Stylish Bridesmaids

As luxury wedding planners, we try to prevent the choice of bridesmaids dresses becoming a drama. Bridesmaids are having a renaissance. The days of wallflowers trailing down the aisle in matching, non-descript (or worse, hideous) gowns are long gone. These days, the emphasis is on making sure that your bridesmaids’ dresses are reflective of your excellent taste and help make your bridal party extra gorgeous.

From the increasing availability of wedding-worthy frocks on the high street to companies specialising in custom bridesmaid dresses, the options now available for dressing the bridal party are better than ever. You no longer need to shove your sisters and friends into carbon copy style dresses, but can instead choose to dress them appropriately for their body types and personalities whilst keeping within your desired theme and palette.

It’s unlikely that you will have identically shaped bridesmaids, so pick different style dresses that will suit each of their individual shapes and sizes. This mismatched look can be tied together perfectly by choosing a similar colour palette or fabric. A sweetheart neckline, strapless floor length gown and a cocktail dress will all look great together in the same pattern or shade, but still allow your bridesmaids to retain the individuality.

Alternatively, we love seeing gradations of colour within a bridal party. If, for example, your colour scheme is pink, your bridesmaids dresses can take a whole spectrum of hues, from a dusky rose through to an almost neon coral. Don’t be afraid to experiment with variations on the theme and utilise a kaleidoscope of shades to add colourful accents to your wedding.

If there’s one particular style of dress that you and your bridal party all love, you can still personalise each look by giving your bridesmaids free reign over their choice of accessories and, of course, hairstyles. It’s often the finishing touches that will put the personality into each ensemble and leave your bridesmaids feeling stylish and confident.

Two of the hottest trends to hit the bridesmaids universe in recent years come in the form of twobirds and Maids to Measure.

You may have already seen twobirds at a variety of weddings without realising it, because this ingenious dress is one gown that can be worn in 15 different ways. That means you can essentially buy the same dress for all of your bridesmaids and allow them to wrap it any way they like to give them all an individual look. The twobrids dresses have become hugely popular thanks to their versatility, variety of lengths and cornucopia of colours. They’re the kind of dresses your bridesmaids will want to wear again and again.

Maids to Measure, on the other hand, was established by sisters India and Sinclair after their own particular horror bridesmaid stories. The service does more or less what it says by creating bespoke bridesmaids dresses based on your preference of silhouettes, fabrics, colours, hemlines, necklines – basically, the dress you and your maids are envisaging designed for you from scratch.

Aside from these titans in the British market, we also think ranges by designers such as Alvina Valenta and Lou Lou can really add a splash of style to your bridesmaids. If you’re looking for great high street alternatives Ted Baker, Mango and Biba at House of Fraser are all worth a look.

So, if any of your bridesmaids blanche slightly when you ask them to escort you down the aisle, you can reassure them that you won’t be shoe-horning them into some taffeta monstrosity but that you want them to look and feel gorgeous, so that they can enjoy the experience and make you look even better!