Always A Blogsmaid » 57 Grand

DrumRoll Please: The Winner of 57 Grand Giveaway

Alegre — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:49:24 +0000

Oh my goodness! I am asleep at the wheel today- it’s nearly 5pM and I hadn’t yet posted the FANTASTIC winning inspiration boards for the 57 Grand Giveaway contest. This was such a fantastic contest, I truly was amazed at HOW re-wearable these great dresses can be. We received so many wonderful submissions, that I know that the ladies at 57 Grand had a challenging time making a decision. We were all absolutely WOWed by the not one, not two, but THREE fantastically personalized Re-Wear boards that these ladies pulled together. So, without further ado: The Winning Board(s):

December 18th, on my good friend Charlene’s 30th birthday and just days after she celebrated her 5 year anniversary with boyfriend Jon, I got the call. The late at night, I don’t care if you’re sleeping, you’ve got to hear the news, call. Jon got down on one knee and proposed to her. He did it. At last.

Their engagement has been just over a month. So many decisions have yet to be decided, including the when, where, how. Finding the right venue in Toronto for a dream Fall wedding has proven challenging. But there’s one thing that was clear very early on to Charlene – her three Bridesmaids.

I was invited to be her Maid of Honor (woo hoo!). Her other good friend, the person who would buy bridal magazines, cruise wedding shows, and browse wedding websites long long before the engagement – Patricia – was a Bridesmaid. And Jennifer – a close cousin, who despite a 12 inch height difference insisted that Charlene try on her 10 year old wedding dress – was another Bridesmaid. (We have the pictures to prove it).

I read about this contest at the end of December, and we went to work on the submission. We had so much fun finding accessories to “Re-Wear” these bridesmaid dresses that we couldn’t do just one. In the end, we created a Re-Wear Inspiration Board based on the styles of each bridesmaid. Not only will you get to know us a little better, but the three boards truly represents how each dress would fit into our lifestyles.

So more about each board:

Patricia – You can spot Patricia in the crowd of a bridal show not only by her vinyl record purse but her bright red hair. Not auburn or copper, bright fire engine red. Her fiery personality is perfectly suited to her job in advertising, but she would trade that to work at a record label any day. Hence the aforementioned purse. Her disposable income is spent on music, and MAC cosmetics in vibrant colors. Her Re-Wear look takes the Beekman Collection dress from reception to Rockn’Roll. We amped it up a notch with a Diesel leather jacket, fab sandals, a studded purse and silver detail jewelry. And Patricia wouldn’t leave home without her makeup, so we threw on coordinating purple nail polish.

Jennifer - Working mother of two, Jennifer, is our resident wedding expert. Although her wedding was ten years ago, she has endless advice, from finding the best photographer to all relevant wedding customs. Her love of wedding dresses can not be matched. We’re convinced that her daughter, while just in elementary school, has received enough wedding dress knowledge from watching “Say Yes to The Dress” to replace Randy. Her Re-Wear look is a more mature and conservative way to wear a Riverside Collection dress. We dressed it with a timeless blazer, Jimmy Choo pumps and leather bag big enough to stuff snacks and toys for the kids. The earrings, bracelet and watch finish the look.

Jenine (Me) – It’s quite possible that I went into PR for unusual reasons, like the schmoozing, swag and parties. But in what other career can events, meeting new people, learning about the latest products and trends, all be considered “research”. It’s no secrect that I have taken a personal interest in the wedding’s food, drink, decor and of course the bridesmaid dresses. I have an unapologetic girly style that translates into lots of color, sparkle and high high heels. My Re-Wear look adds all of those things to the make a Waverly Collection dress even more sweet and adorable. What’s not to love about a fabulous tan and “bling-incrusted” bolero, dangling earrings and a gold clutch. To make the look complete we added a wide belt, thin watch and strappy sandals.

I hope you enjoy all three of our Re-Wear Inspiration Boards. Look forward to hearing more about this amazing contest. We are all crossing our fingers.

All the best,
Jenine LaFayette

Finalist #6: 57 Grand Bridesmaids Giveaway

The Blogsmaid — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:49:12 +0000

Um… Check out these shoes? SOLD! I love these friggin shoes. You could pair the dress and the shoes with a burlap sac coat and it would still be awesome! Plus, it uses yellow, so that’s just my bias…..

