Summertime usually means that it’s wedding season. The season of love. The season of romance. The season of wedding gowns, sequins, embroidered flowers, itchy tool and of course, the beloved bridesmaids’ dresses.
Every wedding I attend, I hope that the beloved couple – my friends – prepare to do something ridiculous and memorable (for my own entertainment of course), like a coordinated dance down the aisle or a flash mob (with grandma doing her own confused version of the ‘Electric Slide’). My favorite part of most weddings, other than the love and the ‘I DO’ mushy parts, are finding the crazy uncles hitting on all of the bride’s friends and, of course, checking out what the bride chose as the style of bridesmaids’ dresses.
Let us focus on the bridesmaids for a moment. I love my friends, let me just put that out there, and I was of course honored to be in their weddings over the years. One of biggest fears after being a bridesmaid is, “What am I going to do with this dress?”
Of course the bride reassures me, “Don’t worry, I’m going to pick out a dress that you’ll actually wear again!” I tend to believe my friends. I have to assume that a friend who is asking me to be a part of their special day knows me pretty well and with that, knows that I would never be caught in a Canary Yellow dress or a T-length Aqua off-the-shoulder dress. Thankfully, there are smart people in this world who come up with creative ways to turn that “dress you will never wear again” into something you will actually get good use out of, like a nighty or a pillow or a baby blanket for your good friend who tied the knot 9 months earlier. The gals at Old New Borrowed Redo were smart enough to make this into a business.
If I may offer my $.02 to the future brides of the world, just let your bridesmaids wear black. It’s simple and let’s be real, all of your friends own an appropriate black dress and will look good in it. That being said, knowing that they won’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on dresses, they will spoil you more at your stagette and shower.
Something to think about.
Love to all my friends. I loved being in your weddings.
I think you mean tulle, not tool.
As someone who plans weddings for a living, I very much agree with you. While it is “all about the bride”, one of the best and most wonderful things a bride can do to further compliment her chosen bridesmaids is to extend a sense of freedom in the dress-choosing process. My job allows me to see the beautiful, the good, the bad, and the oh-my-gosh-why?!. If you want your bridesmaids to look and feel beautiful, give them a scheme and let them pick their style. If you want your bridesmaids to fall into the oh-my-gosh-why?! category, choose the same style for each bridesmaid no matter the size or shape of each girl. And there’s nothing wrong with not wanting black dresses for your summer wedding, especially if it’s outdoor!!
As a future bride I’m going to be shopping with my bridesmaids and we’ll be picking the dresses together. I don’t want black dresses for a summer wedding though.!!!
Laura, I’m not saying the girls have to be uncomfortable. Like I said, i involved mine in the process of choosing the dress. But when it comes to wedding planning, too many people are rude and pushy and lose site of what the day is really about.
True. A wedding day is about the couple getting married. So why would I force my friends to wear something they hated, making them self-conscious all day? I don’t want the focus of my wedding to be on how uncomfortable my friends are.
I’d rather let them wear dresses they already own as long as they match each other and they let me choose budget-friendly accessories that will tie it all together.
I let my bridesmaids pick their own dresses. I asked that it be not floor length, and black and white in any combination. The groomsmen also wore whatever they wanted in black and white. The boys wore yellow watches (from the groom) and yellow feather boutineers. The girls decided to wear yellow shows and hair stuff. everyone looked amazing. the pictures of the bridal party look like the most fun j crew ad ever and they’ve all worn their “bridal party” clothes again.
as someone currently planning a wedding, i tried to involve my girl in picking their dresses. and i *think* that they like them. but ultimately, it is my choice. the wedding is about the bride and the groom, not the bridesmaids. so instead of pressuring brides into being good friends and letting the bridesmaids wear something they like, we should be telling whiny bridesmaids to suck it up and wear what they’re asked to wear without telling the bride how ugly they think it is, because the day is NOT about them.
As a professional bridesmaid, I concur!