Some brides know who their bridesmaids will be even before they got engaged. For others, there are far too many close friends and family to make the decision an easy one without fear of offending someone. Whether it is the Maid of Honour or the flower girls, we will try to show you the safest route through this minefield!
Flower girl andBridesmaid duties
In the UK, the main role of flower girls is simply to look cute and scatter confetti. Meanwhile, your maid of honour and adult bridesmaids have far more important tasks, most importantly keeping you calm and organised before the wedding and throughout the ceremony.
More ideas on bridesmaids duties
Choosing a Bridesmaid Dress
Having chosen your bridesmaids, maid of honour and flower girls, hopefully without offending too many friends and relatives in the process, your next dilemma is the bridesmaids dresses.
It is difficult to find a dress that everyone will be happy in. Although the younger flower girls may be more likely to throw a temper tantrum in day to day life they are often easier to please and most are happy with the sheer idea of being in a pretty dress at a wedding. However, older bridesmaids know more about their insecurities and do not want to look like mutton dressed as lamb, where young bridesmaids don't want to look their granny! The most important thing is that everybody is happy so they don't have be self conscious about what they are wearing and enjoy the day. Remember to think about the bridesmaids shoes, jackets and jewellery as well!
Consider whether you would like them all dressed completely the same, in different styles along the same colour scheme or a great middle ground is a multi-way dress!
Bridesmaid Shoes
For the bride who has just patting herself on the back after successfully navigated the tricky issue of bridesmaids dresses, it is time to start on the next dilemma; your bridesmaids shoes, and more specifically, heels or not. While flower girls are usually delighted with strappy flat sandals or ballet pumps, older bridesmaids may feel uncomfortable in flat shoes, regardless of whether their heels will mean that they tower over you. Plus, depending on the weather has been, stiletto heels may sink into the ground and ruin the shoes so a lower chunky heel may be a better option!
More ideas on bridesmaids shoes
Bridesmaid Jewellery
In the past the bridesmaids jewellery was a simple string of pearls, however more recently brides have been more adventurous in their bridesmaid's jewellery. Many brides choose to give their bridesmaid a gift of a simple piece of jewellery to be worn during the wedding and kept as a wedding keepsake afterwards to thank their bridesmaids for playing such a fantastic role!
More ideas on bridesmaids jewellery
Bridesmaid Hair and Beauty
Finally, when navigating the pre wedding beauty sessions it is important for you to make known what you are willing to pay for your bridesmaids and what they will have to pay for themselves. Its nice to treat your bridesmaids to something special such as a spa day hen do or paying for them to get their nails done for the wedding. But if you're already planning on asking your bridesmaids to help out on your wedding day with a special gift and getting them a special piece of jewellery to wear on your special day, then forking out for their hair and makeup on the day may put you too much out of pocket. Especially if you are having a big group of bridesmaids. Consider asking them to pay for it themselves, or giving them a small makeup palette so that they can all work with the same colours when doing their own.