Hello ladies of Always a Bridesmaid and 57 Grand!
I am so excited about the opportunity to enter in this fantastic giveaway! I am getting married September 18th north of Pittsburgh, PA at a 1920′s mansion. We are having the ceremony in the sculpture garden among the trees, a swing band for the reception, and we are hoping that the day will have a very “classy Jazz-age dinner party” feel to it. I think that the 57 Grand “Riverside” dress has the perfect demure, slightly-retro sensibility that would be the perfect complement to our wedding’s style, and, most importantly, I think it would look lovely on my ladies! (P.S., I love the bow so much, that really, I want one for
myself!) My bridesmaids live in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Albany, and London (UK!), and I am planning the wedding from Boston, where my fiance and I are in graduate school–as you can imagine, this has made bridesmaid dress shopping a challenge, so the fact we can order online with 57 Grand is a real lifesaver!
The outfit I made for the re-wear board is pretty versatile–you could wear it to Sunday brunch, on a date, or to a bridal shower, but I think it would be great to wear to work on a day that you’d want to look extra snazzy (hence the super adorable yellow wool laptop bag). Other than the dress, of course, my main inspiration is the pair of Seychelles shoes that I have been pining over! Plus, the outfit has a vintage charm to it that I think works well with the dress and with my obsession with finding extra cute things on Etsy.
Well, that’s about it, thanks for considering my board for this fantastic giveaway! All the best, Amanda

Finalist #5: 57 Grand Bridesmaid Dress Giveaway

Alegre — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:18:25 +0000

So, First, I have to apologize, because I totally dropped the ball on Friday’s finalist… which is funny, because it is personally one of my favorites.. I think I love the tights!

Hello ladies! My name is Maria Arbiol and I am a recently engaged bride-to-be who is beyond excited about planning my wedding! I’ve been planning events in Miami for 3 years now, and have helped so many other brides plan their perfect day…now it’s my turn!

I was born in Santiago, Chile, but grew up in Miami, Fl., which is where I met Luis. After 7 and a half years of being together, he finally proposed on Christmas Day! Our family and friends near and far are ready to celebrate, and the decision of where to get married is still in the works….should we do a modern cocktail reception with the ceremony in Miami and then fly to Chile for a romantic reception in a vineyard, or just make it a destination wedding in Santiago, July of 2011? We have a few details to finalize before announcing our choice, but regardless my bridesmaids need to look good wherever they are!

One of my fabulous bridesmaids, Carolina, helped me put together our inspiration board which is attached. Our vision was to take a beautiful 57 Grand bridesmaid dress from the wedding to a night out in South Beach. This look could easily take you from dinner on a patio while watching the sunset to the coolest Miami lounge later on. Our outfit has vintage style accesories, a beautiful clutch, and some killer shoes to dance the night away!

My bridesmaids and I will be anxiously waiting to see if you choose our inspiration board…no matter what, I want to thank you for the ideas and inspirations you provide for all the brides-to-be! I can’t wait to share my dream day with you all…

Finalist #3: 57 Grand Bridesmaid Dress Giveaway

The Blogsmaid — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:37:55 +0000

Today’s finalist! Michelle Killian of Toronto. There are still 2 more days to get entries in to win 3 free bridesmaids dresses from 57 Grand!

Hello Ladies,

My name is Michelle Kilian and it’s my sister who is the bride to be! I am her maid of honor and we’ve been very busy trading ideas for her wedding online. I live in New York City, she in San Francisco and the wedding will be in Toronto. Needless to say, it makes it a lot easier to find online resources such as Grand 57 to help feed our creativity!

The colors we are working with now are blush and taupe, which I’ve used as the basis of inspiration for my re-wear storyboard. The color combination is sophisticated yet fresh which suits my sister perfectly. She plans on adding a twist to the classic centerpiece with having a dish of personalized M&Ms surrounded by candles on every table in order to reduce the waste of fresh cut flowers.

I love the Vestry dress because it defines the waist and can suit many different shapes. The first thing I thought was how great it would look with a belt! The look I went with is mainly neutral with a pop of color in the accessories. I would love to re-wear this dress out to dinner or even to another friend’s wedding! I also love mixing designer pieces like the necklace from Kate Spade with the latest trends from Forever21. I hope you find my re-wear board as inspirational as I do! – Michelle

My 57 Grand Inspiration Board

Mayra Castillo — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:23:54 +0000

Earlier this week I blogged about my new love…Polyvore.com. I think I could spend an entire day on this site. Honestly. Now that’s saying something because I have a really short attention span for things like that. Today I started to try to find ways to use the site and decided to use it to create an inspiration board for our 57 Grand Bridesmaid Dress Give-away. It was so quick and easy!

I decided that I would turn my favorite dress (from the Riverside collection) into a work dress. Since I need to try to blend into the background on wedding days, I kept the shoes and dress basic and classy, but I tried to add some spice to my life with the accessories. I am now obsessed with that watch! I hope this gets you ladies inspired to create your own inspiration boards. I mean, how much would your ‘maids love you if you won their dresses for them?

