<human>: Can you give me the gist of the text in a nutshell?

When shopping for bridesmaid dresses, I originally promised my girls that I would "keep costs around $100" - lo and behold, dresses ended up being way more than that.  I guess I had no idea what they actually cost, and didn't realize that we'd need add-ons due to extra sizes, etc.  [The dresses I chose ended up costing about $260 each]  I put up my card and had them shipped to my address, figuring I would distribute when they came in.  I let the girls know that I'd purchased and put on my card.  As of last week, I called the dress shop, and they hadn't yet arrived, so I prodded them to overnight the dresses directly to my girls' addresses. I immediately let the girls know that they'd be coming, and asked them for $125 since I wanted to be good on my word about the cost.   One girl wrote back, asking to pay me after wedding.  Crickets from everyone else.

I know there are a lot of costs involved in being a bridesmaid, and that was my attempt to help alleviate the expenses.  I am also paying for hair and giving gifts to each gal (not like matching robes, but like individualized gifts for each).  How can I handle this without seeming ungrateful for the shower and bachelorette they planned/paid for? I am tempted to gift the dresses at this point, bc I don't want to become a bill-collector on the day of my wedding (which is probably the next time I will see them).

For reference, they are early 30s moms with hubbies and jobs - I am as well, and while I love being generous, my fiance and I are paying for 100% of the wedding ourselves.  We are also in NYC - I am not sure what dresses cost, but generally when we went shopping, all dresses were in the $200+ range.
<bot>: I ordered all the dresses for bridesmaids - now, they have arrived, I've reminded them of cost, and receive no response.  How to handle gracefully?