Finding the Best Bridesmaid Dresses for Your Wedding

Finding the Best Bridesmaid Dresses for Your Wedding
Hi! It’s Sukey from Dress for the Wedding, back again for my monthly wedding
style post! I hope you enjoyed my last post about Finding the Wedding Dress
That Works for You! I also hope you’re getting ready to attend a Your Wedding
Experience event to get some great ideas for your wedding. To help with your
wedding attire planning, today we’ll tackle some very important
dresses: dresses for your bridesmaids! The colors and styles your bridesmaids
wear will play a big part in setting the tone of your wedding, and picking
great dresses goes a long way toward having a happy bridal party!
Dress Style F17015 from David’s Bridal, an exhibitor at Your Wedding Experience
Philadelphia!
After Six Bridesmaid Dress Style 6706 in Wild Berry from The Dessy Group available
through Parvani Vida
Decisions, Decisions
Once you’ve asked your closest friends and family to be in your wedding
party, the dresses you’ll ask them to wear will quickly become one of the
next choices to make. You’ll want to know early on who will be the decisionmaker for choosing the bridesmaid dresses; it’s often the bride, but
sometimes someone else will lead this charge. This person needs to take into
account the colors, fabrics, and styles that are suitable for the wedding and
for the bridesmaids themselves. Ideally, whoever picks the bridesmaid dresses
will be sensitive to some of the issues of cost and fit that can come with an
“assigned” dress. After all, no one likes to be uncomfortable with what
they’re wearing– even if it’s only for 6 hours — especially when the pictures
last forever.
It can be part of the bridesmaids’ roles to help with selecting dresses, but
if you have too many competing opinions, you may find that the bridesmaid
dress search can become a source of stress.
If you want to include
everyone’s perspective, ask for input in a managed way; pick a few dress
options you love, and have your bridesmaids choose from among those looks.
Happily, most bridesmaid collections are designed to give the bridal party
plenty of choices for different silhouettes and styles.
Metallic fabrics are such a popular look in bridesmaid dresses right now, like this
Long Sequin Blouson Gown from David’s Bridal.
Setting and Season
Not only is it important that the silhouette and style of the dress suits the
wearer, but also that it makes sense for where the wedding will be held. For
example, a loose, flowy dress is perfectly suited for beach and romantic
weddings; while satin or embellished gowns lend themselves to weddings held
in grand hotels or estates; and cute lace or floral fit-and-flare dresses are
perfect for rustic weddings.
You’ll want to choose light fabrics for warm climates and day weddings, and
heavier fabrics for evening weddings and winter months. In general, fabrics
like chiffon, light laces, tulles, and even cotton are well-suited to
daytime, summer, and destination weddings. Lace, chiffon, and tulle can also
work for afternoon and evening. Heavy satins and taffetas and jacquards are
usually best for weddings in fall and winter months or weddings with a formal
tone. You’ll definitely want use your bridesmaid dresses as a way to bring in
your color scheme, and also plan give some thought to the environment around
your wedding. Consider where you’ll be having pictures and how the dresses
might look against the backdrop of that setting. You can just imagine how
floral bridesmaid dresses against floral background would be harsh to the eye
in pictures!
Fall Bridesmaid Dress Ideas on Dress for the Wedding After Six Dress Style 6678 is
available through Parvani Vida
Budgeting and Extra Add-ons
The discussion of budget is something to bring up early, especially if you
know your friends are going to be in several weddings that season, or have
other expenses they need to allow for at the same time. Being in a wedding is
a huge investment in time and money, so get a sense of what everyone can
afford and stay within the parameters of the most limited budget.
Keep in mind that just like a wedding dress, bridesmaids’ dresses don’t
usually fit right off the rack, so your maids will also have to spend money
on alterations. They’ll also have to allocate funds for shoes, accessories,
and other elements of the wedding like travel, accommodations, bridal
showers, and parties, so try to be as thoughtful as you can be about the
effort and expense they’ll be taking on. If you have your heart set on a
dress or accessories that may be out of range for someone in your party,
consider chipping in or giving that aspect of attire as a gift.
