BM dresses?

Question

I have 4 BM and 1 JR.BM - 2 of the girls are skinny, and in their 20's the other 2 are plus and in their 30's and a 14 year old Jr. They will be in Black dresses with white accents - what style will flatter all of them?? Strapless?? and spagetti straps for the Jr.???

I want all the dresses long, floor length, fo a more fomal look.

Answer 1

Honestly you'll have to take the 2 most "unique" looking ones with you. Plus sized could mean a lot of different things. And a lot of dresses are not very accommodating of larger chests. Though I would go with a wide strap halter dress. Halter is so in and gives more support to plus sized women. Plus the junior bm could wear the same dress.

My cousin took her 2 most different. One was a redhead, very fair skin and plus sized. The other was italian and wore about a size 2. That way she was able to pick a color that would look good on both.

In my case, I only took my sister b/c 2 of my bridesmaids would look good in anything. My sister is very curvy--and right on that line of plus sized or not. Most of the dresses I picked out were tossed out the window when she tried them on.

Sometimes strapless looks great on plus sized women and sometimes they look horrible. As for the junior, if you get strapless for the bm then get spaghetti straps for her (unless her figure is more mature and can handle it).

I hate the idea of allowing each bridesmaid to wear whatever. It looks horrible having one up there in a short casual, one in a long formal. Just b/c its all black doesn't mean it won't look like a hodgepodge of styles and informal. If you are going to do that, pick a 2 piece gown and allow them to pick between the straight skirt or mermaid skirt, and top that is halter or on the shoulders--but please don't go with just any black dress will do. Unless its a very casual outdoor backyard wedding, it looks horrible!!

Answer 2

It is good to see a bride who is looking out for her bridal party. I would suggest that you pick the fabric and color (which you seem to have already) and let them do the rest. Each girl knows what flatters her figure, so let each BM pick the dress that fits hr body type. That way each of them will bring their own personal style to your day. As for the Jr BM - you can put her in alternating colors (white dress with black accents) or just give her a black dress with no accents ... that way your guests will be able to tell her apart and it will make her feel more special.

Answer 3

Look at the David's bridal website...they have tons of pictures of bridal party girls that don't have the exact same dress on and it actually looks REALLY pretty...

Since black is SO simple decide what basic fabric you want and have the girls get the dress that flatters them best...making sure that they're all floor length and all of them can have the white accents.

Answer 4

Strapless will not flatter thin girls. They will look like ironing boards. The larger and older girls will be overflowing out of them and feeling self conscious all day. Strapless dresses don't look nice unless you spend a lot of money on alterations and bridesmaids tend never to be willing to do that. The most flattering style would be something like the dresses below.

Answer 5

Since your dress is pretty simple already, the bridesmaid dresses need to be even simpler than yours, which I see you've already taken note of. I personally think the bridesmaid dresses work pretty well with your wedding dress! The belt adds a nice touch. Not only that, but because of the simplicity, your bridesmaids can re-wear the dress to other parties, graduation, or weddings and can easily dress it up or down. THIS is why simple bridesmaid dresses are so nice to have. Since the bridesmaid dresses are so simple, nearly any flower bouquet would work with the dress, depending on the color, so you don't need to worry about their flowers coordinating with their dress. All in all, you chose the perfect dress!

Answer 6

Strapless will make the heavy set ones look bigger. You would have to consider their chest sizes as well. Maybe a halter top for the larger girls and dresses than didn't cling to their figure sround their stomach or butts. Empire line dresses may work. They cling to the bust and then drop to look quite elegant. Black and white might not be the best colors. you can always ask the girls to pick their own styles. It is quite common to have bridemaids in the same color, but different styles.

Answer 7

I think it looks very nice if they can wear the colors you choose but a dress that flatters them personally -
so perhaps work with the 'store' and say these are your options. Some love a strap less with a fabric shaw, some look great in spagetti straps..

Answer 8

You can always get different styles for each person. Some shops allow you to get a variety of styles of the same dress so that the fabric matches, but everyone is wearing an appropriate dress that flatters and doens't distract

Answer 9

The new thing in BM dresses are to have the same colors but every one have a different style of dress, its interesting and each girl can the the style she looks best in.

Answer 10

A-line dresses tend to be the most universally flattering on all shapes.

Now, with that said, I understand your dilemma. When I got married, I had a total of eight bridesmaids. They ranged in size from a 2 to a 20, and from 5' to 5'10" in height. My SIL had just had a baby, one didn't like her rear end, one thought she was too flat-chested - pick your body issue, I had a woman with it in my bridal party. :)

I also know my tastes. I tend to like things that would look good on me. I'm fairly tall thin and small-boned, My tastes naturally gravitated toward the spaghetti strapped, empire waisted dresses.

I knew none of my bridal party would like it (but would be gracious enough to wear it, had I insisted) So here's what I did: I took my MOH - who's extremely curvy, and would NOT be comfortable in something with spaghetti straps/strapless, and we went shopping. She and I picked out about 4 dresses she was comfortable in, then we went back with the rest of the bridesmaids.

I'm traditional, so I DID want them in the same gown, but we showed them the 4 we picked, and I told them to decide if they liked any of these.

The unanimously agreed on a two-piece dress. Top was sleeveless, skirt was A-line. They all FELT comfortable in it -- which made them automatically look better.

Anyway, now that I've just babbled on and on, my advice is to garner as much input from the girls who will be wearing the dresses as possible. Shopping will be fun, and they'll totally thank you for it!