Dressing My Girls For Around $50 Each

Chartreuse [shar-trooz] -noun. 1. a clear light green, with a yellowish tinge.

Chartreuse is the name of the green I want. To explain to most people I tell them I don't want mint, or grass green, or kelly green, or clover or whatever other color greens exist. I tell them to think lime green but subdued, a not so bright, fluorescent jump at you lime, but kinda.

And so began the longest search of this whole wedding process. I was hoping to find semi-cheap dresses somewhere all my girls could go. Two are in Chicago during the school year, one in western IL, one in WI, and one in IA. So first I looked at David's Bridal. They definitely didn't have it. Then came the online searching and searching, and searching.... Bridal stores didn't turn up anything either.

Then one day I was looking on the website of the photographer I was hoping to have for my wedding. There they were!! My dream dresses were sitting there on the very first picture of her wedding section. Even better... it was the daughter of a woman my mom knows well through work. So she called her up and asked for the style and who made it.

Jim Hjelm Style JH5520 in "Kiwi"

And there was the color I had been searching for.

Only downside...it was going to cost them...big time!

I just couldn't do that to my girls. So we did the next best thing. We called up the mom again and asked if she could find out from her daughter if her girls would like to sell us the dresses. And guess what.....
They did!! We are in the process of collecting the dresses. We currently have 4 of the 6 available. All but one has been dry cleaned and are in excellent condition!! They all said if we pay them around $50 they'd be happy.

Then all the girls will need is some alterations which my mom's best friend is going to do for us!!
I'm so, so excited that I was able to find the color I wanted, and to imagine they were sitting in my own hometown =]