Style G11 by Love by Enzoani available at Parvani Vida
Getting Coordinated
Once you have an idea of budget and style, you can begin to look at dresses!
Many couples now elect to have bridesmaids to choose their own dress, which
allows each maid to select a style that she feels best in. This approach
still requires some planning, because even with some general guidelines (i.e.
a green dress) the range of options can be overwhelming to your bridal
party, and no one wants to accidentally pick a style that won’t fit in with
the other dresses. Many bridal parties arrive at this compromise: a specific
fabric, color and fabric and general length is selected, and then the
bridesmaids pick from the necklines or silhouettes that best suit them. So
many bridesmaid collections easily accommodate this, and it makes for a
cohesive look and happy bridesmaids! There are also many convertible
bridesmaid dress styles to consider, which allow your bridesmaids to buy the
same dress, but tie the straps of the dress in a way that creates the
neckline that best suits each maid.
Dessy Twist Wrap Convertible Bridesmaid Dresses, offer an easy way to get a
different neckline for each bridesmaid, all from the same dress. Dessy Bridesmaid
Dresses are carried by Parvani Vida
The Art of the Mismatch
If you actually don’t want the matched look, that’s an option as well! The
mismatched look is extremely popular right now, and allows your bridesmaids
to choose a dress that shows some individuality, and will give texture and
interest to your wedding party’s style. Despite its name, the mismatched look
does require some coordination and think-through. You’ll want to make sure
that the balance of prints and colors is pleasing to the eye and evenly
distributed in a way that no one dress stands out. I’ve written up some tips
on getting the mismatched look for bridesmaids, so take a peek at that
article if you elect to go with this look!
Current Looks to Consider
If you’re ready to begin shopping and looking for ideas for what your
bridesmaids could wear, stop by Dress for the Wedding and check out ideas on
Pinterest. Everything from lace, beading, and sequins, to maxis, florals and
prints are hot in bridesmaid styles right now. We’re also seeing modern
silhouettes to choose from like blouson and mock cropped tops, flutter
sleeves, ruffle edges, and dresses with open, trapeze backs. And nearly any
color goes, but muted colors and soft pastels are very big right now.
If you don’t know exactly the look you’d like, pull sources of inspiration
from elements of the wedding that are sure of, and bring those to the bridal
shop where the stylists there can help you find the dresses that fit your
vision. In fact, your bridesmaid dresses need not be dresses – you can have
your bridal party wear separates- a cute skirt and pretty top make for a
perfect look. I bet we’ll be even be seeing jumpsuits in some fashion-forward
weddings as well! There are so many color and silhouette choices, there’s no
reason each bridal party can’t look their best, and love their look no matter
what you ask them to wear!
MonCheri style TBE21511
How to Organize
Once you have an idea of what you want, you’ll want to communicate the look
to your bridal party. Pinterest and Instagram are great tools for sharing
your ideas with your friends and they are great places to get ideas for your
bridesmaids’ hair and makeup too. My biggest thrill is when I see a bridal
party commenting on a pin or picture of mine, and I can see they’re talking
about who will wear which dress. On Pinterest, create a board with a
collection of the dresses you love so that you can get an idea of how they’ll
look together with other wedding elements, and discuss your thoughts with the
bridal party in the comments. When you go shopping the bridal boutique will
do this for you too, they’ll help you collect some dresses tothat fit with
the style you’re after, so that your maids can pick from a few looks that fit
the style.
A Bridesmaid Dress and Styling Idea from Dress for the Wedding
I hope these tips have helped you with the steps to finding the perfect look
for your bridesmaids! Next time we’ll talk about dresses for the Mother-ofthe Bride and Mother-of-the-Groom!
Author Bio:
Sukey Murphy is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder
of Dress For The Wedding. Dress for the Wedding is a wedding styling blog
that features wedding dresses and wedding attire ideas for guests, brides,
bridesmaids, and the entire wedding party, through shoppable posts and
collages. You can find her blog
on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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Tip from David:
“Your bridesmaids are your supporting cast, and you need them to look and
feel amazing! It will help them give you the support you need on your day!”