What costs should the bride cover for her bridesmaids?

I am not covering any, nor have I ever been in a wedding where the bride paid for my costs. I have always bought my own bridesmaid dress and shoes and paid for my hair and makeup.

HOWEVER. I feel that if you REQUIRE your girls to get their hair and makeup done (which is usually around $200 all together) that you should cover the costs. It's a nice thing to do if you can afford to do so. I am not making my girls get both their hair and makeup done, and I also found an affordable MUA that will charge $40 for their makeup.

I'm with @christine on this one - I always covered my own expenses. It's a nice gesture if you can cover make up and hair, but not required unless you are requiring them to do it.

Pay for what you can pay for. Obviously their gifts are on you, but when I'm a bridesmaid, I expect to pay for my dress and anything else I'm meant to wear. My girls are paying for makeup and their dresses, but I didn't give them specific shoes or jewelry or anything like that so they can wear anything they already own.

I think a lot of it depends on your financial situation, their financial situation and how much you are requiring of them. The two things I think BM should cover for sure are their dress and shoes as long as you're not asking for anything astronomical. One of those bridal shows on TLC the BM's said that their dress and shoes were $1200! For hair and make up, it's kind of up to you. If you're requiring them to wear the same hairstyle, or much have an updo, or don't trust them to get their hair done separately, then you should cover it. If you require them to have their make up done professionally, then you should pay for it. I've been in weddings that the bride has covered everything or covered nothing, I don't mind either way because of how expensive weddings are. I don't agree that you need to pay for their hotel if they're from out of town. One of my BM is from out of town and she's staying at my house, we call the guest room "Steph's Room" after her, but she keeps asking if she should get a hotel so she's not in my hair the week of. She never is though.

Like I said though, it's kind of up to you. Talk to your BM, see if they have financial restrictions or have a budget they need to keep to. They will appreciate you asking them to be a part of your day all the more if you ask about their budget or restrictions up front.

I am the outlier.

I am purchasing my bridesmaids' dresses, hair/makeup, jewelry. They're paying for alterations, shoes, and travel. The reason I did this is that they all have to fly in + pay for a hotel + rent a car, etc.

I'm also with @christine on this. I have been MOH/BM 4 times and I paid for everything myself, even when the brides insisted that I have my hair done by their hairdressers.

I only have FH's teenage daughter and one friend in my bridal party. I will be paying for FH's daughter's hair and makeup (if she decides on wearing any makeup). I am not requiring that my MOH have her hair or makeup done, so if she chooses to do so, it would be at her expense.

Whatever you require (beyond the dress)- like hair done by a professional or aqua shoes, you need to pay for. Before getting the dress you also need to get the budget.

My bridesmaids bought their own dress ($60), are wearing the nude shoes they currently own ($0), are wearing silver jewelry they already own ($0), and I offered to pay for their hair and make-up the day of the wedding if they wanted it professionally done (they took me up on that, so it was $150 per person). Only one bridesmaid is from out of town, and she paid for her hotel with hotel points. I'm paying to have us all driven down to the venue the morning of ($90), as their SOs will be driving down for the actual ceremony (didn't want them to have two cars there).

I'm with Caitlin- it really depends on your own finances vs. their finances. Considering that there will be a great deal of travel cost for my wedding for all of my bridesmaids (from around the country and even different parts of the world) I'm gonna provide the hair and make up for them in addition to my gifts to them. I'm also going to purchase my MOH's dress because I know she has the most financial constraints and what will probably be an $800 flight, and I want to make it as easy as possible for her to be there.

I am paying for everything,

It depends on the individual financial situation. Every wedding I have every been in I have paid for my own dress, shoes, hair and makeup etc, so that is what I am use to. I plan to do my best to find things that are affordable to that I do not break anyone's bank! I will be purchasing small bridesmaid gifts and paying half for makeup.

I'm covering pro-hair for my bridesmaids but otherwise the only thing I'm paying for are their gifts.

