RecycledBride

Decide on the Dress

One of a bride’s most challenging tasks is choosing bridesmaids dresses. Your ladies each have different tastes, body shapes and budgets. So how will you find a look that suits everyone? We’ll show you how to have a perfectly coordinated bridal party without buying a bunch of expensive, identical dresses.

• Pick your color. The easiest way to outfit bridesmaids is to choose a color, then let the bridesmaids pick their own dresses (on Recycled Bride, of course!). A color theme creates a unified look, and you won’t have to look for one dress that flatters everyone. It’s okay if the dresses aren’t an exact match, as long as they’re close. Instead of just asking your girls to wear blue dresses, be specific and choose navy, turquoise, cobalt or sky blue.
• Material girls. Another way to coordinate bridesmaids’ dresses is by fabric. Choose a material you love, then let your ladies pick their own dresses. This works best with unusual fabrics such as silk charmeuse, chiffon or taffeta.
• Narrow it down. If you’ve chosen a fabric, you can achieve an even more unified look by having the bridesmaids dresses also be a specific color type (pastels, jewel tones) or silhouette (mermaid, empire waist). If you’ve chosen a color for your bridesmaids dresses, consider also having them pick dresses of the same length (tea length, full length) or style (vintage, bohemian, mod).
• Finishing touches. Give each of your bridesmaids a bold, matching accessory to wear at your wedding. We love big, colorful flower hairpins for a summer ceremony, or glamorous sparkly brooches for a more formal affair. Matching accessories will set your bridesmaids apart from other guests.

Bridesmaids Tips & Tricks

Be a better bridesmaid.

• Ready-maid. We recommend choosing a dress that were originally made as a bridesmaids gown, rather than an off-the-rack style. Bridesmaids dresses have a slightly different look and feel than frocks that are store-bought, which will help to distinguish you as part of the bridal party.

• A perfect fit. When buying a preowned dress, it’s important to check the seller’s height and measurements to make sure that they correspond with yours. If the dress is too long or big in any area, you can buy it and have a tailor alter it down to your size. But if a dress too short or small, you should skip it. Even a great seamstress will have difficulty making a dress bigger.
• Bridesmaid dress recycling. If the bride has already chosen a dress, and now it’s your turn to go buy it, you should check our listings. You may find the exact dress you’re looking for, but at half the retail price. It’s important to ask the bride to sign off on your Recycled purchase before you buy, because some designers’ dye lots vary from season to season (which means that the color of your dress could be a tiny bit different than this year’s model).
• Grin and wear it. If you’ve accepted the role of bridesmaid, you’ve accepted the bride’s right to dress you for the day. If she has her heart set on yellow taffeta, then it’s your job to wear it with a smile — even if that means buying a dress you’ll never wear again. The good news is that you can come back to Recycled Bride after the wedding to sell it!