That way everyone will be in the same colors, but everyone can have a flattering style dress.

Also, David's Bridal has many different colors available and an assortment of styles (including maternity) available in each color.

DD is far away so she isn't being too picky about the dress. Fortunately, the smaller one is the soon to be pregnant one, the other two are more apple shape which usually do not look good in fitted dresses anyway. Most people look good in the classic maxi dress style which would cover a stomach, pregnant or not.

I have checked out JCrew and it appears they do not carry their wedding line anymore. We have looked at some of the dresses with the large ties that are convertible and can be worn many ways. Now just to get one and try one on them. It seems that people have posted catalogs on line here that I don't get. Looking for suggestions, we are all pretty open right now.

Some may not like that it's a discount retailer, but TJMaxx online has bridal and bridesmaid, MOB and prom dresses at many price points, some chi-chi designers, some no name brands. You can search their dresses by type, bridal, BM and MOB are separate from, say, sundresses.

I think the kindest thing to do is pick a color and let the girls each find the dress they feel good in..they can all be different if you put the parameters i.e length/color

JCP has some purple bridesmaid dresses....

ModCloth seems popular among some of the young brides I've known. Nobody ever wears the dress again, do they? So it's considered disposable.

"I don't think there is any such thing as a dress that will look good on sizes 6-18, and be something most will want to wear in the future."

A Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress looks good on everyone.

My daughter's bridesmaids dresses came from www.azazie.com. They have numerous styles available in the same fabric/color, plus you can order sample sizes for $10 to try on prior to ordering your actual dress.

I actually ordered a different style and color azazie.com bridesmaid dress to wear as my Mother-of-the-Bride dress too. I'm very happy with the quality and service.

Thanks for all of your help. Macy's has a line of Adrienna Papell dresses that come in many colors and styles. The busty bridesmaid hasn't fit into any we have tried yet. Fori, the Komorov dresses are pretty but pricier than we wanted to pay. Sugar Plum , the Azazie site has potential. We have heard of a site called Weddington Way that is similar.

We are trying not to have to order from a traditional bridal store since many of them expect dresses to be ordered 6 months ahead of the wedding, we want to be able to order closer to the wedding due to the MOH's impending pregnancy (she got pregnant quickly with her boys, so pretty sure she will be pregnant come September)

Thanks for all of your help. At some point I will need to start looking for my dress. Fun!

RNmomof2, this is the Azazie dress that I'm wearing for my daughter's May wedding. Her ceremony is at 12:30, and we're in Georgia, so it's likely to be warm to hot! I have it in the color 'Stormy' which is a deep blue/purple/grey. Her bridesmaids are wearing other dresses in sky blue, and her flowers are blue hydrangeas.

Have fun with the planning! We're under 70 days now, so most of the details are worked out / ordered / planned :)

A Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress looks good on everyone.

Have to disagree with this statement. I've tried on a DVF wrap and it looks like a sack on me. V-necks in general don't look good on me.

RNmom, do you have a Dillard's nearby? If not, look online at least and see if you find anything. DD recently found a good buy there for her upcoming second wedding. I believe they have some dresses appropriate for bridesmaids.

Pretty dress Sugar Plum! Unfortunately we do not have a Dilliard,s close and their website doesn't offer much. We are in the Midwest and the DD is in S Dakota. She will be home in May so we hope to have leg work done for her when she gets here. I ordered a aubergine maxi from the Chaps line from Kohls. We will see what it looks like when it gets here. Hopefully as it gets closer to Easter and summer, more dresses will show up.

Enjoy the last minute wedding details, Sugar Plum.

I love purple and shades of purple but if you let people loose with just purple as the designated criteria there could be some very conflicting colors showing up lol. At bridal shops quite often they have a range of styles in the same color fabric so the girls can choose a style that looks good on their bodies but still all be in the same color and fabric. That's where I would be searching.

I don't look good in a wrap dress either, I don't even own a dress anymore and don't plan on changing that lol. I'm just fine with dressing up in pants, palazzo dressy pants can look just like a dress, that's the only dress option I have.

I agree with Raven-- you have to at least choose a line with the same purples if the bridesmaids will chose different dresses.

Part of the challenge is that purple is a big color for weddings this year. Nordstroms and many of the other stores have a range of purple dresses but the available sizes are very limited.

I'd try to find one of the lines that comes in plus sizes. While a lot of the dresses will go up to 16 or 18 in regular sizes, we all know that a lot of the bridal style dresses run small. Look for brands like Eliza J and Ralph Lauren... and I strongly suggest checking a couple of times a week for the new styles. If you see something you think is a possibility, order! You can always return.

FWIW when my bff was married (also Sept), we all wore linen sheath dresses from Talbots. The ordering was easy. The dresses were a light gray and we all wore pearls. It was a very simple style but we all looked lovely-- from size 4 to size 18. I don't see anything that would work now but if your daughter would be ok with a more simple style, you may find something in the next month or two.

Funky, I love the look of the Eliza J dresses but haven't seen one yet with purple. I am fine with ordering and returning if we see better! You are right about bridal running small, my normally sized 16 DD is an 18 or 20 in the bridal lines. The talbot sheath dresses sound lovely, we could do something like that with the soon to be pregnant MOH in another dress.

I don't know if Chadwicks is still around but my daughter chose dresses for her bridesmaids and they were able to order several sizes and return what didn't fit. They were very affordable and very pretty dresses. She did this through their catalogue.

I saw a few Eliza J dresses in purple but they weren't my favorites and sizes were very limited. The good news is that most stores are clearing out their fall and winter stock in order to bring in spring and summer styles. Just keep your eyes out.

One of the reasons I suggested Eliza J is that they have a wide range of sizes and a lot of stores carry them-- Dillards, Nordstrom, Lord and Taylor and I am sure others.

How formal is the wedding? What age group is the wedding party?

Pretty much off topic, but when I received my niece's red wedding invitation I figured that her bridesmaids would be in red. So when I was dress shopping for the wedding (and also two other events that I could wear the same dress to) I wanted to avoid black dressesand very red red dresses. I found a great dress that I could wear to all three events in a wine color. So, you probably guessed it - I show up to the wedding and the bridesmaids are dressed in wine, and ribbons on the chairs and other decor were also all in wine. But I still looked awesome in my wine colored dress. :-)

We have Addition Elle here in Vancouver BC for plus sizes. There seems to be some purple dresses on the site. Also Pennington's might have something.

I just found out about this site and it might be a help for you. You pick a color from the many colors bar across the top of the page. Then you see all the styles of the dresses in that color and they have every size.

Colorsbridesmaid.com

I just attended a wedding and the bridesmaids' dresses were from Nordstrom's. The one plus size young lady had extensive alterations done to her dress to make it work. Apparently, Nordstrom's has real tailor/seamstresses that can re-work a dress as needed. I have no idea how much extra that cost.

Did you look at mod cloth? They have a wedding category but many of their regular dresses are also appropriate.

Do you need long dresses? JCrew has party dresses, various styles that come in the same color, up to as 18.

Actually some are on sale now.