bridesmaid dresses stressing me out..

I think you could do whatever you want. I'm getting married in a church but I'm letting my maids pick out whatever they want.

I think it's fine as long as the dresses "go together", i.e. maybe same length, maybe same color type (pastels, jewel tones, etc), same level of formality.

Agreed with having them work within a theme. Lots of ladies have done the mismatched thing with great success, so I say go with what's less stressful, just provide them with a few boundaries. I'd much prefer having the option of choosing what *I* like (style and budget) rather than having it picked out for me.

In the end you do what you want but I personally am making all my girls match down to the shoes! I would also like for them to have traditional dresses that are long but with a little cleavage out etc.

Hey Caiters!

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but what I did was choose a color and fabric... Then I asked the girls to jump online and find two dresses of their choice that they liked, style-wise, so I had a better idea of what they like. Then I went online to DB and picked 5 different styled dresses and gave the girls a choice to choose from those 5. If you want, I can forward you what I sent to them...

I really like Tatiana's idea. You could also arrange a shopping day, where everyone goes on the same day to look at different dresses by the same shop or designer. Many places use the same fabric in different ways.

Just be sure you give them enough specifics so that it looks coordinated. Maybe specify the color and fabric, as above, or even just a dress length.

I think in order to be safe I'd follow Tatiana's idea. You want to make sure that even though the dresses aren't matchy matchy that they blend well. You don't want one girl for instance wearing silk and another wearing crinkle chiffon and you definetly do not want 50 different shades of one color.

I really wish there was a way to Inbox people on this site, then I could just send it to you... Honestly, the process took me about an hour, tops. OH! And the best part about my sending this to you is that, if you like any of the styles, you can use them and half the work is done! BAM! :-)

Beautiful venue, reminds me a lot of mine. But my BM dresses matched pretty well so I am not much help there. I agree with Tatiana, pick a color and a fabric and let the girls go from there. I know a girl who picked chiffon and blush, the girls picked their dresses and none of them were alike but they all went together really well.

I wanted my girls to match so i went with my sister (MOH) tried about 5 dresses on and narrowed it down to 2. I was going to have the maids try both on and vote which they liked better but one the first girl put my choice on first I didnt give them an option anymore and said this is the dress lol. ive been in weddings where the bride lets the maids pick which they like best and it started wars between everyone and the bride said i wish i just picked the one to avoid this. i got lucky because everyone loved the dress i picked anyway.

What is so hard about just telling them which dress to wear? I don't understand why so many people have difficulty with this.

I think the mismatched ones would look fine. You deff want to make sure they are in the same color pallet and material. My 3 girls all have mismatched dresses and I love the way they look. They are all from DB, all the same material, and all have some sort of flower detail on them.

(mom is standing in for MoH & don't mind the faces in the pic, none of them knew I was taking it!)

I think mismatched is fine for the venue.I have a friend who is doing that. She asked all girls to get taupe dresses, but to run it by her before purchasing. All girls did that and only one had to return her dress as it wasn't as dressy as the other girls. Just make sure to give your girls a paint chip, fabric swatch or something for them to go off of and decide if you want short or long dresses too.

You could even try same color and similar material! I've seen that look very nice!