how to make bridal party happy with dresses?

Question

i am getting married may 2008 and have 4 bridesmaids 3 of them are short and 1 is alot taller the short girls want short dresses and the tall one wants a long one.....my wedding is in the spring but on a friday evening should i go with short or long?

Answer 1

A great new trend is letting the girls pick their own dresses. You just pick the color and type of fabric so the girls can be comfortable in what they are wearing. No need to have them all look the same.

Answer 2

I had a similar problem. I have four girls as well all with different body styles. We all went to the bridal salon and after giving them pictures of what I would like them to consider they picked out their own dresses and they are all happy. Keep in mind there is no law that says all of the girls have to be in the same dress. Davids Bridal and many other designers offer mix and match separates that look quite nice together. It gives everyone a chance to show their personality. But remember this is your day, tell them you prefer long or short or whatever and see if you can all come to a compromise. Short or tea length dresses are really popular now and they will be able to wear them again to other events. Again pick what you want and see what can be negotiated such as length and style.

Answer 3

If you want everyone to wear the same dress, someone is not going to be happy. There isn't a bridesmaid dress that suits all body types. What you might consider is they all wear dresses of the same color/fabric, but not the same dress. That way everyone can get the neckline, skirt length, style whatever dress that suits them. Otherwise, don't worry about it and pick whatever you want - having to buy a dress you will probably not like and never wear again is just a small part of being a bridesmaid, and most girls know that. The important thing is that they were included in your special day.

Answer 4

i haven't read any of the answers thus far, so i don't know if anyone has already suggested this.
our daughters have all been in wedding parties. this dress thing is always a hassle. the last one was the easiest. the bride took the girls out for lunch, and told them she wanted their dresses to be black. she wanted them all to be sleeveless, tea length or floor length, not fussy and not taffeta! then she let them go. the girls all went out separately found 'their' dress and bought it.
each girl had a different dress, and it looked marvelous! now i wouldn't have given them that much freedom myself, but it worked.
i would suggest perhaps you do a bit of shopping via computer, catalogue, whatever. pick out half a dozen dresses you like, and that work well together, give each girl a picture of the assorted dresses and then let each of them choose what dress they will wear.
just a query, is there any chance the tall girl is your maid of honor? then she could easily wear a long dress and the others wear short dresses. if not perhaps you could compromise and tell them you want them all to wear tea-length.
whatever your choice, good luck and may your wedding day be all you have dreamt it should be!

tea-length is mid calf, a length that suits almost every woman.

Answer 5

I went pretty democratically.

My wedding is in July 2008, and I chose the color (cornflower) and the designer (David's Bridal), and I let the maid of honor get a long dress, and the other 5 bridesmaids must wear tea or cocktail length. The actual dress style is up to them. It makes them less matchy matchy, and they will actually LIKE the dress they have to buy!
So, since you have such different sizes, maybe just choosing color and designer is the way to go for you too!
Good luck!

Answer 6

I am split evenly with the height of my girls. Three are short and three are tall. I have them in Tea Length dresses, which is where it hits about an inch below the knee. What I did is, I picked out three or four dresses that I liked and then I had them pick which one they wanted from the selection. The final decision was a majority. At leasat they had some say so.

Answer 7

You could make them all unhappy and go with tea length ;-)

Seriously, if you have your heart set on having your bm's all wearing the same dress, having 3/4 of them happy isn't bad. If you're open to it, you can have your maids pick out their own dresses as long as it's in the same color--but it's your wedding and you're not obliged to make them happy.

A compromise might be giving the tall one an option of wearing lower heels or flats so that she doesn't feel like she's freakishly tall (or worse, in all of the pictures having her so much taller than everyone else that she looks ridiculous).

I'm 5'8, and my 4 best friends range from 4'10 thru 5'4, so I've had some experience with this...

Answer 8

Are you dead set on having them all match exactly? My girlfriend recently got married and had 6 bridesmaids (most of whom lived on the opposite coast). She told them to get a floor-length gown in a muted metallic shade (she may have given swatches of examples). They all picked different dresses - I think 2 were wearing a dark pewter shade; the other 4 were wearing shades of copper. The overall effect was gorgeous and very classy, and they all had dresses (because they weren't "bridesmaids" dresses) that they would wear again.

As a short gal, I can tell you that it's harder for us to find a flattering style than it is for a tall gal. Your tall gal will look fine in anything the short gals can wear -- but they will not necessarily look good in style she can wear.

Also - as a short gal, tea length is not the most flattering length for us. Knee-length gives us length in our legs; floor length give us height by creating an unbroken vertical line. Tea-length (IMHO) takes away the best features of the other two styles.

Answer 9

Well I planned mine in 4 months. I had 3 girls and I let them pick the dresses. One girl used a dress she used early in the season when she stood up to a friends. The other 2 bought dresses they liked. 1 had a deep pink and the other 2 had shades of light purple. I coordinated my flowers to their dress colors and everyone was happy. It turned out beautiful and everyone I told couldnt believe thats how I ended up with my colors. This wouldnt work if you had your heart set on a certain color or style. But say you picked blue....let them choose the style HOW UNIQUE! Tell them all floor length and let them pick - you have the final say. Its good to not be a follower. Every girl wants something special at her wedding

Answer 10

I would pick the designer/manufacturer that you like, pick the color sample from that designer, and then have your bridesmaids pick whatever dress from the line that can be ordered in that particular color. That way, they'll each get to be happy with what they get, and you get the color that looks right for your wedding. If you look in many bridal magazines, that's the current "look." Brides are avoiding doing the whole matchy-matchy bridesmaids thing (and high time too) and letting each of their bridesmaids pick something they will be happy with.