Pretty Maids All in a Row: CHICAGO WEEKEND!!

Holy Smokes. That is really all I can say. I am exhausted and SO happy and excited. Last weekend my ladies all came out from the far corners of the world (ok maybe the far corners of the Midwest) and hung out in Chicago, dress shopped, took in a Second City show, and ate some Ahh-MAZING food.

I had previously imagined these ladies would all finally meet on the Friday of the rehearsal dinner and that would be that. Maybe two or three at a time they would get together and shop for bridesmaids dresses in Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Michigan or Wisconsin. But, as I stated earlier they all magically synced up their calendars and converged on Chicago this weekend. It was so much fun! All of my bestest girl friends in one place at one time. It was like a sneak-peak of the All-my-favorite-people-in-one-place-awesomeness that I have heard about weddings.

Here is one of the first (and for sure not last) pictures of the six of us:


Left to right: Bridesmaid OT, Bridesmaid Flossy, Bridesmaid Red,
Bridesmaid Sis, Me, and MOH MD Thanks Mama MD for taking
this picture (she drove Sis down and took the chance to catch up
with her daughter (MOH MD) and I and meet the rest of the crew)

 The picture above was taken at Quartino, if you love food, and are in Chicago, you must eat here. I should also warn you, that it will be hard, but you MUST save (or make) room for dessert... I am still dreaming about that chocolate cake.

The trip originally started out a a bridesmaid dress shopping blitz. Then, at the last minute, I decided that everyone could wear whatever Navy and knee-ish length (I told them somewhere between floor length and whore length (then I was very proud of myself for making a clever rhyme)) dress they wanted. I mean, I would like to thumbs-up or thumbs-down it, but they could pick and brand, fabric etc. This weekend we got 2.5 out of 5. Once everyone has their dresses I will show you. Some have to be ordered as they are coming from a bridal salon, (thus the .5 dresses)

I was totally on the fence about mismatching but seeing my girls in all different Navy dresses sealed the deal. It just looked SO classy and elegant! I can't wait to show you.
Oh, you can't wait either?? Ok, ok.... I will give you a sneak peak. Sorry for the crappy phone picture...we were trying to be sneaky.... But this is Sis and half of OT in dresses that neither of them ended up with but were lots of fun to try on (yes, those are sailor buttons on OT's Dress) :

Funnily enough, despite the research and the five girls' mutual like of the dresses I had posted earlier none of them are going for any of those. I totally love the ones that have been picked so far and I am stoked for the rest to come in.

I fully anticipate that this will be the only time everyone is in one place at one time before the wedding, but it was one of the most memorable and enjoyable weekend I can remember (and I have had some fun weekends!) To top it all off the girls (who for the most part had not met before) got alone like they had been lifelong friends. We were all chatting and cracking up when we weren't stuffing our faces with amazing food.  I am so fortunate and blessed to have such a great group of friends.

Did all of your bridesmaids know each other? If not, how/when did they meet? Are you having mismatched dresses?