How much is too much for a bridesmaid's dress?

Are you paying for your BM's dresses or are your BM's? If they are, I would talk to the ladies and see what their budget is and what they can reasonably afford. That will give you a limit.

I would ask your bridesmaids what they can afford and go from there. My bridesmaids had to pay $150 for theirs and I made sure they were all ok with it before we decided that it was the dress.

I asked my bridesmaids what their budgets were and then we went from there. Each person has their own budgets so what's expensive to some may be cheap to others. Ours were 185 each and everyone was comfortable with it.

I think $150-$250 is about average for actual bmaid dresses, but you could always find a normal dress in regular store for less! A couple of my friends have gotten theirs at J Crew

Pretty much what everyone else said. Ask them. I tried to keep it under $200 and ended up finding a dress on amazon for $70.

Since most of my bridesmaids are still in college, it was crucial for me to find one for them at a price they could afford. We ended up finding one on Etsy for $65 (shipping was an additional 25). It was very adorable and all of them are happy. It was also a dress that they can use again after the wedding.

Like everyone else said ask your girls what they can afford/are willing to spend.

Yep, get a budget from your bridesmaids.

You should speak to each of them privately about their budgets and keep the dress within that amount. If they are paying for a dress, they should get a say in the cost.

The answer is, whichever amount is the lowest when you ask all your bridesmaids.

You ask your bridesmaids, "How much is your maximum budget?" and pick something less than that (since they need to pay for alterations, too).

Yup what pezzy said. You have to ask your bridemaids their budgets and you should ask them each individually so no ones embarrassed talking about what theh can actually afford

I've been a BM twice and both my dresses cost $250. In one of the weddings the bride gave us a choice of either getting us a gift or putting $100 towards our dresses...that might be an option for you to consider....also, if you let them have some input in the dress they might not mind the cost

I personally would balk at spending more than 150, so ask your BMs.

Definitely ask your bridesmaids what they'd feel comfortable spending on the dress. Ours were $120 from Davids Bridal and I picked them out.

I didn't ask before we went out and started looking at tags. I was the one with sticker shock. My girls paid around 200. They picked out the dress/es. I started complaining and they said, "Um, Steph....this is what you pay for a bridesmaid dress now." They were expecting to pay around that much. Definitely have a conversation. If your bridesmaids are like me and out of touch with how much dresses can cost it may be a shock for them.

$200 was my absolute limit, but I looked for closer to $100 to help out my BMs. I think the total of the dress was $120, and I let them pick out their own shoes.

I asked them what they were comfortable with for the style they wanted (know long dresses run more expensive than short). They all said 250! I was hoping for them to spend under 200 for a dress they probably never wear again. We were all very happy the prices came in under 200 and everyone loves the dress they are wearing.

It all depends on your bridesmaids. If they are college students, they may need to stay in the $100-150 range. If they are established professionals with actual income, they *may* be able to go up more. Only they can answer that. My bridesmaids dresses were $119 & 139 at DB but each got a $20 discount since I got my wedding dress there so they were $99 and $119. Everyone seemed ok with that (and are still are able to pay for their own makeup and shoes... about another $150 total).

I live out of state from my 2 bridesmaids so they went to the bridal salon themselves and picked their top 3 dresses (with the color choice I decided on), sent me pics, and I picked my favorite. It worked out because they could pick things in their price range and styles they both liked. I didn't find out until later the dresses were close to $300, so yeah they can get expensive!