When you should be required to pay:

An extravagently priced dress that is outside their stated budgets (say BM says she can afford up to $200 but you want everyone to wear a $300 dress, I think you should at least pay the difference)

Shoes if you're requiring a specific shoe...especially dyed shoes. If you say for example "any nude shoe" then the BM should provide her own. I think if you say any "insert David's Bridal color here " shoe then I think you should pay for it...because who is really going to wear a satin shoe in Tangerine ever again?

Jewelry if you are requiring something specific. But generic - I'd like everyone to wear silver jewelry, is fine.

Hair and make up if you are requiring pro-hair and makeup and a particular style.

^spot on with my thoughts.

And oh hey! date twin!

I'm paying for everything. I feel that if you ask them to be in your wedding than you should be the one footing the bill. Just how I see it. I know there are many who don't feel that way but if you're going to ask me to be in your wedding, put demands on the type and amount of my dress, the cost of my shoes, then make - up and hair being a certain way then I say pay for it and I will do it. Why in the world do some people think asking someone to be in their wedding is an Honor? Hell no it's not if you want me to be in your wedding then you pay for it not me. I will give you a great gift but that's where it ends.

When I am asked to be in a bridal party, I expect to be responsible for all costs incurred. That said, I did decide to cover a few costs for my bridesmaids, just because I know their financial situations aren't as good as mine. I set a budget of $150 on the dress and chose a $215 dress, so am paying the extra $65 on each dress. I am leaving shoes open ended, they can wear whatever shoes they want as long as they are silver. Jewelry has the exact same guidelines as shoes. I also gave them the option of getting professional hair and/or makeup done. But chose to cover part of the costs on that if they chose to do it. (My hair and makeup artist isn't cheap ) . I also bought them a really nice gift, lululemon zip up sweatshirts in neutral colors and no monograms so they can wear them after the wedding too! (They will be wearing them to get ready in morning of, too!)

With the exception of the dress, the bride should pay for everything she's forcing the girls to do (like hair, make-up, specific shoes). I didn't force my girls to have professionally up-done hair or makeup. I gave them the choice to do it or not. And I paid for their shoes because I wasn't sure if they'd wear those shoes again.

Agree with Janeen on this one - if they are flying in and have to pay hotel, rental car, food, etc., then you'd want to pay for as much as you can. However, if they're local, then I'd say pay for anything you're requiring them to do/wear, like if you are requiring hair and makeup and certain nails and shoes and a wrap or something, you'd pick that up. They should get their dresses, though I'd say since 99% of bridesmaid dresses are <$200, if they are more than that, either split the difference or cover their alterations or something.

In my case, my girls got to pick their dress, and it's short so they can easily re-wear them as the color is a common jeweltone blue-purple. I paid for the matching fabric blingy belt to take them from pretty to wedding-y, at $65/ea., that wasn't something they can wear again, so wouldn't ask them to buy it. I'm letting them decide on shoes, I just told them I wanted a certain style - if I were requiring them to get dyed-to-match I'd pay for them. We are having a fairly casual ceremony, so I'm not mandating jewelry. I'm not mandating hair and makeup, so I will leave it to them if they do their own or have it professionally done, so they'll pay for that. They already paid for their dresses, and since they were both in the $130-150 range, and will need minimal tailoring, they'll pay for that.

Mine are paying for their own. I am only requesting a certain dress, shoes re open ended, jewerelly is open (I might be giving as gift) hair they have the cost and it is up to them if they want it done or not and make up we are all on our own for.

I paid for hair and the dress.

The only thing that I am planning on paying for is their gift, jewelry, hair (if they choose to have it professionally done), and maybe shoes (haven't decided if I'm going to let them wear whatever they want or go with the same style for everyone). We will have a limo take us from the ceremony to the reception and we have a shuttle arranged for them (and all guests) from the reception to the hotel. We will be carpooling to the ceremony. We will not be paying for hotel/lodgings however. With the exception of one person, our whole wedding party is from out of town. 90% of our guests are from out of town. And we will be getting married in my hometown, which we live 6 hours away from, so we'll be coming from out of town as well. It'll just get to be way too much too fast.

My advice: based on their financial situation and your wedding budget, pay for what you are able and feel comfortable. When bridesmaids agree to being a bridesmaid they typically know that it does come with a cost that they are going to have to pay.