Nearly Newlywed

It's wedding season, which means it's also bridesmaid season. In recent years, brides have tried to ease their friends' insecurities and stresses by letting them choose the style of the dress. A popular option is to head over to J.Crew and let your bridesmaids pick any dress silhouette, as long as it's a certain color and fabric. This seems like a fair way to do it. But a friend of mine, who is a bridesmaid in one of these "J.Crew weddings," is still stumped. "Do you have any idea which one will look the best?" she asked me. Of course, she means, on her. So I asked bridal fashion expert Jacqueline Courtney, founder of wedding dress resale site Nearly Newlywed, for some ideas. Click through to see which J.Crew bridesmaid dress will look best on your body.

As anyone who has ever watched Say Yes to the Dress knows, finding the right wedding gown can be downright brutal--especially on your wallet. Happily, genius new tech startup Nearly Newlywed, which launched just last Wednesday, is helping to change all that. Here's how: The brainchild of former fashion publicist Jacqueline Sheller Courtney, Nearly Newlywed carries a curated selection of 'nearly new', hard-to-find, fashion forward wedding dresses from designers like Oscar de la Renta, Monique Lhuillier, Marchesa, Rodarte (and loads more). The best part is that Nearly Newlywed offers a ‘Buy it, Wear it, and Send it Back’ guarantee that allows brides to purchase the gown of their dreams, wear it (and even make alterations!) and then sell it back immediately for 30% of what they paid, or reconsign it for 70%. Courtney cleverly uses Pinterest to connect with nearlyweds and offer gown suggestions based on their inspiration boards. (Like we said: Genius) We got in touch with Courtney to talk about her new venture, how her work as a fashion PR influenced the concept--and why she's making it her mission to bring the red carpet experience to every bride.