Bridesmaid Dresses: Reasonable Cost

shaylem13

Hi ladies!

First off, I hope everyone who is celebrating is having a very Merry Christmas!

I had a question regarding reasonable costs for bridesmaid dresses.  A few of my bridesmaids are going to be flying in (I'm going to help with accomodations) so I just wanted to see what a good range is to look for a dress.  I don't want them to have to spend too much considering they'll be flying out for the wedding.  I plan to also help with the accessories, i.e. I'll be buying their pashminas for the ceremony (since they have to have their shoulders covered).

If you ladies could give me some input as to a ballpark estimate of what you think is reasonable, that would be so wonderful...and any specific suggestions of designers would be great too!

palmettogirl924

It’s very nice that you are willing to help pay for their accomidations! Make sure you know though that this is not required of you, and if it’s not pushing your budget then that is awesome and I would love to be in your wedding

On the note of price range for dresses though you first need to ask all your BM’s individually and in private, what a comfortable amount they would be willing to spend on a dress is.

 

 

It’s important that you do this in private, because if for some reason all the girls give a higher price point then one girl is comfortable paying, you may not get as truthful as answers because someone doesn’t want to look cheap in front of the other BM’s. This can cause major problems when it comes to actually paying for the dresses.

 

David’s Bridal is usually a good starting place. The prices are reasonable and they are everywhere so if the girls live in different cities they will be able to go to their DB and order at their own convenience and get fitted.

 

Also it’s nice that you are paying for pashmina’s and accessories but make sure you don’t give these as BM gifts. You shouldn’t gift something that they will be required to wear.

 

 

Best of luck and Merry Christmas to you as well.

golden1215

I agree on Davids Bridal, they had a nice selection and I think my MOH looked great, not cheap like I sort of thought before we actually went to DBs.

I say $125ish is reasonable range for the midwest but if you're in NY it could be twice that, I honestly dont know. 

Ask the girls each and go from there.

shortee426

Your best bet is talk to each girl individually and see how much they can afford to spend.  I did that, and the dress designer I ended up choosing has some dresses that cost a little bit more (I'm letting them choose their own).  I did tell everyone that I will help cover the difference.  

I think it is very nice that you are buying their shawls/pashminas for them.  I need my BMs to have their shoulders covered for the ceremony so I chose to do the same thing.  I found a seller on ebay that had the color I was looking for (yellow) for $15/each.

aerinpegadrak

If it's more than she can afford, it's unreasonable.  The best thing to do is to ask each girl individually, "What are you comfortable spending on a bridesmaid dress?"  If they try to waffle on you or say "Whatever you want is fine," be firm but polite and press them for a more specific answer.  (e.g. "What I want is a number you can realistically hand over when it's time to order.  You don't need to commit to a certain price, I just need an upper bound.")

Or you can just give them a few basic guidelines like color and length and turn them loose.  I didn't have the budget conversation with my girls because I just told them to wear something black, so each one set her own price.  Only two of the six dresses were over $100, and only one was a "bridesmaid" dress (a David's Bridal dress found at a thrift store).

It seems like the average cost of a BM dress is about $150.  BUT, if that's more than any of them can afford, it's more than they can afford.  The money won't appear in their bank accounts by magic just because that's the usual cost.

[Deleted User]

Definitely ask their budgets. We also used DB and all of the dresses were under $130. And they were able to be worn again. All of my girls loved them and only one of them required a bit of alterations.

meganb1977

My bridal party is getting their dresses through David's Bridal and looks like they will be spending between $100-$140, it seemed to be the simplest and most reasonable option considering that every one of the ladies in the wedding party live in different cities.  If they lived closer and I could have gotten them all together to shop for coordinating dresses we might have found less expensive dresses at Ann Taylor or White House Black Market or a department store like JC Penney or Macy's.  I picked a color and said I wanted the BMs in knee length and MOH in a long dress and other than that they can get whatever they want.

Marti66

If yu agree on a designer then call Pearl's Place, you will save a lot using them and make your budget for sure.

ShaTerry

Some bridal shops will rent bridesmaid dresses. That's what we're doing...they are $60 and the shop alters them for each girl. That way they're not stuck spending a lot of money on a dress that will just hang in their closet. That might be handy for your girls too so they dont have to bring more luggage home since they're flying!

shaylem13

Thank you all so much for these suggestions! I'll definitely make sure to ask each person individually...

I'm so happy these message boards exist; I really appreciate all your comments!

Best wishes to you all for a happy and healthy New Year! xoxo, Shaina

mentionme

Let me echo the suggestion for Pearl's Place.  I was just in a wedding, the dresses were very rush for a close wedding.  They were all around $120 with the rush charges and all arrived in 6 weeks.  Fantastic service.