What Is/Was Your Bridesmaid Dress Preference?

NowIamMrsKlein

I was unable to go shopping with my girls, I live 8 hours away from my 2 sisters,and my other bridesmaid lives in the States.

I told them length and colour. I had seen the ideal colour at Davids bridal so I picked up a paint swatch in that colour and told them that anything in 'that range' would work.

My two sisters ended up going to Davids bridal together and both fell in love with the same dress. My bridesmaid in the states was in the midst of moving and was having trouble getting to a store so I sent her a link to a bunch of dresses that came in that colour and she ended up picking the same one. Which I found hilarious, because what are the chances.

Even though I let them have free range in picking the dresses I ended up deciding to reimburse them all for their dresses because I felt like it was unfair to ask any of them to 'pay for the honour' of standing up with me.

We did the same with the guys suits, took them all suit shopping and they all decided together on a colour scheme that suited them the best and then we bought each of their suits for them

VicTim328

Originally, we were doing non-strapless J.Crew dresses in a specific fabric in Navy.  My FI has severe OCD.  After we attended another wedding that did different dresses, he told me that for him, it would be too distracting... It came down to do I want his complete focus during our ceremony.  The BM completely understood and supported the decision.  

JediElizabeth

Maggie0829 said:

adk19 said:

fyrchk said:

My bridesmaids chose their dresses. We are having a 1950's "theme" and they all chose the same red pin-up girl dress. My step-daughter actually chose the same one but in black because she is standing up on my FI's side. I also don't care what shoes they wear, jewelry, make-up, or hairstyle. I'm having my hairstylist there to do hair and make-up but only if they want it. (Mostly, he's there to do mine and will do theirs if they ask.)

I was in a wedding where we had to wear the same dress, same shoes, same jewelry (18" ivory pearls and bracelet), same hair, AND SAME PANTYHOSE. I was miserable.

Oh, screw that nonsense!  I don't wear hose.  I'm also six feet tall with a size 18 ass.  I'd refuse to purchase hose.  If she tried buying me pantyhose, I'd be sure to poke a hole in them as I was pulling them up (which would happen even if I was careful).  They would be unwearable.  Oops.

I was thinking the same exact thing.

Same, but also:

Were you all the same skin tone? How did that work? I'm a pasty white Irish girl, so any hose that look good on me will look terrible on most of my friends, even other white girls. And vice versa - if I tried to match any of them, I'd have a tan on my legs clashing with my day-glow white arms and face.

Or is this another bride who required tanning??

WinstonsGirl

fyrchk said:

My bridesmaids chose their dresses. We are having a 1950's "theme" and they all chose the same red pin-up girl dress. My step-daughter actually chose the same one but in black because she is standing up on my FI's side. I also don't care what shoes they wear, jewelry, make-up, or hairstyle. I'm having my hairstylist there to do hair and make-up but only if they want it. (Mostly, he's there to do mine and will do theirs if they ask.)

I was in a wedding where we had to wear the same dress, same shoes, same jewelry (18" ivory pearls and bracelet), same hair, AND SAME PANTYHOSE. I was miserable.

Ugh.  I can't stand pantyhose.  Does anyone even wear it anymore, unless you're required to in an office setting??  It's a good way to see me pulling shit up all night as it puddles around my ankles.  

My Mom used to insist I always wear hose in the winter cos it would "keep my legs warm in -30C".  Yeah, right, with all those little holes in it too.  I refused

thisismynickname2

chloe97 said:

I was in a wedding where we were asked to pick any knee-length navy dress we would like. On the surface, it's a very nice and respectful to not dictate that your friends wear a dress that they hate or that doesn't flatter their body type. On the other hand, buying a dress for that wedding was the most stressful BM dress buying experience of my life and that includes the friend who never asked for my budget and asked me to buy a $400 BM dress when I was dirt broke. Trying to pick out a dress and that was right shade of navy and worrying about whether the color fabric would match the other BMs was so stressful. My 2 gfs who were also BMs and I finally decided that we would buy JCREW dresses, another Bm wore a royal blue dress and stuck out in the pictures and the 2 other BM ended up wearing navy sundresses, which looked weird next to our BM-looking JCREW dresses. All in all, we all had lamented that we wish she had told us what to wear. I could in theory wear the navy dress again, but I really think of it as a BM dress. It feels weird to wear it again. I'm a big fan of choosing fabrics/color/designer and letting BMs choose a dress that flatters to heir body types. Takes the stress out of the equation and lets the ladies pick dresses that flatter their bodies.

To the first bolded, I know what you mean. My best friend had the same issue when she was a BM in a wedding where they had to wear "pink or champagne." When my best friend became my BM, she and my sister (MOH) really wanted me to tell them what to wear. I just said black and knee-length. My sister was all, "but blacks can clash!! What about the pictures?" That gets a huge eye roll from me. Because, to the second bolded, why care about the pictures? My logic is that you're going to have pictures with all your guests. Why does the "bridal party" have to look a certain way when you'll still have posed pictures with family and other friends that aren't coordinated at all? That doesn't make sense to me. Even for the ceremony or posed portraits, it's just a crowd of people around you. That's all. 

