Weddingbee Blog

Although I had a lot of apathy toward and uncertainty about finding my own wedding dress, I at least thought that I had a little bit of direction for my bridesmaid dresses. Not that picking them out was any easier than figuring out what I wanted to wear, but I knew at least one thing going into it - I did not want long bridesmaid dresses.

Okay. Phew. One decision out of the way. Hey, at least it’s something, right?

So, armed with that decision, I set out into the world of wedding blogs to try and find some inspiration as to what I wanted my ’maids to wear. Yeah, I suppose it isn’t as easy as simply narrowing down the length, huh?

At first, I wanted to go with a more non-traditional dress that doesn’t really scream “bridesmaid.” Something fun, and patterned - perhaps from Anthropologie (because we all know how much I love that store). I really liked how these dresses looked in bridal party pictures, and I definitely knew that my girls could wear them after the wedding, since they weren’t, you know, “typical” bridesmaid-esque dresses.

{Picture by Erik Clausen of Poser Image/ Via Ruffled}

This route also allowed for the option of the girls choosing their own dresses, albeit within a certain style or pattern. We still want things to look cohesive, don’t we??

{Photo by SugarLove Pictures/ Via Ruffled}

I love the look of this next one. Even though the girls aren’t all wearing the same dress, there certainly is a cohesive, uniform look to everything. The colors all fit together beautifully.

{Picture by Sean Walker Photography/ Via Style Me Pretty}

I love this look, I really do. When done correctly, it looks so elegant and fun. But, I had a really hard time finding the perfect non-bridesmaid bridesmaid dress. I also struggled going the mismatched route - I couldn’t find dresses that looked matchy, but not too matchy. And I’m a bit of a control freak, so I had a hard time envisioning myself relinquishing all control to my BMs (sorry ladies! I know you have great taste).

So then I thought, well, maybe I will just pick a palette for the dresses, and they can choose whatever dress they want in a range of shades. Bridesmaids with similar dress colors and in different dress styles look amazing. It doesn’t look too strained, and each BM gets to let their personality shine through by picking their own dress.

{Picture by Meaghan Elliott Photography/ Bridesmaid Dresses by: Priscilla of Boston, Alfred Sung, Watters & Watters, David’s Bridal/ Via Style Me Pretty}

{Picture by Jason & Anna Photography/ Via Style Me Pretty}

I still struggled with this, though - for some reason, I just couldn’t conceptualize the different styles of dresses I would want, and I wanted to be able to give my BMs some sort of direction. Plus, there didn’t seem to be many dresses out there in the color/ shades that I was looking for.

This led me to the whole scheme of the BMs getting their dresses from one company, such as J. Crew, that makes dresses in the same color and fabric, but in different styles. That look is chic, and allows for different personalities and body-types, but also keeps things cohesive.

{Picture by Jill Thomas/ Via Once Wed}

I also realized during my search of inspiration that I do love the classic look of the BMs wearing the same dress. Definitely elegant, and it certainly looks nice in pictures.

{Picture by Lisa Lefkowitz/ Via Style Me Pretty}

I became slightly overwhelmed with all the different options. Bridesmaid dresses were definitely not the easy decision I thought they would be!

Which route did you go with your BM dresses? Completely non-matching dresses? Mismatched and patterned, yet cohesive? Similar shades, different styles? Same color and fabric, different styles? Or the same dress for everyone?