Tag Archives: bridesmaid trends

The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Each season, we love to see what’s new in bridesmaid style…and what’s stayed the same. Certain timeless styles will always be in the mix—but we also love seeing how brides step outside the norm and incorporate their personal style into their bridesmaid looks. This year hemlines got longer, mixing and matching got bolder and new fabrics (like velvet) and silhouettes (like jumpsuits) arrived on the bridesmaid scene. Here, our favorite bridesmaid trends of the year (plus, the one dress that gets its very own entry—because it’s just that big right now).

Pretty Pastels

This year we saw pastels everywhere! While soft blues and pinks have always been popular bridesmaid colors, they really had a resurgence this year and became the most popular color palette for bridesmaid looks in all seasons.

Pretty Pastels. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Style Me Pretty

Total Freedom to Mix and Match

It takes a bold bride (and some stylish maids) to go completely off script and let your bridesmaids have total freedom in picking their dresses, but we love seeing a mix and match bridesmaid look come together. You don’t even need to worry about selecting a specific shade! These bridesmaid chose dresses in shades of orange that ranged from soft peach to vibrant coral, and patterns that included lace, florals and stripes. The result? Spectacular.

Total Freedom to Mix and Match. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via 100 Layer Cake

Unique Fabrics like Velvet!

We love the soft, romantic feeling of these tea-length velvet dresses. An uncommon bridesmaid dress fabric, velvet is perfect for a winter wedding. Your maids will stay warm and look hot.
Velvet! The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Green Wedding Shoes

Wedding White

When the tradition of incorporating bridesmaids in a wedding first began, all bridesmaids wore white to match the bride. For awhile, wearing white at a wedding became a taboo, but white bridesmaid dresses are back and here to stay. We love short styles that let the bride stand out in her long gown.

Wedding White: The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Style Me Pretty

Florals

A killer floral makes an amazing statement and brings color and pattern into the wedding palette. We love vibrant floral frocks like these for spring and summer weddings.

Florals. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Style Me Pretty

This “It” Brand

Every year, a dress comes along that captures the hearts of brides everywhere. This year, it’s these floor-length floral maxi dresses from Show Us Your Mumu. This breakout brand has popped up everywhere, with light and flowy gowns that are perfect for beach weddings. They also carry adorable robes and rompers perfect for getting ready with your girls.

Show Us Your Mumu: The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Green Wedding Shoes

Casual Skirt and Top

For an intimate, casual wedding, this bride chose a green corduroy skirt and asked her bridesmaids to add a lacy white top. This look is the ultimate in bridesmaid style that you will be able to wear again.

Casual Skirts and Tops. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Green Wedding Shoes

Floor Length Stunners

Long dresses are it right now. There’s just something about a floor-length stunner that adds a special touch to the occasion. Makes a lady feel fancy! Plus, the movement and flowy drape of the skirts makes for some gorgeous pictures.

Floor Length Stunner. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Style Me Pretty

Patterned Skirts

Party on the bottom, business on top (well, sort of). A patterned skirt makes for a standout bridesmaid look, especially when paired with a neutral top. This palm print is perfect for a beach wedding, but try any pattern to fit your theme!
Patterned Skirts. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via Style Me Pretty

Jumpsuits!

Bridesmaid #goals. To all my ladies rocking a bridesmaid jumpsuit, you are everything. I applaud you.

Jumpsuits. The Best Bridesmaid Looks: Our 10 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends This Year

Photo via 100 Layer Cake

Our 13 Favorite Bridesmaid Trends of the Year

Modern brides continue to move away from traditional bridesmaid dress choices. While matching pastel chiffon frocks are still the norm rather than the exception, we love it when brides take bold style risks with their bridesmaid attire choices. We’ve seen vibrant colors and patterns, once-taboo white as a popular choice and new silhouettes, like maxis, jumpsuits and even pants. Here, our favorite bridesmaid trends of the year (plus, the one dress that gets its very own entry—because it’s just that big right now).

Tulle Skirts

Feminine, light, flirty…tulle is having a moment. Tulle skirts can be paired with just about anything, from bold silk blouses to patterned button-ups to neutral tanks.
01 tulle skirts

Photo via Green Wedding Shoes.

Patterned Dresses

Patterned dresses continue to be an unexpected and striking choice. When it comes to choosing a pattern, the bolder the better. While florals are the most common choice, look to stripes, polka-dots and other geometric motifs for statement-making gowns. Pro tip: For the biggest impact, this is a time to have all your maids in the same dress. If you want to try the mismatched look with patterns, choose different textured fabrics or tone-on-tone designs in the one shade to keep things from getting too busy. 02 patterned

Photo via Junebug Weddings.

Statement Pants

The first time I saw this look I was like mind = blown. Flowing floral pants are just the perfect choice for a modern bride. The silky fabric keeps the look elegant, while the billowing style is very of the moment.
03 statement pants

Photo via Green Wedding Shoes.

Boots

Let’s face it: Heels and grass do not mix. Boots are absolutely perfect for an outdoor wedding, especially in the fall when they feel seasonally appropriate. Practical meets pretty in this style trend. 04 zip back and boots

Photo via Ruffled.

All in White

White isn’t just for the bride anymore. This trend started a few years back and is still going strong. While some brides have even embraced long white dresses for their maids, Ultimate Bridesmaid still firmly suggests the short white dress if you want an all-white wedding—that way, there’s never any confusion on just whose wedding this is.

white dresses

Photo via Style Me Pretty.

