The 60’s, 70’s and 80’s fashion trends made for some interesting bridesmaid dresses.

Here are some fantastic pictures of dresses from this era. The pictures below show that what might be in one moment, may be a regret in years to come.  But I still love these pics.

Tip: To avoid your wedding dating like the below choose simple and classic styles for your bridesmaids. Try to avoid styles of dresses and hairstyles that will only last a season or two.

 (all pics from uglybridesmaid.com)

Picking  a colour for your bridesmaids is very very hard. This is mostly because whatever colour you pick you have to stick to if you want a consistent theme throughout your wedding.It can influence the colour of your flowers and even the colour of your invitation.

For some, choosing is a colour for the bridesmaids is simple. For example if a brides favourite colour is pink she can easily pick this for her big day. But careful consideration should be taken when picking your colour for either your wedding theme or your bridesmaid.

For those who don’t have a favourite colour or are not sure of what colour to choose for either their bridesmaids and here is  a colour wheel which might help to give some inspiration. Personally I tend to like the deeper, muted colours like dark grey and deep purple.

A good idea is to be aware of the variety of shades that are available in each block colour. For example, you might like blue as a colour for your wedding but there is a variety of different shades and tones within this one colour that you will have to consider. A good idea is to tailor the tone of the colour to your wedding. For example, if you like blue and are having a beach wedding considering using a sky blue. Alternatively if you like blue and are having a formal/ black tie wedding considering using navy.

Most importantly when picking a bridesmaids dress colour you have to consider a few things

• Will the colour I pick suit all my bridesmaids? – A big mistake brides make is choosing a colour that does not suit the skin tone of their bridal party. Always test the colour that you are thinking of picking first on your bridesmaids before making a decision. If a colour suits a few of your bridesmaids but not all you could consider getting spray tans for all your bridesmaids to ensure that the colour suits all.

• Does the colour suit my wedding? Bright pink bridesmaids dresses will not suit an alpine wedding. Nor will black bridesmaid dresses suit a beach wedding. You need to tailor the colour (and style) of the bridesmaid’s dresses to your wedding. For example for a garden wedding consider shades of green, light yellows, soft browns and other earthy colours. Also consider whether the season that your are getting married and the time of the ceremony.

• Consider the Material you will be using! A colour can look quite different depending on what type of material that you are using for a dress so you should consider the colour and material of the dress simultaneously when making your choice.

Tips:

Bright colours can look tacky. If you are considering a bright colour, class it up by not using cheap, silky material that can make the dress look like it was from a $2 shop. Also bright dresses that are over embellished can have a cheap look so consider something very simple yet elegant for your bright dress.

Pick timeless colours. Unless you are having an ultra modern wedding, picking a colour that is fashionable now but a passing trend may quickly make your wedding photos appear dated. If you like a certain colour like fuchsia, perhaps consider a more traditional design for the gown so that the look of your bridesmaids does not date overtime. Otherwise its best to stick to colours that will stand the test of time.

Match the bouquets. Ensure that the bouquets for the bridesmaids match the colour and style of the dress.

This has to be one of the most amazing speeches I have ever heard at a wedding. In the video below, the groom gives a speech thanking his parents, in-laws and bride which is polished to perfection. It is obvious that the groom wrote and memorised the speech but the words that he has used and the language he has adopted make the speech timeless and unforgettable.Watch with a box of tissues.

Grooms take note!

Most brides, when planning their wedding, tend to stick to generic styles when dressing their bridesmaids, mainly floor length and block colour dresses.  They also tend to dress their bridesmaids in shiny, and sometimes cheap looking fabric.  We have all been to so many weddings where bridesmaids fit this bill that we often forget to think outside the box.

Thinking outside the box for your bridesmaids dresses can be done in a number of ways.

Head to the Shops

Scouting high end shops and designer stores, can result in beautiful, high quality off the rack dresses that you can find to fit your bridesmaids. Now, I am definitely not advocating that brides go to their local store and pick up a cheap, off the rack dress. What I am suggesting is that certain high end designer stores can be a source for beautiful dresses for your bridesmaids. In the wedding below, the bride Nadia happended to walk into a Lisa Ho store, the Australian designer, for herself and discovered these beautiful  dresses. She would never have thought of this design/type of fabric of her own, but in seeing the complete dress in the store she fell in love with the design and purchased the dresses straight away . The soft paisley and floral design on the dresses worked perfectly with her Bowral wedding.

