Ive worked in the bridesmaid department here at Betsy's for several years, and Ive seen a lot of trends come and go. Oh, the colors and fabrics I have seen! Ive also seen brides struggle to find what they want. Finding bridesmaid dresses can be even more difficult than finding a wedding dress.
Actually, shopping for bridesmaids dresses is almost always harder. And it almost always takes longer.
Picking the right bridesmaids dresses is an intricate balancing act. Shopping for them can require as much agility and tact as a real-life tight rope walker. It makes sense, right? You have to balance what the brides want with what their bridesmaids want. Then theres balancing the cost of the dress with the budget of the bridal party. There's also balancing body types in a way that lets everyone look their best.
And dont even get me started on balancing the style of a dress with the colors that it comes in.
See? Its no wonder that bridesmaid shopping can get pretty tricky pretty quickly. I see it all the time, and the root of the problem is almost always very sweet: everyone just wants everyone to be happy.
I want you to love it.
But I want you to love it.
The Single Color Solution
Thats where the handiest of all bridesmaid trends comes in. More and more brides are simply picking a designer and a color and allowing their maids to choose whatever style they want.
Brides are happy because they get the cohesiveness that a single color provides, and they don't have to bother with finding multiple colors that fit their scheme. Bridesmaids are happy because they get a choice and can pick something flattering. There can still be some trouble with budget and color, but overall, bridal parties are happier and brides are less stressed.
A few years ago the big trend was to go complete mix and match for bridesmaids. There were different colors, styles, fabrics, you name it. I still love that trend (ahem, have you seen my wedding pictures?!) but that takes a lot of work to get it right.
When brides simply pick a single color from one designer it makes life easy. Its a simple solution to an often over complicated problem.
So if youre one of those brides who has a bunch of paint samples spread in an array over your living room floor with a web of yarn attaching them to various styles, take a breath, sit back, and think simpler.
Delegate & Relax
And let go a little. You dont have to make every decision about your wedding. You dont have to approve every tiny detail. If you feel the need to have a little control (I get that) then go through your chosen designers inventory and make sure nothing is off limits. If you hate a dress, make it off limits, and then close your computer and let your bridesmaids do the rest.
The results are confident and beautiful bridesmaids whose faces will beam out of their pictures for years and years to come.
{Lindsey}