Three Bridesmaid Dress Ideas Your Maids Will Love

You’ve all seen the pictures-or, depending on your age and/or group of girlfriends, been party to-the tragedy that once beset bridesmaids across the country. I know I have … been party to, that is.

I have donned bridesmaid dresses that range from 1980s-style blue taffeta (and no, I wasn’t an adult in the 80s) to a two-piece foil-gold skirt and top to a clingy, bright purple knee-length dress .

And the sad part is, I did it without a question. You see, as the good bridesmaid I always was, I never questioned the bride when she selected our dress, told us which pantyhose to buy and ordered us to paint our nails in like-toned hues. It was part of the job.

Today’s brides , though are taking it easy on their gal pals and are offering color, style and fabric options I never had as a college-aged maid. And these options rock.

Here are three bridesmaid dress ideas your maids will love.

1. The Black Dress Idea
I’m in a wedding next month where the bride has chosen a beige and black color combination and asked the maids to simply choose any knee-length (ish) black dress of our choice. We could choose the sleeve style, fabric and fit. Since her maids range in height from 6’0 to 5’2 (that would be me!) I thought this was a kind choice and no one will feel frumpy or modest, since we chose the dress.

To infuse some color into her wedding, she asked each of us to choose a different brightly colored heel and accessories. She’s wearing red heels, the other maids are wearing yellow and purple and I’m wearing bright pink.

I think the end result will be elegant and classy, with a hint of youthful fun.


2. The Colors Idea
This idea is similar to the black dress idea but allows the bride more control over the dress. The idea here is for the bride to choose two or three colors she’d like for the bridesmaids to wear and then let them decide amongst themselves on the style of the dress.

My November wedding utilized the colors of the season and I knew I wanted deep, rich fall colors for the girls. That being said, I was open to which colors that would be. Since we started searching for their dresses more than a year in advance, we had the luxury of choosing their dress colors first, then letting the invites, stationary, linens and flowers fall into place.

I also knew I didn’t want them in matching dresses, but wanted their dresses to coordinate. In the end, three of my bridesmaids wore a matching chocolate dress with an eggplant accent and the other two wore eggplant dresses with chocolate accents. It was stunning.


3. The Color and Style Idea
This option takes the color idea one step further and lets the bride control the style and color of the dress the bridesmaids wear, but still allows room for the bridesmaid’s individuality.

Most dress designers now offer optional accents or colors for many of their dresses. As in the example below, the bride chose a knee-length dress and color and let the maids choose the sleeve style and cut.


Have you and your maids chosen dresses yet? What did you decide on?