After the fact, not only has my best friend re-worn several times the dress she used for my wedding, for her wedding she also chose mis-matched black BM dresses. The only difference is that she mandated a certain designer and fabric too, so we still got to pick something flattering and she didn't have to inflect the stress that she felt in other mismatched weddings. 

thisismynickname2

Oh, one more thing. I have to again express my preference for mismatched. In an upcoming wedding, we were told David's Bridal floor-length in a specific color. DB has tons of dresses, so we got to pick something flattering. And guess what? We're gonna look hot. Seriously. One woman is wearing a mermaid style that really flatters her curves, for example. I'm shaped more like a stick, and choose a nearly-backless halter dress. Even though having a few options picked for bridesmaids lets them pick the "most" flattering of the approved options, having free reign is awesome and I'm actually excited to wear this dress. Too bad I never go to formal events, because I have no other reason for a floor length gown but if I did, this would be getting re-worn for sure. 

fyrchk

Knottie25841876 said:

Maggie0829 said:

adk19 said:

fyrchk said:

My bridesmaids chose their dresses. We are having a 1950's "theme" and they all chose the same red pin-up girl dress. My step-daughter actually chose the same one but in black because she is standing up on my FI's side. I also don't care what shoes they wear, jewelry, make-up, or hairstyle. I'm having my hairstylist there to do hair and make-up but only if they want it. (Mostly, he's there to do mine and will do theirs if they ask.)

I was in a wedding where we had to wear the same dress, same shoes, same jewelry (18" ivory pearls and bracelet), same hair, AND SAME PANTYHOSE. I was miserable.

Oh, screw that nonsense!  I don't wear hose.  I'm also six feet tall with a size 18 ass.  I'd refuse to purchase hose.  If she tried buying me pantyhose, I'd be sure to poke a hole in them as I was pulling them up (which would happen even if I was careful).  They would be unwearable.  Oops.

I was thinking the same exact thing.

Same, but also:

Were you all the same skin tone? How did that work? I'm a pasty white Irish girl, so any hose that look good on me will look terrible on most of my friends, even other white girls. And vice versa - if I tried to match any of them, I'd have a tan on my legs clashing with my day-glow white arms and face.

Or is this another bride who required tanning??

Not the same skin tone at all. Different ethnicities and all. I'm trying to remember they were like an off-white color. I remember specifically that they were "Silk Reflections."

spockforprez

I buy the dress I have to buy when I'm asked to be a bridesmaid, but I don't really enjoy it. They are expensive and the ones from DB at least aren't that great of quality. I have reworn some of them once or twice, mostly to formal occasions. (Darker colors like navy or plum are better for this... I have never found another use for the canary yellow long BM dress.)

As for me, I chose "general color/color family" in the poll. Although that's not quite accurate for me, it conveys the general philosophy. Our wedding is outdoors and pretty casual so I asked my BM's to wear floral patterned sundresses in any color (I don't have wedding colors). We have an unofficial wildflower motif going on in our decor, so I think it will look nice, plus I'm too lazy to be arsed with coordinating their outfits. They can spend $25 at Target, $180 at Neiman Marcus, or $0 for something they already own. Up to them.

JellyBean52513

When I was engaged previously, I struggled with OCD and anxiety so badly that I went through 20+ invitation samples before I found the PERFECT shade of lavendar. As you can imagine, there was no way I could ever fathom BM dresses not matching.

Now that I'm older and wiser and have a better handle on things, and after having spent more time on TK, I'm pro-choice (in every sense of the term!). I would love to give my BMs a general color idea and tell them to have it. A friend of mine was a MOH in a wedding recently and when she posted this photo of the bridal party, I found it to be stunning, especially with the variety in colors and textures. I blurred out faces for privacy protection.

sassercake12

I told my girls knee-length black dress, any fabric, with red shoes. They all picked something in their price range that they're comfortable wearing again, and I love all the dresses on them. I didn't mandate any type of specific jewelry though, and I kind of wish I had because they're trying to figure out what color to get and who should wear what color, and I care so little that I told them red, black or silver was fine and to stop worrying about it.

My friend had her wedding last year and had her bridesmaids get the same dress but in different colors. One had navy, another had purple, another had teal, another had light blue. It looked really nice.

melbenso

I was actually between options 2 and 3.  I picked a color from David's Bridal (budget friendly!) and told my bridesmaids to pick any dress they liked in that color.  I did not dictate length or fabric.  Since I told them I wouldn't have cared if they got the dress elsewhere, as long as the color was pretty close, I selected option 3.

And for the record, they all ended up picking knee length satin dresses in different styles, but that was just a fluke.

ETA - I didn't mandate anything jewelry, hair, or make-up wise.  I did tell them I would like them all to wear shoes of the same color/color palate, but let them decide amongst themselves what color that would be.  They all ended up wearing strappy silver dress sandals (different styles), which looked very nice with the cornflower blue dresses and was super comfy for the outdoor ceremony and the dancing.

CharmedPam

I haven't done this yet, so I'm over a year out, but I plan to purchase swatches of the colors that I want from David's and give them to the girls.  I'll let them know that the color IS at David's but if they chose to go elsewhere, just try to stay close to the hue.  Any length or style. I would love for it to be done to me if I were a BM.

pinupbride6189

My girls are all wearing the same dress, but the MOH's dress has a different color skirt. We shopped around until we found a dress that all the girls liked and felt comfortable in. IDK why, I just really liked the idea of having the same dress.