Perusing stores can also help give you ideas on which you can get your bridesmaids dresses custom made emulating the design in store. A benefit of buying dresses off the rack is that you can buy the dress in multiple sizes to fit each bridesmaid as required.

Here are some stores/designers you can scout in Australia:

Lisa Ho
Collette Dinigan
Scanlan and Theodore
Seduce
David Jones
Myer                                        
Wayne Cooper
Morrisey
Alannah Hill
Leona Edminston
Sass & Bide
Alex Perry

Consider Patterns

You don’t have to stick to a block colour for your bridesmaids. As seen in Nadia’s wedding above a soft patterned dress can be chic, stylish and unique which will have your guests talking. Brides should think outside the box and consider paisley prints, floral or abstract prints for their bridesmaids. Remember if you are going to choose a patterned dress  it might be difficult to match your groomsmen cravats/ties to the dresses. A good tip for a multifaceted dress is to match the cravats/ties to the main colour on the pattern, or the colour which stands out the most on the dress.

A Dress They Can Really Wear Again

For those who have seen the movie 27 dresses you will remember the recurring punch line uttered by brides to their bridesmaids as they are wearing their ugly, unflattering dress chosen by the bride ”and the best thing about it is that you can cut it short and wear it again“. I have actually had a bride say this to me when I was a bridesmaid! The reality is that due to the typical nature of a bridesmaid dress most bridesmaids will probably never wear the dress again. The generic bridesmaid styles are floor length and very formal looking rendering them unusable for most functions that their bridesmaids will attend. Keeping up with the theme of buying your bridesmaids dresses from the shops comes the idea that you can also choose “cocktail/party” dresses for your bridesmaids which can still look fantastic and which will really have your bridesmaids wearing it again and again. In the wedding above the bride, Amee,  has chosen a two tone black and white party dresses which her bridesmaids can wear again to any another occasion, yet looks stylish and elegant for the wedding.

Embellish It

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and embellish your bridesmaids dresses. The Bowral bride Nadia, decided to wrap a patterned belt around her Lisa Ho bridesmaids dresses to create a shape for the girls waist. Although a little unorthodox,  it  worked very well with the dress and flattered the girls shape, showing off their waist.  In this photo you can see how Nadia, the Bowral bride has placed here patterned belt to creat a shape for the bridesmaids. If you are going to embellish with a belt ensure that the style matches the dress and sits well on every bridesmaid.

Ways to embellish a bridesmaid dress

• Belts
• Bows
• Sashes
• Heavy necklaces

Tip: See Alannah Hill for great accessories which can complement your bridesmaid dresses.

Mismatched Bridesmaids

I will go into further detail about mismatched bridesmaids dresses at a later date but from the point of view of this article,  brides can think outside the traditional bridesmaid box and adopt different styles for each of their bridesmaids. If you want something different you can consider 

• Completely different dresses
• The same dress in different colours
• The same dress in different tones of a colour, for example cream, champagne, gold and brown.
• having different hairstyles for each bridesmaid

When deciding to have mismatched bridesmaids, a bride must consider very carefully how this will look. Symmetry and consistency in a bridal party is what creates great photos. There still needs to be some element of continuity with your bridesmaids. The continuity needs to subsist not only because consistency makes for great photos but also because your bridesmaids still need to look like your bridesmaids. Without something binding all your bridesmaids together, whether it be the colour of the dress or the style, you risk your bridesmaids simply looking like your guests, especially in your wedding photos.  Indeed at the wedding reception, bridesmaids will not be holding their bouquets and thus are much more vulnerable to looking simply like a guest at the wedding unless the bride has managed to style the bridesmaids in a way that makes them identifiable and in some sort of unison.

To keep consistency in a wedding without having uniform bridesmaids, a bride can ensure that all bouquets for the bridesmaids are exactly the same. Additionally if you are going to have different style dresses you should keep the jewellery and hairstyle of all the bridesmaids the same so they can be easily identified as bridesmaids.  The wedding of  singer Tamara Jaber is an example a bride successfully having mismatched brides who look stylish yet still coordinated. Here the bride has opted for different style of dress with different hairstyles for each bridesmaid but the consistency needed to pull the bridesmaids all together is found in thematching bouquets and same colour dresses for all the bridesmaids.

 (source:929.com)