Picking your bridesmaids dresses
Options, options, options.
Want your bride squad to look and feel gorgeous while on point with your colour scheme? Got you covered.
Bridesmaid dresses can be sweet, classy, stylish, or a little bit of all three!
Bridesmaids as something Blue
Why not make your oldest friends your something blue on your wedding day? Baby blue can be sweet and romantic paired with classic white roses and baby’s breath, or make bold and bright bouquets pop!
Blue is quietly one of the most versatile colours you can put your bridesmaids in. Dusty blue and cornflower are soft enough to feel romantic without disappearing in photographs, and they sit beautifully against greenery and stone. If you want something with more depth, teal and petrol blue photograph gorgeously in the evening — the colour holds up under warm lighting when paler shades can wash out.
Satin smooth bridesmaid dresses
Elevate your bride tribe with satin bridesmaid dresses. They’re not as traditional but who cares when they look as good as these champagne and burnt orange numbers? Add some interest as well as catering for different body shapes by opting for a variety of styles in the same colour, keep your ladies comfortable and confident.
A quick word on satin, because it behaves differently to chiffon. It catches light rather than diffusing it, so it looks expensive in golden hour and dramatic indoors. Champagne, oyster and soft gold satin are the ones I photograph most, and they have a lovely habit of picking up whatever colour is around them. Just know that satin shows every crease — worth a steamer in the morning.
Bridesmaids pick & mix
Think of bridesmaid dresses like eyebrows – they just need to be sisters, not twins. Make each bridesmaid glow with a mixture of tones within your colour scheme. Or go all out and have pattern be the cohesion with the gorgeous colours a glorious backdrop to your wedding dress.
Mismatched works best when there is one thing holding it together: the same fabric, the same length, or a tight range of tones. Pastel mixes — butter yellow with lilac, mint and powder blue — look joyful and modern in daylight. At the other end, a mix of neutrals in different depths, champagne through to taupe and chocolate, is quietly one of the most elegant things you can do, especially for autumn.
Bejeweled bridesmaids
Emerald, amber, ruby. Jewel-toned bridesmaid dresses never fail to sparkle, especially when you add in luxurious textures like velvet.
Emerald and jade are the jewel tones I am asked for most, and for good reason — they are rich without being heavy, and they look superb against both stone barns and green Yorkshire hills. Off-the-shoulder emerald with white or cream bouquets is a combination that has never once let me down.
Evergreen bridesmaids dresses
Sage green and olive green have been the colours of the year for bridesmaid dresses, and it’s easy to see why. This colour scheme suits almost everyone with the added benefit of there being so many style options on the market to choose from.
Worth separating the greens out, because they behave differently. Sage is soft and slightly grey — forgiving on every skin tone and lovely in soft light. Olive is warmer and deeper, and in satin it turns almost gold when the sun drops. If you are marrying in high summer, olive satin at golden hour is hard to beat.
Dress classic
Black and white is a classic combo for a reason. Bridesmaids in black is a classy move, plus black famously suits everyone. Don’t be afraid of a dress with a slit if you want a drop of cheekiness too!
Black also solves a problem nothing else does: it makes a mixed group look completely coordinated even when the dress styles are all different. Everyone gets to pick a shape they feel good in, and the photographs still look deliberate. It is particularly strong for evening receptions and city venues.
Bridesmaids soft elegance
Sometimes subtle elegance is all you need. Pastels and flattering ruching or flowy chiffon are a match made in heaven.
The palest end of the spectrum — champagne, oyster, nude and blush — is the safest choice in the best sense. It flatters everyone, it never fights the flowers, and it makes the white dress the obvious centre of every photograph. If you want soft but not bland, pick one tone and vary the style.
Bright and bold bridesmaids dresses
Or maybe subtlety is the last thing you think of when it comes to your bride squad. Give them dresses that shout as loud as they will on the dancefloor!
If you are going bold, commit properly. Hot pink and fuchsia with bright, clashing bouquets is pure joy in a photograph. Burnt orange, rust and terracotta are the autumn equivalent and look incredible against Yorkshire stone and turning leaves. Bold colour also has a practical advantage: your bridesmaids are easy to find in a crowded room.
Tickled pink dresses
Pink bridesmaid dresses enhance the romance. Dusty pinks especially keep it cute not cutesy, women not girls.
Pink covers an enormous amount of ground. Dusty rose and blush are romantic and gentle; coral and salmon bring warmth and work beautifully in summer sun; and a mix of pinks in different depths gives you the soft palette with a bit more interest. Pair with white or cream flowers to keep it grown up.
Chocolate, mocha and mushroom
If one colour has arrived properly in the last couple of years, it is brown — and it is far better than it sounds. Chocolate, mocha and mushroom are warm, grown-up and genuinely different, and in satin they look seriously expensive.
They work especially well in barns and stone venues where the tones already live in the walls, and they make white and cream flowers look sharper than any pastel will. If you want a neutral that is not beige, this is it.
Butter yellow bridesmaid dresses
Butter yellow is the one I have seen more of this year than any other new colour, and it is lovely to photograph. Soft, sunny and far more wearable than a bright yellow — it reads as warm rather than loud.
It sits beautifully with white and green bouquets, and it lifts a grey Yorkshire morning like nothing else. Pair it with cream or mix it into a pastel palette with lilac and mint.
