{Long dresses. Clearly formal. But sometimes these look just like a casual summer maxi dress}
{Short dresses. But they definitely look formal to me. Is it the formal updo's that make this look?}
While I love the look of long dresses, I don't want to deal (or have my bridesmaids deal) with the following things: dresses hemmed to short, dresses dragging, potential trip on said long dress, TN heat in August, slim possibility of ever wearing a fancy long dress again. Here's the plusses I came up with for the short dresses: shows off their cute gold shoes, everybody will have tan legs!, they'll be cool during our 2hr photo session between the ceremony and the reception, they can have both hands free while dancing (there's no bustle on a BM dress). And if both of their hands are free, that leaves 1 for a bouquet, and another to help hold up MY dress from the heat! Just kidding. But seriously, that tulle will be a steamer!
Well this turned out to be quite a long-winded post. So give me the deets. Long or short? What are your thoughts? Do you think there can be a formal wedding with the bridesmaids in short dresses? Or do you think short automatically dictates casual?
all images from The Knot
9 Wonderful Comments:
We all wore long dresses in my BFF's wedding and it's the one part of the wedding I didn't love - it just felt overly stiff and it was SO hot.. despite being December in Indiana. It was 70 degrees that day - crazy weather.
I vote short - I think the formality is all in the styling!
I chose short dresses for several reasons. The main being that I have 5 bridesmaids dresses (all long) in my closet. Most of them cost over $200. And I will never wear them again. I thought by picking short (especially black) dresses, my friends and family would actually wear them again and not completely waste their money. I also narrowed down my choice of bridesmaids dresses to 10 and let each girl pick from two different styles, so they had somewhat of a choice. So, I will have 5 styles of short dresses in my wedding.
We're having an afternoon wedding, so I thought the short dresses would be appropriate. However, I don't think the length dictates how formal the wedding is. There are some very casual long dresses and very formal short ones.
My two cents is: pick what you want. It will be beautiful either way. It just depends on what your priorities are. One thing to note, if you do go with short dresses, I would definitely make them all wear the same shoes so it doesn't look mis-matched. I hope this helps!!!
There can definitely be a formal wedding with short dresses! I have been to many and my wedding is exactly this! In my opinion, there are just so many other details that make a wedding formal/informal.
But in terms of bridesmaids, I think shoes and hair can make or break the overall look...an updo can instantly make a look more formalized. I also think the length of the short dress makes a huge difference...while it may be a minor detail, there is a huge difference in how a dress looks on someone if it is hemmed right above the knee, hemmed to hit mid-knee or hemmed to hit right below the knee.
I agree that the hem can make a huge difference with the short dress... Thats kinda why I went with long - I just didn't know if everyone could get their hem deal worked out :) I also chose long so everyone felt comfortable.. a size 2 girl would always be comfortable in a short little number.. but a size 10 girl may not. Either way - your wedding will be so amazing & your sweet Maids will love you no matter what you choose :)
You can definitely have a formal wedding with short dresses. I'm in a wedding this summer and we're wearing Ann Taylor silk taffeta dresses that are short but the men will be in tuxes and it's an evening formal affair and I don't think our short dresses will make it look any less formal. I did short dresses for my bridesmaids b/c I have 2 long dresses that I will never wear again from weddings!
I decided to go short cocktail dresses for my girls but I think they are dressy and will look more formal with a tux. Either way you can dress up or down with the shoes / jewelry
Ours were short. Just below the knee. The girls loved it because it was a little hot and I don't think they would have felt as pretty if they were all sweaty. They felt good about themselves, and I thought that was all that mattered.
Beyond that - everyone thought the wedding was beautiful; and although no one really comments on that, I know they thought it was "formal."
My Ladies are in mid length. right below the knee. And they all seem happy with it, and i think its definitely formal enough...
I definitely agree that the styling dictates the formality! If short dresses are going to be more comfortable for your maids, then go with it! :) My bm's are wearing short dresses (although my wedding isn't as "formal," per se)!
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