I’d be straight up lying if I didn’t say one of my most favourite parts of a wedding day to photograph wasn’t the bride and her bride squad/bridesmaids. As someone who had four bridesmaids, all of which held such a special place in my heart for over a decade of friendship, I saw the huge amount of effort and planning my bridesmaids put into everything even BEFORE our wedding day to ensure that I had the most amazing wedding experience. From planning out the best bachelorette party, to countless texts and phone calls and craft planning nights, to being there for you throughout the entire wedding planning process, the people you choose to stand beside you as you marry your best friend are some pretty special humans!

In my personal opinion, choosing bridesmaid dresses/outfits that will make your bride squad feel and look their absolute best on your wedding day is the very least you can do to thank them for being a part of your wedding day. After all, they’ll probably be buying these outfits themselves, plus alterations, will be getting so many photographs of themselves, and who wouldn’t want to look like an absolute spicy af hot tamale while their best friend steals the show on a wedding day!

There’s a few different directions you can go when figuring out what you’d like your bridesmaids to wear on your wedding day, and today we’ll be covering:

• Mismatching Bridesmaid Dresses

• Matching Bridesmaid Dresses

• Alternatives to Bridesmaid Dresses

Mismatched Bridesmaid Dresses

I recently polled our instagram community to see who was in favor of mismatched bridesmaid dresses vs matching, and a whopping 70% of our audience was IN FAVOR for the mismatched bridesmaid dress train! I personally wanted my four bridesmaids at our wedding to have mismatched bridesmaid dresses for a number of reasons: I wanted my girls to feel so confident & beautiful as they stood beside me on one of the best days of my life, but I also wanted them to not feel obligated to spend a ton of money on a dress they didn’t like all the while going with our garden backyard wedding theme. I wanted to give my ladies the freedom to choose a dress that suits their body & makes them feel all so confident. There’s nothing worse then dropping a shitload of money and having your photo taken all day in an outfit you feel like an ugo sack of potatoes in. Everyone will have their own opinions on what they want for their own wedding day, so I advice that you make almost a vision board on pinterest on what you want your humans to wear/the vibes and aesthetics to be for your wedding day.

Some ways we’ve seen mismatched bridesmaid dresses done amazingly so that they are still cohesive are:

• A similar colour palette with 1-2 hues of difference with the same length for all dresses. Some trends I’ve seen over the years that work really well together are reds/pinks/purples, blues from navy to pale baby blues.

• Try mixing up the material of the dresses but relatively the same colours, playing with things such as lace, beading, tulle etc can add an element of surprise and fun while still looking like they all belong together

• The same dress design but in different colours

Matching Bridesmaid Dresses

There’s something so simply elegant about matching bridesmaid dresses. Everyone looks cohesive, and like absolute rockstars beside you on your wedding day. Another bonus is it’s really easy to stick to certain wedding colours or a pallet when choosing matching wedding dress colours, which you can also use to tie in nicely to match groomsmen outfits such as their tie or bowtie can be the same colour as the bridesmaid dresses, which I always think looks super beautiful. If you want to have all matching bridesmaid dresses but still inject a little diversity with your bridesmaid outfits, you can:

• Switch up the necklines or sleeves for each bridesmaid. Some long sleeves, some strapless.

• For colder weddings, add in different coats like Shannon + her girls badass fur coats in a variety of shapes/colours/lengths

• Have all your bridesmaids in the same dress, with your Maid of Honor (MOH) in one that’s slightly different

Alternatives/variations to the traditional bridesmaid dress

We’ve seen SO many amazing ways to spice up the traditional bridesmaid dress to give it a little more interest and diversity to each bridesmaid. Some of our favourite trends we’ve seen are:

• Jumpsuits

• Rompers

• Skirts with a crop top or a bodysuit

  The perks of choosing a variation on the traditional bridesmaid dress is it frees up where you can purchase your bride squad outfits! Some of our brides have had amazing success finding their bridesmaid outfits at: Aritzia , Lulus, Free People, and even while thrifting.

Whatever option you go for, it’s YOUR wedding day, and your bride squad will look STUNNING no matter what you put them in, because they are your friends!

Let me know what route you went or are planning to go with your wedding day! I’d love to hear from all sides!