Did you know that the average cost of a bridesmaid dress is $130? At the end of the day, this cost can come out to be much more so it’s important to choose dresses everyone loves.
With all sorts of things to take into consideration, making the decision about what dresses your bridesmaids will wear can feel overwhelming. If you’re planning a wedding, chances are you have other things to focus on as well.
The process of narrowing down bridesmaid dress options doesn’t have to be complicated. Continue reading this guide to learn 11 simple tips that will help you choose to give your bridesmaids a dress that works for your entire party and looks great in photos!
- Be Clear About Your Budget
Bridesmaid dresses can vary significantly in price. So whether you’re covering the cost yourself or having the girls purchase them, it’s still important to keep the price in mind.
If you’re paying, come up with an overall budget for this aspect of your wedding and divide it by the number of girls in the party. This number will be how much you should aim to spend per dress at most. Keep in mind this number doesn’t take alterations or other aspects of their outfit into account.
If the bridesmaids will be paying, try to ask around and see what budget everyone will be comfortable with. You don’t want someone in your wedding to get stretched too thin. Most of the time, it’s easy to find a number that everyone agrees with and find a beautiful dress for everyone.
- Choose a Color First
After you’ve established a budget, the next step should be to narrow down the bridesmaid dress options by choosing an ideal color. Some dresses will be available in only a few colors, while others might have an enormous amount of options to choose from.
As a versatile example, you should check out these dresses. Some have as many as 50 color options! This should make it easy to find a color you’re happy with.
When picking a color, it’s crucial to keep everyone’s skin tone in mind. Also, try to choose a color that goes with the overall theme of your wedding and will complement your dress. This ensures photos will look amazing!
- Choose a Length That Works for Everyone
Everyone has different comfortability levels when it comes to clothing. Bridesmaid dresses come in a variety of lengths, so if you’re opting for a shorter dress, check in with everyone and see if it will work for them.
This will save you from ordering something that not everyone wants to wear. If everyone is happy and comfortable in their dresses, you will be able to tell. This takes away a bit of stress on the big day and will surely turn up in photos.
- Keep Your Venue in Mind
Do you have a unique venue? Are there a lot of stairs? Are there colors in the room that might clash with specific colors?
You should take your venue into account when choosing the dresses. Think about the colors of the space and what color dresses will look nice with them.
You want your photos to look great, whether they’re taken during the ceremony or throughout the reception, so it’s crucial to consider this before landing on a dress.
You also want to consider logistical issues as well. If the venue has a lot of stairs, will a long dress end up tripping someone? Thinking about little details like this makes a big difference in the end!
- Don’t Procrastinate
One of the worst things you can do when preparing for a wedding is procrastinating when it comes to ordering dresses. So whether it’s your wedding dress options or bridesmaid dresses, try to choose one and order it well ahead of time.
It’s a good idea to double-check with someone and see how long shipping takes to ensure things will get to you on time. If you plan on having alterations done, check and see how long this will take as well. You might need to have the dresses arrive sooner than you think.
Remember too that it’s wise to take shipping delays into account. Most of the time, expected arrival dates are estimates and not guarantees. So if you’re down to the wire, you might end up paying extra for faster shipping or dealing with the stress of wondering if the dresses will arrive on time.
Ordering them and having them arrive in a time frame well before you need them to come is a great way to avoid any of these pitfalls.
- Pick Simple Fabrics
It’s understandable if you want to go all out and get a fully sequined dress for your bridesmaids to strut in, but this can lead to issues down the line.
The more intricate the fabric and design, the more expensive any alterations will be. And these types of materials often don’t photograph well or distract from the most important dress—the bride’s gown.
Opting for simple, yet beautiful, fabrics is crucial. This will also help ensure the dress is comfortable to wear. There’s nothing worse than itchy, restricting, or generally uncomfortable fabrics that distract bridesmaids from enjoying the day.
- Keep Movement in Mind
Picking simple fabrics is also the best option when considering movement. Your bridesmaids will be walking down the aisle before you, posing for photos, sitting to eat, and dancing the night away with you!
All of this movement will be much easier if the material is comfortable, they don’t feel too exposed, and they feel confident overall in the dress they’re wearing.
- Take Body Types Into Consideration
You might have the final say in the dress, but one option is to allow each bridesmaid to choose their own dress as long as they’re all ordered in the same color. This mismatched look looks great in photos, allows their personalities to shine through, and makes for a unique wedding.
This also helps make it easier to find a dress that is flattering on everyone’s body type. This will again contribute to their comfortability and translate well in photos.
Another reason to go with this option is it might allow people some flexibility with what they spend.
- Think About How Photos Will Look
Throughout this whole article, we’ve touched on how keeping certain things in mind will help make sure your photos turn out great.
It’s still important to think about this aspect on its own before finalizing any dress options. If your bridesmaids are all picking their own dresses, try having them pose next to one another to see how they match. If this isn’t possible, at least have photos of the dresses side-by-side to compare.
A good rule of thumb is to stick within the same color family. For example, blush and burgundy go well together because they’re both a variation of pink. From here, try to make sure everyone gets the same dress length.
If you follow these two rules, everything should go smoothly and pair nicely.
- Go With Your Gut
When you’re first looking for bridesmaid dresses, you will undoubtedly look through hundreds of styles, colors, brands, etc. But, if you go with your gut, it won’t be long before you’ve narrowed things down to just a few options.
You’ve probably been planning this day for a long time, and many other things are already decided on. This is why it’s good to go with your gut instinct because you’re already a wedding-planning pro.
- Get Opinions
If all else fails and you truly can’t decide on a dress, it’s a good idea to get some other opinions. You should definitely get the opinions of the women who will be wearing the dresses, but asking other people isn’t a bad idea either.
Getting an opinion from someone who isn’t comparing the dresses to the other dresses you saw can help them formulate thoughts more easily. Chances are, other people aren’t as invested in this decision as you are either. So it should be simple for them to look at a photo and know if things look good.
Only get outside opinions if you’re truly undecided. If you already feel confident in your decisions, don’t ask for further opinions because they might just confuse you.
At the end of the day, any bridesmaid dress you choose will end up being a lovely addition to your special day.
Pick Out the Bridesmaids a Dress of Your Dreams
When you plan your wedding, your dress isn’t the only one you might lose sleep over. The bridesmaid dress you choose is important too. The good news is you don’t need to get too stressed out about choosing the perfect dress for your bridal party.
If you take all of the things mentioned here into consideration, you should end up picking your bridesmaids a dress they love just as much as you!
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Hemant Kumar is a project manager at Tridindia with more than nine years of commendable experience in writing about LMS, translation, and IT. His unmatched talent and passion for digital marketing gave him the opportunity to work as a multi-tasking project manager at TridIndia’s sister company, Link Building Corp. Today, he contributes to the world by imparting knowledge on SEO, link building and internet marketing etc., that helps business owners grow their online business.
