What is the appropriate amount to ask your bridesmaids to spend on their dress?

I would ask your BMs directly what their budget is for a dress. That takes the guess work out of the equation.

I have been looking around at a lot of different places. I feel like I wouldn't ask anyone to spend over like $150/$200. But I have definitely been in weddings where I have paid more than that for my dress. Try azazie.com to see if there are dresses on there you like. It is nice because you can have a custom sized dress made for no additional money, which will save them money by not needing major alterations (if any).

My girls spent between $130 and $200. I agree that $200 is a good cap but have a discussion with them and see how they feel. I had all my girls buy gowns instead of traditional dresses. They got them from Macy's and Bloomingdales mostly. This was good too because they didn't need to be altered. Which is a cost they need to think about when buying a traditional bridesmaids dress from like davids bridal or somewhere like that.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you!

My bridesmaids set their dress budget at $250 (before tax). I tried to be extra accommodating and cap it at $200. So I found a gorgeous dress that's $185, but now I am getting responses like "it's gorgeous, BUT I worried it won't look good on me" or "I'm insecure about my arms and want longer sleeves"... Everything else I like is around $250-$275.

Personally, I would say $200 is a reasonable cap.

I went shopping for BMs dresses a couple weeks ago and picked out dresses under a $125 and one I really loved that was $260. They all picked the $260 dollar dress. They were willing to pay more because they liked how they looked in it. So I would just pick from all price ranges and see what they are willing spend and which ones they like.