Hair

I would be pleased with any of these looks, but I think I'm partial to keeping my hair down.

Post-ring window shopping

Wow, I could have been wrong about what I thought I would like.  I found myself veering more towards the simpler styles, and while I still don't care for a solitaire, I did really, really love the Hearts on Fire solitaire... the stone is so brilliant that it's best without other embellishments!  You really need to see them in person to appreciate them.

Then my girl friend took me to a place with Tacori rings.  That's when I surprised myself when I felt fond of this:

Darling!  I was not expecting to love the baguettes and the halo (okay, I kinda knew I would love the halo), but I did, and it looked excellent on my hand.

It was a 2-carat setting, which, yes, looked good on my hand, too.  But I was really aiming for 1-carat; I don't want to sacrifice quality for size, which, if I wanted to keep this within the preferred cost range, I would have to.  So I inquired about a 1-carat version to try, and the sales guy let me try on this one:
 

This is a great alternative, and look how lovely it is with the matching wedding band!

I figured that with my line of work, it wouldn't be an issue to continue wearing my engagement ring often, so it would be nice to have matching bands to wear often.

I still really like the halo, though, and the sales guy said it was do-able with a customization fee.

With the diamond itself, I am not sure what level quality I would be most comfortable with yet.  It's gotta be something I can feel proud about but also something that's not over-the-top in cost.  I have a very conservative budget in mind for the ring.

So I guess I'll keep looking for good deals.  Maybe it's time to really look into cultured/synthetic diamonds and see if it's quality is something I could be happy with.

EDIT: Maybe not, unless I change my mind about the colored stone thing and want to go with a yellow or pink diamond.

Upon further reflection of the ring question

Although I no longer feel the same strong feeling for my previously-favorite Kismet ring, I've realized that I'm attracted to Mark Schnider's curvier design sensibilities.  When I look at his collection, my eyes are immediately drawn to the following:  Vision, Escape, Kismet, Bedazzle, Swept Away (which I'm really digging at the moment), Luxury, and Cascade.  They're all kind of similar, no?  But yet not.  And none of them really strike me as "it," though maybe I'll just end up loving whatever he chooses for me anyway.

Re-wearable BM dresses

There's some debate on the re-wearability factor of a bridesmaid dress.  Most BMs don't end up wearing their dress again, and I'd hate to ask my BMs to spend too much money on something they're going to wear once.  On the other hand, what if going for re-wearability means sacrificing aesthetics?  

Let's look at some contemporary contenders for the versatile BM outfit:

• The Little Black Dress.  Every lady has one or needs one in their closet, and there are so many ways to dress one up or down.  No one looks bad in a LBD.  While I love the general idea, I'm reluctant to go with this because potential-MIL is a little superstitious and will say it's bad luck to wear black to a wedding, and WTH, your bridesmaids are wearing black?  Hell no.  I'll give this one up for peace with the MIL.
  
  
  
  
  But look how nice it is when the accessories pop from the black!!
  
• Convertible dresses.  Personally, I think it's a very nifty idea to be able to wear the same piece of fabric 10+ different ways, and it's a great balance of variety and uniformity.  Plus, I think this is a project my mom could whip up inexpensively in not too much time because she's sewn samples of these before for a local designer.  But a lot of reviews of these dresses mention that these dresses don't look great on bustier ladies, and they say it's difficult if not downright impossible to wear a bra with most of the styles.  That's pretty disappointing, and I'd hate to have to tell my BMs they can't wear a bra.
  
  
  
  
  But they look uniform and pretty, no?  Except for maybe the completely strapless on the left over there.
  
  
• Two-piece outfits.  I'm not a fan of the ones closer to formal, traditional two-piece dresses (example).  However, what I do love is the version with a pencil skirt paired with a frilly top and maybe a colorful sash, like pictured below:
  
  
  
  
  This is probably better suited for something closer to the casual side of the spectrum, but I'm sure you can dress up the pencil skirt/frilly top combo to fit a more elegant, formal wedding.

Of these, which one do you think is the most versatile option? Are there other re-wearable options I didn't cover here?