How to Choose the Right Bridesmaid Dresses

Choosing a dress for your bridesmaids can be quite an adventure. Especially if you eschew the traditional bridal party look of 10 of your closest friends all dressed the same, down to their earrings and shoes.

There’s a relatively new trend (relative to the decades where women dressed their best friends in identical dresses) to have a coordinated bridal party that isn’t too matchy-matchy. Depending on how willing you are to relinquish control and leave the bridesmaids’ style up to your friends, there is a spectrum of ways to incorporate this trend.

The boldest way to achieve this is to pick a color (or color palette) and let your bridesmaids choose their own dresses. You can also make sure your girls are all on the same page by choosing a specific fabric along with the color(s). This gives the wedding party a cohesive look without forcing everyone to dress the same. It is also the best way to ensure that your girls have dresses that they love and can actually wear again. But make sure to choose a color that is flattering and is easily available so that your ‘maids won’t tear out their hair trying to find a dress they like or be resigned to the one dress that actually comes in that color.

Here are eight dresses all from Nordstrom that would work beautifully together. Top (from left): Adrianna Papell ($83.90), Donna Ricco ($158), Maggy London ($138), Adrianna Papell ($78.90)
Bottom (from left): Maggie London ($128), Maggie London ($158), Maggie London ($178), Maggie London ($138)

To let your bridesmaids choose their own dresses, though, you have to be a brave woman whose ’maids have great style. Or, if you’ve got plenty of time on your hands and love to shop, you can go dress shopping which each of your ’maids to make sure that all of their individual looks will work together. If you don’t have the moxie or the patience, there are more subtle ways to individualize your ’maids’ looks.

After their dresses, the most eye-catching part of your bridesmaids’ ensemble will be their bouquets. Have your florist design slightly different bouquets for each of your bridesmaids. Depending on the size of your bridal party, you can have each of their bouquets each composed of different blooms that are in your bouquet. Or you can have them carry unique bouquets in the hues of your wedding colors. If your colors are purple and green, one girl could carry bouquets of purple freesias and green hydrangea, a second lavender sweet peas and “green envy” Echinacea and the third agapanthus and cymbidium orchids. Be creative (or let your florist be, that’s what you pay them for), but make sure the bouquets compliment your own and all look harmonious together.

You can also let them choose their other accessories. You can suggest a type of jewelry (gold, silver, beads) or style (antique, modern, simple) and then set them free. Oh, and definitely let them choose their own shoes! It’s much more important that they’re comfortable than that they are all wearing the same cute heels. You want them on the dance floor, not hobbling around because straps were cutting into their ankles all during the ceremony. Besides, no one is going to notice what shoes they’re wearing anyway.

Or you can have your bridesmaids wear the same dress in the same color, but have them each wear it differently. How? Well, The Dessy Group has created the twist wrap dress.

The twist wrap dress comes in both a floor-length and short version and is available in twelve different colors. The ways to wear the dress are only limited by your imagination. Have a party to figure out the best way for each of them to wear it. The ways to wear the dress are limited only by your imagination. Besides letting your ’maids create their own looks, these dresses, made of matte jersey pack well and can be shipped in an astonishing 7-10 business days, which, for those of you not familiar with timelines for ordering bridesmaids dresses, is in a heartbeat.

So, gather your girls and let the adventure begin.

Happily Ever After,

{top picture from Michéle M. Waite Photography}

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