Soon Spring will be in the air – and with Spring comes weddings!

Flower girl dresses are one of the last things to be ordered for most weddings. The reason is simple – children grow rapidly and it is risky to order too early.

So how should a Bride plan her flower girl dresses to be in time for her wedding?

First, don’t put it off until it is too late. We recommend ordering approximately 4 months before the wedding. Most dresses are available to deliver in 12 weeks or under, so if you order 4 months in advance you are allowing for any unforeseen problems and still get delivery in plenty of time to have them altered before your wedding date. Three months should still work in most cases.

And there is a LOT to be said for the ease of mind knowing that it has been done and all is well!

How to select the style(s)? That’s purely a matter of personal preference – but we can help you with some guidelines here.

Flower Girls – typically young girls age 8 and younger – are always sweet and adorable with a classic ballgown style dress (frothy full skirt gathered to waistline). No matter what look you select for your adult attendants, flower girls will always look darling in this type of dress. But this isn’t your only choice . . . .

Flower girl dresses can be coordinated to reflect the look of the bride or bride’s maids in many ways without having to struggle to exactly match (which is rarely possible). What do we mean?

” Match the silhouette. For instance, if you have A-line dresses for the adults, you can select an A-line style for your flower girls.

” Coordinate features of the adult dresses such as selecting a similar neckline. If you and/or your adult attendants are wearing a V neckline, for instance, select a dress with a V neckline for your flower girls.

” Other features can be reflected in your flower girl dresses. For instance, the pick-up style skirts are VERY popular with brides; you can select flower girl dresses with pick up skirts too.

” Coordinate the colors. It’s impossible to match colors if you are ordering dresses from different companies – or even from the same company if at different times – because every dye lot is different. However, you can coordinate the colors beautifully by selecting contrasting colors, different shades of similar colors (like pink to go with burgundy) or add a splash of color with a sash, with flower petals or with embroidery to a white or ivory flower girl dress.

” Length can be either tea or formal length – entirely your choice!

Older girls will likely prefer to be called “Jr. Brides Maids” and many will chafe at the thought of wearing a dress they consider to be “babyish”. Care has to be taken to select a style that looks a bit older and yet is still age-appropriate (after all, she IS still a child attendant).

Some ballgown styles are very suitable for the Jr. Brides maid, but most older girls – especially age 10 and up – prefer the sleeker styling of an A-line gown. It helps make them feel more grown up. You can still incorporate coordinating features as we discussed above for flower girl dresses.

Janet Donahue is lead Wedding Specialist for The Perfect Pear Children’s Special Occasion and Formal Wear Boutiques. Their flower girl dresses and – and suits for ring bearers too – are all available from their on-line boutiques for your shopping convience 24 hrs/day at: http://www.ThePerfectPear.com Be sure to request your free Wedding Tips, too, at: http://www.theperfectpear.com/weddings.html

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