Who knew there were so many shades of green?

It's interesting to think how different it is to plan a wedding in 2010 than it was for say my mom and dad to plan their wedding back in 1980. In thirty years, we have created an entire industry around wedding planning. Styles have evolved and people are loosening the purse strings for a variety of new fads...custom photobooth anyone?

I really started to think about the evolution as we ventured out to the bridal shop to go hunt for bridesmaids dresses this weekend. I have had in my mind for a while an idea of what I wanted--short and green. Green is my favorite color and I have been planning this whole wedding around that one fact so that wasn't the tricky part. What was tricky was what color green I wanted.

The bridal shop boasted that the designer dress I wanted comes in 55 colors. Of that, 9 of those colors are some shade of green. You've got your Shamrock, your Kiwi, your Celeadon, and the list goes on and on. So how do you choose?

Back in my mom's day, there weren't many choices. You had the simple 8 colors of the rainbow, black, white, and if you were really brave, a pattern that came from going to the fabric store, picking out a patterned fabric and making the dresses yourself. I am no where near brave enough to take on the task of making these dresses so I needed to buckle down and decide.

The decision was actually easier than I thought. When I saw the green color that I originally wanted, it was too bright and loud and didn't seem like it would really fit into my theme. So we went with a more subdued, but very pretty green...Clover to be exact. Although you might think that the amount of color variations that are available these days are outrageous, I almost feel bad for the women who had to choose between a simple red and a simple pink and never got to see what their maids would look like in fuschia.

Who knows maybe decisions were easier when there was less to choose from but I was happy that I was able to make my decision with a little help from my sisters and Emily.

My dress however, might be a different story...