Bridesmaids

What is your price range for their dress?

I'd say that unless you're the one paying for the BM dresses, or they come from rich families/have enough money themselves then $300 is a bit on the steep side for a dress they'll probably only wear the one time. I asked my girls what they could afford and let them pick the budget- they all said that they'd like to keep it under $200, cheaper if possible. I've ended up just picking the designer, fabric, color & length & telling them to get whatever one they like.

Well, I was in one of my co-workers wedding and she went with a dress that was $250  and $75 pair of low heels about 5 years ago and that was way to much back then, but she was my friend and I wanted to be in her wedding and I did whatever it took to buy the dress.  So, if you simple adore a dress and you want what you want then, like she told me you either buy the dress or drop out.  But we could talk to each other like that.

But on the other hand my bridesmaid dress are just as cute and we are only going to pay $89 for them and they can wear them again if they like.

My BM's are paying for their own attire. Their dresses were $197 including taxes. They also have to have them altered, which won't be too expensive, because they don't require a lot of alterations. When we went looking for a dress, I promised my girls I would not pick something that cost over $200. One of them is only 16 and doesn't have a job, and the other two are in college and university. I think $300 is a bit high for a BM dress, especially since most dresses they will never wear again. There are lots of dresses in the $200 price range. My BM's dresses were from the After Six line, and most of them were in the $200 price range.

My Bm's are all wearing a different dress ranging from $75 - $150 each (from daddyos.com & stopstaring.com), They're getting their own shoes & gloves. and i bought their lace fans and feather fascintors and i'm making their jewelry. Their hair will cost $100 and makeup is optional for $80 - they have all decided to get their makeup done. Thank goodness the dresses i've chosen are inexpensive cause all the other stuff they need adds up fast!

I will agree that $300 is too much.  They also have to purchase shoes,  jewelry, get their hair done, nails, pay for travel and lodging, buy you a gift, and probably host your bridal shower and bachelorette party.

I, personally, love Bari Jay too.  My BM's are getting style 765.  We are ordering them from Pearl's Place.  Instead of paying the $200 + tax in store, they are paying $120 + $12 shipping for all the dresses.  So total, each girl will pay about $125. Pearl's Place pricing for that dress is about $165, but you'll have to check to get the shipping for your area.  GL planning.

I paid for all the Bridesmaids, Maid of Honor & Flower Girl.

The average was about $230.00

my BM dresses were $119 but since i got my dress tehre they got 20% off, so with tax their's were $107....

my bridesmaids dresses were $240 and i saw a lot in the $200-250 price range that were really beautiful. i talked to my bridesmaids before we started looking and we set a budget together for their dresses. we were all very honest and upfront about what they could spend and i found that really helpful :)

wow I can't imagine paying that much for a dress.  I feel bad for finding one around $150 and having her buy it. Although they are pretty dresses, I just can't ask someone to shell out that much money for a dress they will more than likely not wear again.  Plus for shoes and any accessories.  We were talking and she said anything under $200 is reasonable.  Of course I guess it would be different if I were having a more "traditional" wedding.  I guess it really all depends on your BMs budget--the weddings I have been in were $150 average.

Most of mine are still in school, so I picked a dress from David's Bridal.... originally I wanted a dress from Jim Hjelm for all the girls, but they said it was way to much.  Really think about what financial situations your bridesmaids are in.  If they are working, then they can probably afford the 300 dollar dresses:)

I bought my girls dresses and they were $130 ish I also got their shoes which were another $50 ish each. I think $300 is alot especially at the moment with the economy being so bad. You could always get a quote on getting the type of dress you are looking at made!

i think 200.00 is alot...i loved some dresses that were in this range..but i couldnt imagine making my bridesmaides pay this...plus shoes..plus the partys..etc. i found a nice dress for 58.00 and they will be able to wear it again! if your going to have them pay that much i would be sure they can wear it again and they all love it. just my opinion

My girls dresses were $160 from Alfred Angelo and I thought that was too steep to ask anyone to purchase that

i got my girls to get their dresses from David's because they cost at most 150.  100 is reasonable...anything more is too much in my opinion.  but everyone has different points of view.

Yeah I agree, $300 is asking for a lot, I'd say $200 or less is resonable...you have to remember your bridesmaids are also paying for a lot of other things including gifts for you guys as well as going to parties and showers.  It's a special day for you, but you don't want it to be a burden for them...

We went with an Alfred Sung dress.  Because we're ordering from the same place I purchased my dress the girls are getting discounts, so the dresses are under $140 plus the cost of alterations.  I felt that was a bit much too for a dress they will wear for one day, but after looking at other dress prices, it seems fairly reasonable.  Also, I allowed the girls to all give their input and after weeks of mass e-mails they found a dress they all agreed on!

