Paying for bridal party outfits

[LynAnne]

I'm just curious as to your thoughts on this. As you may have seen from my other posts, we have a small budget. Whilst I would love to buy expensive dresses from bridal shops for my bridesmaid this is just not feasible so we will be looking at high street dresses instead. However, even my budget is small for this too. I am happy to give the bridesmaids (my five sister) free reign over what dress they want although I have asked that it be in blue for my colour scheme. Do you think it is cheeky to say that should their dress cost more than £x amount that the should make up the rest of the cost? I've spoken to about this to a couple if my sisters and they seem fine with this.

Also, if I did the same with the best men would this be wrong? My OH will wear his kilt and I am happy for one of his best men to wear his but the other doesn't own one so we will have to rent for him. Because he doesn't get the same choice (he can pick his own tartan) I feel bad only contributing £x amount especially when the other best man doesn't need to hire a kilt. The other thing is my OH's dad will wear his own kilt but my dad hates kilts and will be wearing a suit. How can I ensure I spend a fair amount on all of them without having to fork out an arm and a leg?

 

[aly888]

I gave my bridesmaids a budget and they paid for the extra that it went over. They were both cool about it.

 

[BrandNewWife]

I don't see a problem with saying you can only afford X amount! As long as it's reasonable. No one can find a good BM dress for $10!

 

[Perfect_pink]

My bridesmaid dressed we cobolt blue and found them in monsoon, three dresses in the 3 sizes i needed and were in the sale for £50 each they were stunning and they could/and have wore them again x

 

[Leesy]

I think it's fine. Just be honest with your bm's and have a chat about it. I paid for for my bm's dresses and they will be paying for their own shoes and accessories. I got some really nice dresses for them at a reasonable price as we are also on a tight budget. They all offered to put in for the dresses too but I declined their offer to do so. They are your bm's for a reason so they will understand. Good luck!

 

[aly888]

From the other side of things, I've offered to put towards my bridesmaid dress at a wedding I'm part of later this year. The bride budgeted £50 for each dress (same as me) and she's found some she likes for a bit more and I'm more than happy to pay the extra bit. If you just explain to your BMs that you are on a budget then I can't see them complaining. Like PP says, they are your bridesmaids for a reason and if they do make a fuss over it then maybe they shouldn't be your bridesmaids

 

[Mummy May]

My BM dress cost £30 new from ebay. I don't think it cheeky but obviously you have to be reasonable about your budget for them, as PP said, you can't get a BM dress for a tenner. If your budget is really small, try places like ebay, preloved and fb selling sites. Plus all the sales (most websites always have a sale section). Ooh and TKMaxx have some fab stuff online for cheap. I decided only to have 1 bridesmaid and that has kept costs low for me. Xx