57 Grand Bridesmaids Dress Give Away!

The Blogsmaid — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:52:28 +0000

I have been BURSTING at the seams to share this giveaway with you brides out there! Mayra and I have both been bridesmaids tons of times… I mean, that’s why we named our company Always a Bridesmaid.

Let’s face facts Brides, sometimes being a bridesmaid is a thankless task. They have a lot of grunt work to do (stuffing envelopes), a lot of prepping (shower planning) and a LOT of expense (travel, dress, shoes, lodging, and more). All for the privilege of wearing a dress that they over-payed for. I mean no one wants to see their girlfriends blow a bundle on dresses they can’t re-wear or that they won’t look stylish and lovely in. Wouldn’t you love it if you could GIFT the girls you love with gorgeous dresses?

Well, now you can because we are teaming up with 57 Grand for a fabulous Bridesmaid Dress Giveaway! You can enter to win THREE (3) FREE Bridesmaids dresses of your choice from the 57 Grand Collection! Imagine if you win: Then, not only would you be a beautiful bride surrounded by gorgeously chic bridesmaids, BUT you would also get points for being a heroine protecting their fashion sense and dollars!

57 Grand offers a collection of beautiful, modern dresses meant to be re-worn and reasonable ($200 or less) and sold on an VERY easy to use website. And, like me, these dresses are native New Yorkers- the collection is designed and manufactured here in NYC and each dress is named and inspired by a New York City street. And trust me, they have NYC Attitude… in a GOOD WAY! With over 4o colors and fabrics you and the girls will have a variety to pick from.

So how can you go about winning this FABULOUS prize??? You are going to help us show just how Re-Wearable 57 Grand dresses are by creating an inspired, fashion infused Bridesmaids Dress Re-Wear Inspiration Board. Take the 57 Grand Dress of your choice, pair it with shoes, bag and accessories of your choice to create a NEW, non-wedding look for the dress. We will be taking our top 10 Re-Wear boards and posting them here on Always a Blogsmaid. The top Re-Wear boards will be featured on the 57 Grand website in their “Re-Wear” Section and the creator of the absolute favorite will not only be a part of the 57 Grand Site, but will also be able to select their favorite dress (in any size or color) for 3 of their bridesmaids.

For full details on how to enter as well as an ENTIRE gallery of ALL of the 57 Grand dresses that you can possibly use, please visit www.alwaysablogsmaid.com/57Grand . We want your most inspired creations, so we are going to give you a while to work on this! We are closing the contest on January 29th, 2010 and we will begin to post the best boards on February 1.

So watch some Project Runway, bust out the new Vogue and take some time while you are on your holiday vacation to get your style inspiration on! I can’t wait to see some great boards AND most of all to make some happy bridesmaids out there!

Grand Bridesmaids Dresses

The Blogsmaid — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:29:09 +0000

I had off this weekend! But before I hung up my wedding planning hat for the weekend, I stopped by the showroom of 57 Grand to check out their stunning new bridesmaids dresses… and have a glass of wine!

If you haven’t heard of 57 Grand yet, let me tell you a bit about them: They are CHANGING THE GAME for shopping for Bridesmaids attire. First and foremost, they are fashionable and well made, but simple enough to (YES, and I MEAN this) wear again. I was there, I saw the dresses, they are well constructed, in stunning colors. There are silks, they are silk chiffons, they are grosgrain, they are fun. They feel like dresses you would want on your skin.

Secondly, they are extremely versatile. Many, many of the dresses are super simple with cool, personal accessory/ details that your maids’ can choose to add on (or not) Consider the strapless dress with the option to add on a single ruffle strap, or the adorable bow, OR two ruffle straps, or a belt! They have coordinating pins and jackets. So your girls can look uniformed, but still like the unique individuals you know and love them to be.

Third, the shopping experience is FUN and unique! The dresses are sold primarily online (they do have a New York Showroom where I got the glass of wine :-) HOWEVER in an effort to take out the guesswork, you can order sample gowns to be shipped to you for $15 -you need to return the samples, obviously! So you can send it to you MOH in Ohio or your sister in Atlanta. Additionally, because we are all online, the site is built to chat about things with your maids! And after the wedding? The site gives ideas for re-wearing your dress OR helps you figure out how to donate the gown to operation prom.

Finally! The PRICE! These dresses begin at $129 and go to about the $200 mark. Not a bad price for such accessible gowns!

The site is now live, and I encourage you to check it out! What a fun and stylish way to get the girls dressed at an affordable price.