Double post I know, but you are all such huge help!

irishangieb

So, I have a rather large wedding party, 7 bridesmaids and my maid of honor.  I always had planned on letting my sister, Maid of honor, chose her own dress and that it would be in the same color family as the rest of the bridesmaids, so she did. Its great. I love it.
As for the other bridesmaids, I had said that we need to start looking for ideas, each girl really has totally different body shapes, sizes etc. (tall and curvy, tall and thin, short, long legs, short legs....)
Of the 7 remaining, 3 of them all like the same dress, one said she's fine with anything, one really wants a long dress, one likes a short dress but a different style and the last one is going with me tomorrow to look at dresses.
My concern was, assuming that 5 of the 7 girls all want one dress, is it going to look incredibly strange if 2 of the 7 are wearing different dresses.  And also, if only ONE of my 8 bridesmaids is wearing a long dress isn't that going to look off?  Am I just worrying too much?

brainybrunette

Why not pick the designer, color, fabric, and length and then let them pick the style that they would like.  I have 5 bridesmaids, and I told them to pick any Alfred Angelo, black, satin, long dress that they wanted.  They all picked different styles and they look great. It's still pretty uniform, but since each girl can wear a style that looks best on her, then everyone is comfortable with what they are wearing.  

I don't really like the look of some wearing long and other's wearing short dresses though.

achiduck

I think the dresses all need to be the same length. I have 4 girls total (2 MOH and 2 BM) and I told them to pick their own dresses provided they were black, floor length and satin. I also told them I was fine with 2 being in the same dress, but if 3 picked the same dress than all of them would have to wear it.

As it turns out, 2  are in very similar dresses (sweetheart neck, fit and flare style) and a third is also silimar (sweetheard, fit and flare) but her's has one shoulder strap. The fourth picked a halter style but all of their dresses have ruching which ties them together.

I think it will be ok if a few are in the same dress since you have such a large group. If 5 of them wore the same dress, only then do I think it would look odd. But as I said in the beginning, I would have them all wear the same length.

emidle2008

For me, I picked a length and color, but let the girls(4 total) pick their dress. 2 girls picked stapless and 2 picked halter. So I am alternating them in the line-up. If you watch Gossip Girl (if not look up Season 5 Episode 13) you might remember Blair's BM dresses. Her MOH wore a floor length dress. BM wore above the knee. All four dressed were in the same color. I think it looked beautiful. Here's the link to a photo of the BM's in case you don't want to watch the full episode.
http://www.brides.com/blogs/aisle-say/2012/01/gossip-girl-wedding-details.html

I'm sure whatever you decide will look lovely.

aimee58

I would definitely keep color, fabric and length the same. I wouldn't be concerned if a bunch had one style and a few had others. But long vs. short will definitely stick out.

RockstarWifey0912

Long vs. Short will stick out for sure, but if 2 of them had long and the rest had short, you could make it work.... Put the girls with long dresses on the ends for pictures?

lenergyrlah

I'm having 7 bridesmaids, and I specified the length, color, fabric, and designer and let them each pick their own.  I'm not worried if two of them pick the same dress because I just won't have them stand next to each other, but I think 5 in one style and 2 in another would look a bit odd (unless you're having two maids of honor, then it might work fine).

pockysquirrel

I have 6 bridesmaids of wildly varying body type and I'm doing what Nic did - same designer, color and length, different dresses. What I did with length was have the girls vote on it, and most of them wanted knee-length. Only one voted for a long dress and I felt bad about that, but she ended up being okay with it because majority ruled. I did tell them I'd compromise on a tea-length dress if somebody wanted to wear one. Maybe that would work with your BM - letting her wear something a little longer, but that wouldn't look quite so out of place with a bunch of short dresses? Although I guess that would really depend on why she wants a long dress in the first place. (Has she given a reason? Does she just like the look better, or would she feel uncomfortable in a shorter skirt?) As for some of the BMs wearing the exact same dress and some not, I don't think that matters. I anticipate 2-4 of my girls ending up in the same dress, actually, since it's pretty universally flattering and gives them the ability to wear a regular bra. I just know one of my friends would hate it, and my MOH tried it on but picked something different. It never occurred to me to worry about more than one of them picking the same dress.

irishangieb

See! I knew you all would help!
Thanks so much. Its SLIGHTLY annoying to me that I told them that they needed to decide amongst themselves long or short....and they all (except 2) said they  would prefer long. 
I guess I was too nice in letting them hash it out themselves....thank god I'll never have to do all this again!
Thanks again ladies!!!

PattySmith101

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_double-post-i-know-but-you-are-all-such-huge-help?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:807297a3-abbb-499f-968b-84c50e9ab7b9Post:ffc3b078-d81e-45e0-89b2-89e99b24b6cc">Re: Double post I know, but you are all such huge help!</a>:
[QUOTE]Why not pick the designer, color, fabric, and length and then let them pick the style that they would like.  I have 5 bridesmaids, and I told them to pick any Alfred Angelo, black, satin, long dress that they wanted.  They all picked different styles and they look great. It's still pretty uniform, but since each girl can wear a style that looks best on her, then everyone is comfortable with what they are wearing.   I don't really like the look of some wearing long and other's wearing short dresses though.
Posted by Nic12184[/QUOTE]
this! i did the same thing... bill levkoff, european satin, floor length, Euro wine!

i do think they should all have the same length!