Choosing Your Bridesmaids

Planning your wedding is such an exciting season in your life! What makes it even better is having your closest friends involved in the process . From picking your dress all the way to the moment you walk down the aisle, having bridesmaids along for the journey makes your pre-wedding season all the more special. While it may feel like picking your bridesmaids is one of the easiest wedding decisions you’ll make, there are a few things you should keep in mind before you call up all your girlfriends. Let’s take a look at some of the finer details involved in choosing your bridesmaids.

Keep Price In Mind:

 As you’ll soon find out, getting married is not cheap! And while you don’t view asking a friend to become a bridesmaid as handing them a bill, it very well could be if you make some pricey decisions.

 Here are some moderate price points on things a bridesmaid traditionally pays for:

Dresses, $75 to $300

Shoes $40 to $100

Hair and Makeup $150 -$300

Bachelorette Party: $75 to $300

Depending on your choices, you could be handing bridesmaids a $1,100+ bill! While talking about money and friendship in the same breath may seem icky, the reality is that you may have friends who simply can’t swing that. This is no fun to think about but the person who suffers the most from this will be the bride. On top of everything going on with the wedding, you don’t want to be stressed about why one bridesmaid (or five) hasn’t paid for their dress, hasn’t chipped in for the bachelorette weekend and hasn’t paid the makeup artist. This doesn’t make them bad friends, it just means they have their own financial goals and limitations!

(Another very real practicality involved in the bachelorette planning worth mentioning is time off. While you may be able to take 4 days off for the bachelorette, you may be the only one! Ask your bridesmaids in advance what a realistic bachelorette could look like for all of you.)

Advice in Choosing:

Here’s where I’d like to mention the Closeness Factor when choosing bridesmaids. While you may feel like your BFF of the last 6 weeks who you met in spin class should totally be a bridesmaid, think about only choosing people who you know really well and who are going to be in your life 5, 10, 15 years from now.

Picking bridesmaids who you have deep connections with will benefit you most of all. 6-week-old-spin-class-BFF may not be as excited to take time off of work and put up $250 to go to Disney with 5 other girls she’s never met before. Choosing the wrong people will add stress and also add to the total number of guests you will have at the wedding. Try to choose people that you would really want there, instead of just filling a hole because you don’t want a small wedding party.

If you’re struggling with your choices it’s totally OK to only have a maid/matron of honor and best man and still have all your pre-wedding festivities with your close friends! If you’re not confident that your list of potential bridesmaids can accommodate your dress, shoes, makeup and bachelorette party choices, save both of you the headache. I’m sure they will appreciate that too!  Quality should always surpass quantity.

 Treat Your Party Right:

 Lastly, after all the months of being there for you, one of the sweetest parts of any wedding is giving your bridesmaids their gifts. Here are some cute and simple ideas for great bridesmaids gifts:

1. Robes

Matching robes are a great way to give your bridesmaids a keepsake they’ll actually use! It also doubles as a super cute way to get ready on the day of.

 2. Accessories

 Something similar to the fun matching of the robes would be accessories! Matching earrings or necklaces to wear the day of the wedding are great to have some continuity on the big day, but it also leaves your friends with a keepsake they can wear long after you tie the knot!

3. “After wedding” spa gift certificates

 If the lead-up to your wedding has been particularly stressful you might want to splurge on your girls a little bit! A spa gift card is an amazing favor for your bridesmaids. Whether it be a mani pedi, a massage or facial, spa certificates are a thoughtful way to thank your girls for all they’ve done for you over the last several months.

Weddings are a celebration of you and your spouse, but odds are, you wouldn’t be walking down the aisle if it weren’t for the people closest to you. A wedding party is a beautiful representation of the community involved in your love story. Bridesmaids make your wedding day and the lead up to it all the more special. But it does take some wisdom to make sure that they don’t become an unnecessary burden. Looking through all of these tips in advance will help you avoid bridesmaids quitting, asking bridesmaids to step down (Ouch) and keeps you from losing any friends along the way!