We all have family and friends spread across the world these days. Your sister might be in London, your friends might be in Dubai and your favourite cousin might have moved to America. But when it comes to your wedding, they’ll all happily make the journey home. But if you’re going to ask them to be your bridesmaids, how do you sort out their dresses when you can’t go shopping with them?
Get your bridesmaids measured
This goes for the bridesmaid you have living nearby as well as the ones in another country. Make sure they get measured. It’s best if they get measured by a professional so that they get accurate measurements and that they take all the right measurements. It’s not as simple as waist, height and bust, especially if you’re getting a dress custom-made or altered to fit them perfectly.
Try to organise a trip
We know it can be awkward, especially if you have multiple bridesmaids in different corners of the globe, but if you organise it enough in advance, try to organise a dress fitting for them at a time they’re able to come home. Once you’ve picked bridesmaids that live away and you hope to have a dress fitting, make finding bridesmaid dresses a priority so that a trip home can be organised as early as possible. Once you have the dresses purchased, you can send them to the bridesmaids and have them get it altered to fit them perfectly. Just remind them not to forget it for the wedding.
Ask them what they like
If your bridesmaids live away, you’re really going to need their input when it comes to what you want. This is good advice even if they are in the country because you don’t want to be a bridezilla who picks what they have to wear without any input from them. Share an inspiration board with them on Pinterest so they can contribute to what will be the final decision on the bridesmaid dresses. This will make it easier when you can’t all go shopping together.
Opt for a high street dress
Sometimes, the high street is the perfect place to find your bridesmaid dresses, and this will make buying them for out of town bridesmaids ten times easier. For a start, there’s a good chance they will be able to find and try on the dress themselves to find the best size for them instead of you trying to order them blind. Secondly, if they’re happy for you to reimburse them, let them buy it in their country and have them get any alterations made over there too.
Let them choose
Finally, if you’re not stuck on the idea of matching ‘maids, give them something to base their dress on and let them go shopping for themselves. If you’re paying for the dresses, make sure you give them a budgetary limit too. Whether you want them all in floor length gowns or you have a colour swatch that you can send them, send them off to search for the perfect dress themselves. That way, everyone is happy and mismatched bridesmaids look so good.
- Jenny Darmody
Image credits: Blue dresses: Trent Bailey Photography | Black dresses: Vicki Grafton Photography | Grey dresses: Sylvie Gil Photography | Pale dresses: Katie Shuler Photography | Mismatched dresses: Gia Canali Photography