Tips to Find the Perfect Bridesmaid Dress

Q: Who picks the gowns?
A: Always the bride. The bridesmaids dresses may carry the colors or even the theme of the wedding, but the dresses are usually chosen to complement the bride and make her look good in all the photos. At least one of the bridesmaids will hate the gowns, but remember that it’s the bride’s day, not yours. Most of the current brides magazines have bridesmaids gowns, but be aware that many of these are very flashy, trendy, hip, or just plain weird. Some of the designers are trying to win awards and get noticed, not create conservative, understated gowns that will work well with a wedding gown. Once you narrow it down to the colors and style you like, then you can get input from your bridesmaids.

Don’t waste your time on the internet looking for bridesmaids’ dresses. The last thing you should ever do is order any gown on the internet. Be sure and shop in a regular salon so you will see the actual colors, textures, and how the fabric hangs. Then do the salon the courtesy of buying from them, don’t turn around and stab them in the back by ordering the gowns off the net. Bridal shops have gotten very competitive with their prices, so you may not save that much money on each individual gown. The salon will provide you with some really valuable services--just follow your conscience in this matter.

The hottest styles right now are tea-length, one-piece gowns in muted colors, with a sash around the waist, like the wonderful Lazaro bridesmaids' dress shown in the photo on the right. The photos shown on this page are not completely out of style, but the represent classic styles that you will see quite often, year after year. Also popular are halter-top, floor length, and sleeveless. There is no real standard for a bridesmaids gown. If you look at the bridal magazines, you will see so many different styles that it really just depends on what you like.

Q: What are the latest colors in bridesmaids dresses?
A: Tiffany blue is coming back. Pale blue, Aqua, Chocolate Brown, Light Pink. Now here’s an area where you don’t have a lot of choice, unless you have someone make the gowns. Designers decide which colors are going to be “in” each season, and those are the colors that are available. One year it was the jewel colors, dark cobalt blue, deep rich burgundy, platinum, and lime green. Another year it was pastels. Sometimes you will find madras, but rarely. Try and pick the jewel colors for fall and the pastels for spring, and so on. You can always find black and white gowns for black and white wedding. Harder to find is a rainbow set, since all the colors may not go together very well. One current trend is to have each bridesmaid in a different dress, but if you do this be sure and choose one over-riding rule to make everything tie together. For instance, no dress should be above the knee, or no sleeveless, or something. Also, try and match the sheen of the fabrics, so one dress isn’t shiny and another dull.

Shown at left is another wonderful Lazaro gown. We just love this collection!

It goes without saying that you wouldn’t choose a heavy gown with sleeves during the summer or a light, short, strapless gown during the winter.

Q: I've found the dresses I want, what should I do next?
A: The salon should be able to measure you so you can select the size you want from the manufacturer’s size chart. Every designer uses a different size chart, so don’t try to cross-reference the charts with each other at different stores.

Q: One of my bridesmaids is very, very large. What should I do?
A: Easy, order an extra gown, take it to your seamstress, and have her make gussets. Gussets are panels that are sewn into a gown to make it larger. One of my bridesmaids is smaller than the smallest size offered by the manufacturer. What should I do? Same thing in reverse. Your seamstress can take in a gown. Most bridesmaids gowns are made either A line or Princess seams so that they can be very easily taken in along the side. Even your Aunt Matilda could do it, if she has a sewing machine.

Q: How can I find the best price?
A: This should never be an issue. You aren’t paying for the gowns and your bridesmaids are each being asked to pay for only one gown. You have used the services of a bridal salon and you should order from them. Is it really worth hurting your local business person just to save a few bucks on a gown? Worse, many brides have been very, very disappointed by ordering a gown over the internet. You are opening up more problems than you can imagine. A local bridal salon can take care of problems quickly and save you both time and money. Before you order any kind of gown over the internet, you better read some of the horror stories. Look here: Lazaro Bridal. In 2005 thousands of brides lost both their money and their gowns when the four largest internet gown dealers declared bankruptcy. See Bridal Gown Disasters for more information.

Q: How far in advance of the wedding should I order the dresses?
A: Styles are discontinued every season, so you need to order as soon as you’ve made a decision. Also, you need to order all the dresses at the same time since dye lots can vary. Finally, give yourself about six weeks for alterations—most seamstresses are very busy certain times of the year.

Do you have any other advice?

Brides: Try to keep your bridesmaids' tastes in mind. Their budgets, need to be factored into the decision somewhat, but remember that a budget is just a piece of fiction. When you said you could only afford fifteen hundred for your gown, where did you get that figure? Didn’t you end up buying a two thousand dollar gown instead? Bridesmaids may say they can only afford 99 dollars for a gown, but they can probably go 150 with no problem. Just don’t push it to 3 or 4 hundred dollars.

Bridesmaids: You’re going to wear the dress for a few hours one day only. Don’t let it get in the way of a friendship that will last a lifetime! If the bride has chosen the bridesmaids dresses from hell, you could all get together and tell her so. If you are the only one who doesn’t like the gowns, it’s best not to say anything.