$300 is definitely too high imo...I mean gee some wedding gowns are in the $300-$400 range (that is if you aren't too picky or if you find one on sale like I did for $399!!), so I would never want my BMs to have to pay pretty close to what I paid for my own dress lol!!  Even $200-$300 is a pretty high range, I would say the average is more like $150-$200.  The dresses we've picked out are $145 from David's Bridal, but since I bought my dress there too, then each of my BMs will get $20 off of their dresses!!  Once you add shoes, hair and make-up, and the whole nine yards, then I would definitely say that it would only be fair to your girls to try to keep their dresses under $200...unless you can afford to pay for all of their dresses??!!!  Good luck and I hope this helps!! ;-)

Ok thx girls. So general consensus is that it should be below $200 unless I'm paying or unless my BM's are made of money, which they are not. I thought I might put in $50 toward each of their dresses if I wanted them to wear a more expensive one, but now that I think about it I'd rather put that toward them getting professional makeup done, or something, though truth be told I can do their makeup myself, I'm good at that kinda thang... the question is, will I WANT to do their makeup on the day of? Probably not. So now to find a dress I love that is under $200. Canadian brides, anyone know where I can find something similar to the Jim Hjelm, Lazaro, etc. dresses that I posted on my blog, for a good price? We are not buying them online. I don't have time to coordinate that for 5 brides and make sure the right sizes come in, etc. not to mention almost all the good online stores are in the US and I'm not paying customs/duty, I'd rather pay local tax - at least I know what to expect. :)

Thanks again girls! Love your input and appreciate it so much. :)

i paid coz i found bargain dresses at £35 each on sale
satin scarf £5 each
may have to do alterations

hey soulwishes. first off thanks also for your post about our wedding song. everybody's opinions are so helpful.  and for your comment about GTA dresspricing I am totally with you. It seems a lot of our bridal stores are really overpriced there is a lot of dresses over 200$ and not much under this price  when it comes to bridesmaids dresses. so i decided to call my bridal store and find out why and they say its because most of the dresses have to be shipped into Canada from elsewhere.  i even found that my wedding dress was more expensive here than it was in the US. have you tried the store Best For Bride it's somewhere in Etobicoke and it seems they carry a lot of dresses for less money than elsewhere.  Another friend of mine also drove over the border got her dresses from Davids bridal for a really good price and got them all altered here.  Hope this helps :)

Hi there,

Yes, our prices are definitely higher than in the US. Best for Bride is actually around the corner from me pretty much, well, about 10 minutes away by car at most. Bathurst/Sheppard, so North York actually. I haven't gone there but I think I will this weekend if I can. I have heard the service is atrocious but I guess I will bear it and see what it's like for myself. :) Thanks.

My girls dresses were $155. I personally thought it was ridiculous to ask my poor college friends to spend an extravagant amount of money on a dress they might or might not wear again. I'm having them wear there nicest black, open toed, high heel shoes, and I'm going to find some jewelry for them. It's more important to me to have my best friends standing there beside me in something affordable than for them to not be able to be there because they can't afford a dress.

@Firefly bride. I understand your situation and would feel the same way in your shoes, if my friends were broke college kids. I'm 30, none of my BM's are in school, everyone of them works except one but she is in a good financial position even though she's not working, so I guess i'm looking at it from a different perspective. WHile none of us is rich, every one of them throws hundreds of dollars down on things without much thought when they want to and as mentioned, here where we live, the low end BM dresses start at about $189, the high end is about $500. I'm not saying they have to spend $300. I just found a few dresses I liked which happened to be up there.

Even Dessy, After Six and Alfred Sung Bm dresses which are supposed to be relatively affordable are about $220-280ish. I have found the Alfred Angelo's to be cheaper, in/around $200.

That all said I agree, if you can find a great dress line that works for your Bm's and which is really priced low, go for it! Especially if they're in college or in other circumstances which prevent them from having the funds necessary to pay much toward attire/accessories, etc. for your wedding. In terms of importance it's more important your favourite people are there w/ you on your big day and less important what they wear, I would not dispute that.

Hi, just an update. We went BM dress shopping today, and I didn't find anything under $178. So I guess I'm not nuts. There just isn't much out there under that price range. Mind you that was in one store but it's consistent w/ other local pricing I've been finding in other stores I've been to in our city over the last few months of looking for dresses for me and for the girls.

The mission continues. My sister in laws seem to think they've got the dress situation figured out. I personally didn't love any of the dresses they chose to try on today. Way more formal than I wanted... and not even WOW formal, just formal. They were choosing dresses in the $250 range. My older FSIL chose a $180 dress for her 9 year old daughter who is not even IN our wedding party other than that I am going to have her do a reading as part of the ceremony but that is it.

p.s. that's the same FSIL who was saying that $250-300 is too high for a BM dress I might add.

Hope my post didn't come across offensively. I just read it & can see how it could be taken the wrong way. Glad your BMs can spend the money & wish mine could! Best wishes to you! :)

Hi Firefly,

I wasn't offended by your post, I'm glad you took the time to visit my page and read/reply. :) I wasn't meaning my post to come across as angry either so I guess it just goes to show that it's so easy to take things out of context using this impersonal method of communication. :) I just wanted it to be known to help put things in perspective that I'm not as young as some of the brides on here, I'm 30, all my Bm's are in a position to spend a bit on a dress, not that I'm trying to exploit that mind you but the fact is, they're not broke when they want to splurge on things, so shouldn't be broke when it comes to my wedding either or else should not have accepted role of BM in my opinion. One of my BM's is 40 and incidentally she has decided to buy her daughter who is not evne IN my wedding party, a dress that is nearly $200 (her daughter is 9), so I think she can probably afford to buy a dress for at least that for herself given that she IS in my wedding party.

Anyway I didn't take your post offensively,you just reminded me that I should probably clarify what the situation actually is so people know where I'm coming from. :) Thanks again!