Wedding Bridesmaids Dresses Pricing Question

[SarahLovesJS]

Since two of my BM''s will be FI''s sisters I am trying to give FMIL an accurate price range to expect. She wants to know a mid-level range as well as low and high? What would you tell her? I don''t know what to say!

I think anything over $250 is a bit expensive, is that right?

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 5/12/2008 10:25:00 PM
Author:SarahLovesJS
Since two of my BM''s will be FI''s sisters I am trying to give FMIL an accurate price range to expect. She wants to know a mid-level range as well as low and high? What would you tell her? I don''t know what to say!

I think anything over $250 is a bit expensive, is that right?

I would say so! I''d be pretty pissed if a bride picked a $250 dress for me without my prior consent...

I''d say $50 is cheap, $100-150 is probably averageish. I consider anything above that expensive, after all you never can really shorten it and wear it again no matter what the bride thinks.

 

[tiffanytwisted]

The dresses my bridesmaids wore were $120. I think that was pretty mid-range.

 

[basil]

I think $120-175 is probably about average. Below $100 is low range. And $200 and above is high end. Ours came in at just under $200 each. I felt like that was a little too pricey, but then my mom offered to pay for them.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Sounds good everyone! Looks like we have a consensus. Yeah I didn''t want to pick something crazy expensive, especially considering I know his parents will end up being the ones buying the dresses for the girls, and they have to buy 2 plus whatever his Dad is wearing. Woo! That''s a lot.

 

[Gypsy]

The Jasmine dress my MOH bought was around 130. That was about mid range I thought for a BM dress that is not bought off the rack... but on the high side for a single black dress (which she could have gotten off the rack, if she''d been so inclined. She wasn''t). Some of the designers you were looking at though run around 300, so I''d be careful to check with my BM''s and see what THEY consider reasonable before even going shopping. People will surprise you... initially and years ago I had planned on having three attendants my best friend (and current MOH), my closest friend from lawschool (who is coming to the wedding),and my closest female cousin (who is now not even invited to the wedding!). My cousin was going to have to fly in from Australia, and didn''t care about gown costs. My best friend and now MOH was willing to go with a Vera Wang BM dress as long as I loved it and she did too... and my close friend from law school... the one with the 6 figure salary and the 13K Patek Philippe watch was complaining when I was looking at 150 dollar gowns. So it really depends on the person, and I would make sure to ask them. Regardless of what a bunch of brides from a diamond board think is reasonable.

 

[Haven]

I''ve paid between $175 and $275 for all my bridesmaid dresses.

If you go to netbride.com you can get a good idea of the prices for some designers you like and start there. My bridesmaid dresses were between $100 and $170 (they all chose different dresses).

 

[SarahLovesJS]

For anyone that has a Siri dress, how much do those run?

 

[SarahLovesJS]

And Alvina Valenta? I have an idea about Jasmine, but not about either of these.

 

[basil]

Date: 5/13/2008 1:06:52 AM
Author: SarahLovesJS
For anyone that has a Siri dress, how much do those run?

Our dresses were Siri (Siri Harvard in duppioni - cost just under $200). I think it varies somewhat according to the fabric and style. If you have something in mind, call Pearl''s Place and they will give you a quote over the phone.

 

[violet02]

My dresses are Siri, Francesca in Shangtung silk. They cost $300 each. The girls picked the dress they wanted though. I didn't insist on any one brand or anything. I'm very happy with the choices they made.

 

[Cleopatra]

Siri dresses can range in prices depending on the type of fabric you use - obviously, silk dresses will cost more than taffeta dresses.

I gave my two girls free reign on their bridesmaid dresses - I only asked that they be black. They chose Vera Wang bridesmaid dresses that ended up costing $250 each. They were ok with buying them because they can wear them again and they just loved the dresses.

I was a little apprehensive about such an expensive dress, but I did leave the choice up to them. I, however, bought their shoes - which relieved some of the cost...

