Choosing a colour for your bridesmaid dresses can feel surprisingly difficult. There are so many beautiful options, and it's easy to get caught up in what you think you should choose.
The good news is that there isn't a “right” bridesmaid colour.
Your colour palette can reflect your wedding, your venue and the overall feeling you want to create — but it should also work for the people who'll actually be wearing the dresses.
Here are a few things I'd consider.
Start with colours you genuinely love
Before worrying about trends or what traditionally suits a particular season, think about the colours you're naturally drawn to.
Look at the colours you've already chosen for your wedding. Your flowers, stationery, venue styling and even the setting itself can help point you towards a palette that feels cohesive.
You don't need to choose a colour simply because it's fashionable this year. Wedding photographs last much longer than trends do.
Think about your venue and surroundings
Your venue can be a useful source of inspiration. A coastal wedding in Cornwall might inspire soft blues, greens, neutrals or warmer natural shades — but that certainly doesn't mean you have to choose them. A country-house wedding doesn't require traditional colours either.
The aim isn't to match the venue. It's simply worth thinking about how your chosen colours will look within the setting you've created.
Don't get too caught up in seasonal rules
You'll often see advice telling you that certain colours are for summer and others belong to winter. Treat that as inspiration rather than a rule.
Deep green can look beautiful at a summer wedding. Soft pink can work in winter. Black bridesmaid dresses can look fabulous at almost any time of year.
If you love a colour, you don't need permission from the season to use it.
Consider how your bridesmaids feel about the colour
Your bridesmaids don't all need to have the same colouring, body shape or personal style — and a shade one person loves may be something another would never normally wear. That doesn't mean you have to find one magical colour that everybody believes is their “perfect” shade.
But involving your bridesmaids in the conversation can help you find something everyone feels comfortable wearing.
Feeling good in a dress matters far more than following old-fashioned rules about which colours supposedly suit particular skin tones or hair colours.
One colour doesn't have to mean one shade
Your bridesmaids don't necessarily need to wear identical colours. Using different shades within the same colour family can create a beautiful, relaxed look and give you more flexibility when choosing dresses. You could also use several complementary colours rather than one.
If you're mixing shades, it can help to look at fabric swatches together rather than relying on photographs on different screens, where colours can appear quite different.
Think about the fabric as well as the colour
The same colour can look very different depending on the fabric. Satin reflects light differently from chiffon, for example, so two dresses described as the same shade may photograph quite differently. If you're mixing dress styles or fabrics, look at the colours together in natural light where possible.
This is particularly useful if you're trying to create a tonal or mismatched bridesmaid look.
How should bridesmaid colours work with your wedding dress?
Your bridesmaid dresses don't need to match your wedding dress.
Instead, think about how everything looks together: your dress, the bridesmaid colours, flowers and the overall wedding palette.
Your wedding dress is naturally going to have its own presence. You don't need to choose bridesmaid colours specifically to make yourself stand out.
Choose colours that help create the wedding you want — and let your bridesmaids look fantastic too.
So, what is the best colour for bridesmaid dresses?
There isn't one.
The best bridesmaid colour is one that works with the wedding you're creating, that you genuinely love and that your bridesmaids feel happy wearing.
You might choose one classic shade, a mixture of tones or several complementary colours. All can work beautifully.
And if you're still choosing your own wedding dress, I'd start there. Once you've found a dress that feels like you, it can become much easier to see how the rest of your bridal party fits into the overall picture.
You can explore our wedding dresses or book your bridal appointment at Bridal Gossip in Wadebridge when you're ready to start looking.
Caroline Griffiths
Bridal Gossip
