You’ve shared the happy news that you’re engaged and now you’ve got to choose your bridesmaids. Good maids will make a bride’s day much easier, helping her to get ready, calm her nerves and feel confident on one of the biggest days of her life to date. Traditionally brides have stuck to convention when it comes to clothing their bridesmaids – choosing one dress in one colour and one style for every maid to wear. We’re all about keeping your bridesmaids as happy as possible on her big day, but often choosing one look will leave one or more bridesmaids feeling uncomfortable and not themselves.
Here at Wedding Ideas we are seeing more and more of our real brides branching out and dressing their maids in gowns to suit them individually (or even letting them choose their dresses themselves!). Inspired by our wonderful real brides, we’re sharing with you four bridesmaid rules that are okay to break.
1. Bridesmaids must wear the same dress
Matching bridesmaids are an option, but it’s important to remember they are only that. There are plenty of other options available for your bridesmaids, whether you want to dress them in one colour but they can choose from a range of multi-way styles or pick a style and leave them to decide on a colour.
When having bridesmaids of a range of ages, wearing the same dress can leave some feeling uncomfortable. Some styles and lengths will look too young, too grown up, won’t sit right or will be too figure hugging depending on the ages of your bridesmaids. A comfortable and confident maid makes for smiling faces in the photos and a much happier day, so bear this in mind when shopping for their dresses and be willing to choose a range of styles to suit their individual shapes.
2. Bridesmaids must match their hair and accessories
As with matching dresses, matching accessories, hair and makeup is not always the best option for beautiful bridesmaids. If you’ve got maids with a range of skin tones, hair colours, lengths and styles, it’s worth trying out hair and makeup to suit their individual appearance while also complementing you and the other bridesmaids. Think similar but not quite the same. Your maids will thank you for it!
3. Bridesmaids must be an even number for the photos
Do you have five best friends but feel like you have to disappoint one of them to have an even number of bridesmaids? Or are you struggling to decide who to tag on to make your maids up to six? Your wedding day is such a special celebration, so spend it with the people who mean the most to you whether that gives you an even or an odd number of bridesmaids. If you’re worried about making the photos look balanced, you could always suggest your groom chooses the same number of groomsmen. Looking back at your wedding photos, you’ll care more about who is in them than how many people are in each one, so relax and choose as many bridesmaids as is right for you.
4. Bridesmaids must not wear white
A lot of the time, this is one of the bridesmaid rules that still applies – brides don’t want to be confused with their maids on their special day, after all! That doesn’t mean you can’t do things differently for your wedding – it’s a day all about you, your husband or wife-to-be and your love, so what you want goes.
This year there have been trends for champagne, blush, pale blue and floral designs for bridal gowns. As brides opting to wear these styles aren’t wearing traditional white themselves, introducing it into the bridesmaid dresses runs less of a risk of a maid being mistaken for the bride and will complement the bride’s dress beautifully.
What bridesmaid rules will you stick to and what bridesmaid rules will you break?
