Orange County Wedding Planners

Perfect Bridesmaid Dress Styles

How to choose the best bridesmaid style no matter your bridal party size

Bridesmaids holding wedding bouquets in dusty blue bridesmaid dresses

While the bride and her gown are the real stars of any wedding the bridesmaids can really help to enhance that beauty or sometimes even distract from it. With this in mind we have come up with the perfect bridesmaid dress styles for any bridal party size. This way your bride tribe will look and feel gorgeous only adding to the beauty of the day. One of the biggest things to keep in mind when selecting bridesmaid dresses is how the photos from the ceremony will look. If you pick dresses that are too loud the attention may be drawn away form the bride and be focused just on the bridal party. On the other hand you always want to make sure your girls look and feel beautiful that way everyone has big smiles the day of. 

1 Bridesmaid or 1 Maid of Honor

Boho bride with bridesmaid in taupe boho bridesmaid dress

The average size for a bridal party floats between 3-5 bridesmaids. Most images you see online and while shopping for dresses will feature a bridal party of this size. This can make it difficult to know what styles will look best for your smaller party though. One big benefit to having just one bestie is you do not have to navigate different body types or skin tones. Together you can find a flattering dress perfect for her and know she will look and feel her best. We suggest keeping things simple here. An understated dress that seamlessly fits in with your wedding theme is the perfect option here. You may opt for a tea length dress to avoid your gown looking too similar to the bridesmaid dress. 

Keep It Simple For 2 Bridesmaids 

For two bridesmaid we highly suggest keeping the dresses and colors the same. With two girls having different styles or colors can make your bridal party seem uncoordinated and confusing. This is where you will want to go for an elegant put together look. We suggest long gowns, form fitting or flowing depending on what Is most flattering for your party. Along with the same color for both. Keep this in mind when finalizing your wedding colors and bridal party, you don’t want to go with a pastel pink if one of your girls has very fair skin. That will lead to washed out photos of her, or darkened photos of you. Remember, if your girls don’t look good your photos aren’t going to either. Picking colors that flatter everyone is very important when making this decision. 

Perfect Trends For 3-5 Bridesmaids

The bridal party sweet spot. This bridal party size is where you can find the most inspiration online. No matter your wedding colors, or theme there is tons and tons to pull from here. So we have included our favorite trending styles below. We do suggest still staying in the same color house but you can start to play with some different dress styles. 

Elegance With 5+ Bridesmaids

Bride with her bridesmaid in all black bridesmaid dresses

Having more than 5 girls in your wedding party can really make a statement and lead to gorgeous photos. However if you are keeping a more traditional wedding theme you may want to keep your girls in the same colors. You will most likely need to include some different dress styles as finding one gown that will fit everyone in a flattering way will be difficult. We absolutely love to see black bridesmaids dresses fall in this category! Your wedding can instantly look like it is off the pages of vogue when making a statement like this. 

5+ Bridesmaid For A Trendy Bride

If you have chosen to have a group of girls with you but also a more contemporary wedding theme, this is where you can really have some fun with colors! When you have enough girls to pull it off doing a color wheel can be so chic. We have included some inspiration below along with a link to BrideSide who specialize in this look!

Still feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the options? We would love to help! Virtual Bridal Consultations available at just $25 an hour to tackle any wedding planning questions you may have.