Contrasting Dresses

Can’t decide on one bridesmaid look? Have two! This bride chose both a bold, neon patterned dress and a neutral sheath as well. The key to pulling off this look is to make sure the dresses have some common element—in this case it’s their geometric patterns and pops of gold, plus the matching shoes. The result is a look that seems purposeful and considered, rather than haphazard. Stylish to the extreme. 05 geometric contrasting looks

Photo via Ruffled.

Metallics

Metallic bridesmaid dresses are here to stay. The trend really picked up steam over the last few years and is still one of our favorites. What can we say? We like to sparkle!

metallics

Photo via 100 Layer Cake.

This Dress

Yep, this Adrianna Papell dress has exploded onto the bridesmaid scene and quickly become one of the “it” dresses of the wedding world. And why shouldn’t it be? It has a flattering fit, a timeless deco pattern, a hint of sparkle and though we are seeing it pop up in wedding after wedding, it still feels fresh each time. Originally available only in nude, you’ll now find it in a range of soft hues, including this stunning mint.

adrianna papell 3

Photos via Style Me Pretty and Elizabeth Anne Designs.

Ombre

Multicolored bridesmaids go to the next level with this subtle ombre effect. You’ll need to choose a dress retailer that carries an extensive range of colors to truly pull this off. The more subtle the color shift, the better. Having two bridesmaids in each shade is also a smart choice—it’s what creates an ombre effect rather than a rainbow one.

06 ombre

Photo via Junebug Weddings.

Creative Cover-ups

Truth: Sometimes bridesmaids get cold. Especially in the winter. Taking that fact of life into consideration and choosing a striking cover-up is both thoughtful and pays off in style points. We love leather jackets, faux fur wraps, plaid scarves and and even patterned blanket shawls, like this one. 07 pretty cover ups

Photo via Ruffled.

Maxis

Sure, floor-length bridesmaid gowns have been around. But the maxi is a bit different. The style is loose and more casual (dare we use the word mumu?) and the result is boho chic. We love this neutral pleated version. The silhouette says “beach” but the subtle sparkle says “style.”

maxis

Photo via Style Me Pretty.

Classic in black

The LBD gets its own acronym for a reason: it just never goes out of style. Black is the perfect choice for a formal wedding and also the color choice your bridesmaids are most likely to incorporate into their regular wardrobe. We love modern black sheaths like these for a sophisticated yet timeless look.

classic LBD

Photo via 100 Layer Cake.

Bold separates

There’s nothing we love more than a bride not afraid to make a bold style choice: like these turquoise floral pencil skirts paired with maroon silk tunics. Selecting vibrant separates like this isn’t for every bride—but when it works, it’s just wow. 08 Ruffled separates

Photo via Ruffled.

Ultimate Bridesmaid Census 2013: Duties You Love and Hate (Part 3)

The Best and Worst Parts of Being a Bridesmaid

In the final installment of results from our 2013 Bridesmaid Census, we’re looking at the things you love and hate about being a bridesmaid. I was especially interested in your responses to your least favorite duties and traditions since it’s not something we’re really supposed to talk about openly while we’re in active bridesmaid service. No one wants to be that bridesmaid—the one who complains about the dress or bickers with the other maids. But first, let’s look at what you love about bring a bridesmaid.

Your top answer blew all the others out of the running. 83% of you listed getting to be a part of your friend’s special day as the top perk of being a bridesmaid. After that, you seem to most look forward to events on the wedding day. You like getting ready with the bride and partying it up at the reception. The one response I found a little surprising? 28% of you enjoy helping the bride with wedding planning!

The free response section was seriously the best because it allowed you to tell me how your really feel. A top response for favorite bridesmaid trend or tradition was mismatched dresses or getting to choose your own dress. It’s easy to understand why—we all want to look good and getting to choose a dress that’s right for our body type helps with that equation. We also got multiple write-in votes for the cake pull, an old Southern tradition that seems to be making a comeback. And a lot of people mentioned how special it is to get to share the morning of the wedding with the bride. I personally couldn’t agree more. Getting ready together is your chance to have personal time with your friend on her big day. Once the wedding starts, she’s going to be focused on her groom and the swarms of guests. But prep time is just us girls, and it’s the best.

Ok, now let’s get to the juicy stuff. Your biggest complaint isn’t a huge surprise: It’s the cost. Plenty of ink has been spilled on how expensive it can be to be a bridesmaid—the dress, the parties, the gifts, the travel…it can add up fast. Plus, it’s very common for women to find themselves in multiple weddings a year. You’re likely to have at least one of these years in your life, when the planets converge and you find yourself in five weddings. The first bachelorette splurge doesn’t hurt nearly as much as the fifth. The same can be said for time commitment, which was the ranked third with 25%.

Your second least favorite part of being a bridesmaid makes me a little sad though—27% listed dealing with the other bridesmaids as a source of stress. This is really something we should strive to fix! It’s true that weddings can force you to spend time with girls who you’ve never met (since they met the bride in different times of her life) or who you’ve never gotten along with (you’ll never understood why the bride likes that one girl). But being a good bridesmaid means getting along with the other maids. Don’t stress out the bride by adding drama to her day with bridesmaid infighting.

Again, you have to love the free response to your least favorite bridesmaid trend or tradition. My all-time favorite response was a mini-rant on penis-shaped paraphernalia (thank you, I agree). Many people listed expensive and/or matching bridesmaid dresses as a trend they’d like to see disappear. But it wasn’t all rants and storm clouds. When asked what tradition you hated, lots of people said they wouldn’t change a thing!