Once the excitement of your engagement settles a bit, you will probably feel incredible pressure from the anticipating looks, expecting phone calls and other forms of targeted attention from your friends all waiting to be asked to be your bridesmaid.

Most of my clients  were looking for guidance and asked what is an acceptable number of bridesmaid. This is a difficult question to answer and many factors need to be considered. You bridal party may be as small or as big as you wish. Perhaps you have many close friends, and perhaps it was your childhood dream to be each others bridesmaids. However, if you are in your 30s, chances are that you could be happier with one Matron of Honour, or a smaller bridal party.

However, another important factor to consider is your budget. If you wish for your bridesmaids to wear traditional matching dresses and accessories, then it is the bride’s responsibility to pay for the garments to be either purchased, or made. Do not forget that your bridesmaids will require a professional make-up artist and hair stylist on the day of the wedding too.

If you can afford this, then you are extremely lucky and your dilemma ends at being honest with yourself  and having the courage to ask only your truly dear friends or family members to be in your bridal party, and not feel guilty over your decision.

However, if budget is a major issue, then I would suggest gathering your potential bridesmaids for a coffee or cocktails and explaining to them that you would love to have all of them standing up with you on your wedding day, however given budget restraints you need to ask bridesmaids to pay for their own dresses. You need to make them feel that it is OK to decline the position of a bridesmaid. You can even offer them another important role to play at your wedding. For example, your friends can do a reading at the service, or say a speech at the reception. A lot of couples have the groom’s friend as an MC, maybe you have a friend who has a personality best suited to the role?

In the recent years, a new trend emerged and this trend works in favour of the brides on the budget. Multicoloured bridesmaid dresses are perfectly acceptable and can even make a great statement. Therefore, your friends can wear that fancy dress they never get to wear to your wedding. You can colour code each dress with a bouquet of the same coloured flowers. All you will need to do is communicate the formality of your wedding and ask your friends to be open to your suggestions regarding accessories – which you can present them with as a Thank You gift.

Alternatively, you and your friends can find out what formal dresses in the same colour they have in their respective wardrobes and settle on the fact that although the colour will be same, the style of the dresses will be different – a perfectly elegant solution. In the last few years, bridesmaids have been seen wearing black dresses of various styles. Their outfits were blended in by using colour sashes in the wedding colours, flowers in the hair, and bridesmaids bouquets.

Whatever choice you go with, remember your wedding should reflect your personality and style!

Enjoy planning your splendid event…

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