 

[parrot tulips]

As a bridesmaid without a ton of extra cash, I would be comfortable paying about $200, give or take a little. The Jim Hjelm dresses we''ll be wearing this August were a little over that at most bridal salons, and a little under when we actually purchased through Pearl''s Place. My first time around, though, when I was really, really broke (yes, the bride was aware), our dresses were $500, plus alterations. No, they were not re-wearable. Pink, salmon, and ivory floral print silk chiffon halter dresses that hugged good and tight right around the poochy area most women have, with a multi-layered asymmetrical hemline and scattered multi colored sequins and beads.

A little side note for those ordering online. Be careful about the colors. I''d make sure I saw a color swatch in a bridal salon before ordering. My sister figured this step was totally unncessary, because how far off could the colors possibly be? Well, what she thought would be a very dark brown (almost black) dress, turned out to be something in between a watered down latte and mustard colored. Not pretty, but no returns if the order was processed correctly, so she''s stuck.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Yikes!! Sorry about your sister, and woooah that''s an expensive dress! I will definitely make sure I see swatches in person first, thanks for that tip! Also, thanks for the price advising everyone! I think Siri should be in our range. I really like the cherry blossom fabric which I think is a dupioni.

 

[basil]

Yeah, go to a bridal salon and look at them before you order online. The one I went to was kind enough to send me swatches after we went to try on the dresses, too. Get measured while you are there, too. It makes things simpler.

The store I went to didn''t have the whole line in stock, so some of the dresses I was interested in, we never tried on. One of my bridesmaids really wanted straps, so what''s why we ended up with the Harvard. Siri fabrics are really pretty - the duppioni has a beautiful texture. I wonder if the embroidered ones are a little more expensive though.

 

[violet02]

I think the embroidered ones might be more pricey. I''m ordering some cranberry jacquard fabric from them which is twice the cost per yard that the shangtung silk is.

It''s VERY important to go into a boutique or order swatches, Siri''s color swatches online aren''t great at all. The colors look way different to me in person. My presonal favorite was the Tafetta Signature but they didin''t have the colors we wanted to we had to go with Shangtung.
One of my bridesmaids wanted straps too but once she tried on the Francesca she decided no straps was fine. We''re lucky the Siri warehouse is right here in SF. We almost ordered the harvard as a junior bridesmaid dress but we''d have had to size it down for a ten year old so that wasn''t worth the cost. Unfortunately they don''t do kids dresses.

 

[Elmorton]

For me, (in the midwest), yes $250 is the top of the expensive spectrum, but it really seems to depend where you live.
And, what is "expensive" can also depend on the financial stability of your BMs. Almost all of my BMs were full or part-time students so I asked that they purchase the dress ($185) and since that was pretty expensive, I paid for their shoes, reception flip-flops, jewelry, alterations if they had them done at the bridal salon, shipping for the salon to send them their dresses, etc. I tried to cover other "hidden" costs, and also made hair appts optional...any way I could keep costs down, I tried to.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 5/13/2008 8:02:23 PM
Author: Elmorton
For me, (in the midwest), yes $250 is the top of the expensive spectrum, but it really seems to depend where you live.

And, what is ''expensive'' can also depend on the financial stability of your BMs. Almost all of my BMs were full or part-time students so I asked that they purchase the dress ($185) and since that was pretty expensive, I paid for their shoes, reception flip-flops, jewelry, alterations if they had them done at the bridal salon, shipping for the salon to send them their dresses, etc. I tried to cover other ''hidden'' costs, and also made hair appts optional...any way I could keep costs down, I tried to.

I think we''re in a similar situation, but it''s FI''s sisters who are still in college so his parents are going to pay for it (lucky them, right? haha). But I am sure the less expensive the better since they have to buy two!

But we''re going to try to help out some, too. I think that''s very fair and a great idea! So many extra things come up like alterations, etc.

 

[Elmorton]

Oh, Sarah, another "hidden" cost - the night before, I got two adjoining hotel rooms so all of the gals (incl. my usherette, my readers and the soloist) wouldn't have to pay to stay the night before. If you're getting married in your hometown, this is probably less of an issue, but hotel stays were the other big cost. They all split the cost of the room the second night so it ended up not being a big deal (I think $20 a person) and I brought an air mattress for 'em (classy, right? but practical!).