Moms and Maids

Dress Prices?

Hi all! I'm getting married September 20th and I finally found bridesmaid dresses that I love. They're $115 at the shop but I'm not sure all my bridesmaids can afford that and it's definitely not in the cards to buy them ourselves. My question is, how do I go about asking whether that's an okay price without embarrassing someone? And if they are too expensive, would it be wrong to offer to buy half?
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Re: Dress Prices?

  • beardownbchsbeardownbchs member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    edited February 2013
    You need to ask them each individually what their budgets are. Do not mention this dress or a price, let them tell you. 
  • You should ask each of your bridesmaids privately what she can afford to spend on a dress.  You should not mention the dress you have already found until you know what their individual budgets are.  Once you have the individual budgets, you either find a dress that meets the lowest budget or you pay the difference between the individual budgets and the dress you found.
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  • I agree, ask your bridesmaids. That being said, $115.00 is on the lower end for most bridesmaids dresses in my experience
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_moms-maids_dress-prices?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:357Discussion:f605b727-1f66-41b9-9fac-cd63f922fecaPost:868775eb-157c-4e7f-975c-7b5caefe6080">Re: Dress Prices?</a>:
    [QUOTE]You should ask each of your bridesmaids privately what she can afford to spend on a dress.  You should not mention the dress you have already found until you know what their individual budgets are.  Once you have the individual budgets, you either find a dress that meets the lowest budget or <strong>you pay the difference between the individual budgets and the dress you found.</strong>
    Posted by JaclyneD[/QUOTE]

    <div>I would tread lightly doing this. Unless you were the closest person in the whole world to me (which as a bridesmaid, these women may/should be), I would be kind of offended if I told you my budget was $75 and you said that you'd already found a dress for $115 but you'll pay the difference. "Then why did you even ask me?" - KWIM?</div><div>
    </div><div>OP, you need to get your girls' budgets before you decide on a dress. </div>
  • ditto PP.  I just want to emphasis that you should leave the $115 number out of the conversation.  If you say "Is $115 okay?" some of your girls will feel pressured to say yes, even if it's out of their comfort zone.  If you leave it open ended "What kind of budget are you comfortable with for the dress?" it ensures they're all honest with you.
  • Agreed with the PPs, but yeah, $115 is pretty reasonable in general for a BM dress. My BMs paid around $140, and I'm a BM in my friend's wedding this summer and hers are around the same as mine.
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  • Argeed, I found this worked well.  I asked each girl their price range and selected a dress that everyone was comfotable paying for.   

    But chances are 115 will be a comfotable price point.
  • I think $115 will be fine. I would ask them their budget first as if you never saw this dress. If everyone states a budget over this, then send them a photo of the dress and make sure they like it. Or is it possible to get all or some of them to the store to try a sample? If I hadn't brought 2 of my bridesmaids with me, I would have never known that someone with a large chest can't wear spaghetti straps and that something with a ruffle or some sort of layering is slimming for plus size ladies. They provided me with this input, and if they had not,  I very likely would have picked something that they'd be unhappy with. Not that this is the goal, but they might see more value in (and be willing to spend more on) a dress they had input in. 

    I think that $115 is more than reasonable, and I don't anticipate you having problems.
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