Planning for Mismatched Bridesmaid Dresses: Tips for Success

Give your bridesmaids opportunity for expression and independence, while staying within your wedding theme.

As modern brides chip away at traditional wedding rules, bridesmaids are finding themselves with a little more wiggle room when it comes to choosing a gown for the big day. Brides are instead providing guidelines for bridesmaids dresses around wedding themes, color families, and even a single unifying dress element. Instead of cookie cutter dresses, bridesmaid may even find a dress they can wear more than once. Imagine the possibilities!

When a bride opts for mismatched bridesmaid dresses, a whole new window of opportunity presents itself. Bridesmaids have a extra freedom for comfort, expression, and even cost (bridesmaids on a budget, we see you) while still honoring the couple and complementing the wedding’s aesthetic.

We’ve put together a list of tips sure to help guide and inspire brides interested in the idea of mismatched bridesmaid dresses. And if you’re looking for a tool to help you organize it all, we’ll show you how Blueprint Registry can help with that, too.

Set Your Wedding Scheme

Before your bridesmaids can begin shopping, your color scheme and wedding theme should be nailed down. It isn’t always so simple to make returns or exchanges on outfits (especially if they’ve been altered) if you later change your mind about aesthetics. You want to do your best to avoid any additional costs to your bridal party, because being a wedding guest and part of a bridal party isn’t cheap either.

Make sure your wedding date is firm, since the season may impact your thoughts on dress style, length, fabric, and color. Once you know the season your wedding will take place in, you’ll be able to narrow down options and relay them back to your bridesmaids.

Prioritize + Communicate

From the very beginning, it’s important to decide what is most important to you when it comes to what your bridesmaids wear. Is it your priority that your bridesmaids match the theme or wedding colors exactly? Or are you more concerned with their comfort?

Set aside a few (but not too many!) non-negotiables about the dresses, if you have any. If you’re firm on a length, color, fabric, or anything else, make it clear to your bridesmaids before they start shopping. If you have a specific vision for the day, make sure your bridesmaids understand and are respectful of it when they go off to shop. The last thing you want is for a bridesmaid to fall in love with a gown they think would work, only to have you shoot it down due to lack of communication.

Agree on Formality

You have the date, venue, and color scheme all worked out. But have you thought about formality and guest attire requirements?

The outfits of your bridal party should be consistent with the overall formality of the wedding, and every bridesmaid should shop according to it. The bridal party’s finished looks may not be cohesive if one of your girls is in a bedazzled fitted gown, while another is in a casual jersey maxi dress.

This Little MOH of Mine, I’m Gonna Let Her Shine

Having your maid of honor stand out from your other bridesmaids can get a little tricky when every bridesmaid has their own, unique look. Find an outfit element that will differentiate your MOH, such as:

• Unique Pattern: If everyone else is dressed in solids, have your MOH in a tasteful pattern.
• Dress Embellishments: Keep the dresses in similar colors and color families, but make sure your MOH’s dress has a little more sparkle than the rest.
• Length: Maybe she’s the only one in a full-length gown, or the only bridesmaid with a shorter gown.
• Shoes + Accessories: Give her a special pair of shoes, have her shoes closely match yours, give her special accessories, or even a unique hairdo.

Offer a Little Direction + Tie It All Together

Do you want your bridesmaids to have the same dress in complementing colors (ombré, for example), or different dress styles in the same color? Whether it’s the dress material, length, pattern, or color, consider having at least one unifying element to tie all the options together. For example, you’re firm on a sweetheart neckline and grey hues, but everything else is up to the individual bridesmaid.

Don’t consider it a done deal at the dresses, however. There’s still hair, makeup, shoes, and accessories to sort out. Will your bridesmaids have similar hairstyles and makeup looks? Perhaps you want varied dresses, but prefer matching shoes. The decision is up to you!

There’s more! Head to our original blog post to see how you can use Blueprint to organize and plan your bridesmaid’s dress choices!

Originally published at www.blueprintregistry.com on May 21, 2018.