Hemlines, necklines, and fabrics, oh my!

Before I even ventured out into the big, bad world of BM dresses today, I was most definitely scared.  I had looked through a good number of dress options, and nothing had jumped out at me as the perfect choice.  I was definitely leaning toward the highly descriptive phrase of "purple and short," but beyond that, I was lost.

I grappled with a couple different options, like:

1) Everyone in the exact same dress.

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings / Photo by Melissa Musgrove

This selection seems to be a bit antiquated in today's wedding world, but it still has its merit.  Obviously, with this choice, we'd get the most consistent look across the board, and it would cut down on the thinking/analyzing/deciding that each 'maid needs to do.  The only hard part would be finding one single dress that looks nice on all 7 ladies. 

2) Same fabric, color, and hemline - each 'maid picks her silhouette and neckline.

Image via WeddingBee Boards / Dresses by Alfred Sung

This way, I'd have a good amount of control in order to achieve the overall look I'm going for, but each 'maid would have the freedom to find whatever fit is most flattering on her.  Love strapless dresses?  Fine.  Refuse to wear anything besides an A-line skirt?  Superb.  Do whatever you want, as long as it's short, purple, and made of the right fabric. 

Those are the only two real options I'm toying with as of right now, since I'm frankly not brave enough to say "Any purple dress.  Go!" and let everyone have total freedom with the dress selection.  But, even though I have the basic set-up limited to these two choices, there are about 40 other decisions that could be made regarding the BM dresses, all of which are causing me to break out in stress hives.

1) Strapless dresses - definitely the norm in the BM dress world, but not everyone's favorite.  And, dresses with a more developed neckline often look more "complete" or "tailored" to me, at least.  Yay or nay to strapless dresses?

2) One-shoulder dresses - a good mix between strapless and strapped, I suppose, but definitely a trendy look.  In 12 months, am I going to look back and hang my head in shame at the already out-of-style BM dresses that appeared in our wedding?

3) Fabric choice - it seems like most BM dresses fall into Camp Chiffon or Camp Satin, with a few stragglers in between.  Given that we're getting married in August, a light, breezy chiffon dress is a decent choice, but would that airy fabric look silly next to my dress?

So, to recap: I have it narrowed down to two scenarios, but a lot of the details are still fuzzy.  Combine that with the stated preferences of various 'maids and mothers, and there are about infinity permutations of BM dress choices.

Image via Daily Tees

Did your head spin when considering BM dresses?  How did you ultimately decide?