Say yes to the dress…bridesmaids!
Honestly, shopping for bridesmaids is hard. Don’t get me wrong so is trying to find your perfect dress, but you are only one person and so the dress only needs to look fabulous on you. It is just a tad bit trickier for 5 completely different body types, skin tones, and the really difficult one the pregnant bridesmaid, to all look fabulous in the same dress and color.
Now you are probably thinking Alexandra, the wedding fashion gods blessed us with the trend of putting all of our bridesmaids in different style and color dresses! It probably sounds like an easy task, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong when you let your girls run wild through a bridal shop. There are a few guidelines that brides should keep in mind before letting her girls run free.
1. Decide on a fabric
This is one thing that I see ignored the most when a bride comes in to look for her bridesmaids dresses. She just wants her girls to be comfortable and wear what they like. But she can forget about the pictures. Your pictures will look the best when you have similar fabrics next to each other. For example you don’t want to have one girl in a satin dress and the other in a mesh dress with lace details. There is nothing wrong with your girls being in different styles as long as they flow together. One very common way to do this is to have each girl have lace on her dress. There are several options for where the lace will be and each dress will still be different with one element tying them all together.
2. Avoid a color catastrophe
Another trendy style is to have your girls in different colors. You can have them in an ombre, a few shades of one color, or use a few your wedding colors. This element is a balancing act. You need to make the colors work together but also you don’t want all of the colors to take away from you! Something that is often forgotten about is what color the groomsmen will be wearing, of course black and grey are going to be easier than a navy suit. If your men will be in a different color make sure you either bring something of that color or use a bridesmaid dress in that color to compare.
3. Be EXTRA mindful when picking different styles and colors
If you are the easy going bride who decides to let their girls pick the style and the color, be extra careful. While you might think you are letting your girls have the freedom to decide, you are also putting the look of your wedding in their hands. If each girl gets to pick her dress and her color you could end up with a wedding party that doesn’t go together whatsoever. You can still be that easy going bride if you just give them some guidance.
The best way to keep things in control are to set a standard. Decide on one kind of fabric or two fabrics that are similar, like mesh and chiffon. Or have one element in common like lace or bling. Be careful with colors, make sure they are balanced. Instead of five different colors pick two (unless you do an ombre). You can have your maid of honor in one color and the other girls in the other color. Or ombre your girls dresses but make sure you look at all of the colors together. Also check to see how they look in a different order if for pictures the girls will be mixed up. Avoid having your girls in either long or short dresses. Unless you have junior bridesmaids this can look choppy.
I promise your girls are going to love you regardless of the dress they wear to your wedding. It is okay to let them pick but set some expectations for what you want the overall look to be. Because at the end of the day it is your wedding day!
