What is a cost of having a bridesmaid?

Impet_Limpet

I have asked two of my friends to be bridesmaids and would love a third friend to be one too. I want to buy them a dress for the day that they can wear again for nice occasions from somewhere such as BHS or debenhams.

Other then the cost of this dress,what other costs do I need to consider that will be over and above what I would pay for a full day guest (e.g. in addition to a wedding breakfast and evening buffet). I don't want to ask her and realise I will struggle to afford it.

Just brainstorm and copy and paste to my list

Dresses
Hotel room after the reception?
Flowers (just thinking of buying us all a fake flower bouquet to keep)
Hair and makeup (although if I had my way I'd be more comfortable doing my own makeup - they always make me look orange! but it would be mean to expect them to do their own).

Cat72

Dresses -I bought a lovely dress from Bhs was redced to £49- the bridesmaid is supply her shoes.
Debenhams often have 20% off so worth keeping an eye out for.

Hotel room after the reception? - Personally not something I would pay for.

Flowers - I bought fake flowers from Sarah flowers .The bridesmaid bouquet cost £12 as I just got a small one.
You might want to consider using this for throwing at the end of the night instead of yours.

Hair and makeup - This is probably a personal thing. Some people would pay for this and others wouldnt.
My friend said not to bother paying for her's . However I am going to, as she has been really great to me when I need her, its costing £30 for hair and £30 for make up. However normally I am having a trial which she is not having.

Also remember you have a present to get them too .HTH .

vixarooni

Debenhams megaday is in may if that helps

Plans_all_plans

Dress and bolero/shrug (if you think they will need the latter)
Shoes
Flowers/wrist corsage (the latter should be cheaper than a bouquet)
Small present

And nothing else!

Obviously you can pay for their hotel room if you wish, but in my opinion this is being unnecessarily generous. The same goes for hair and make up.

My sister is my main bridesmaid and she has bought her own dress and bolero that I picked out, but she really likes. She will pay for her own hotel room too. She is not keen on the shoes I have picked out, so I will foot the bill for these. I will also pay for her flowers. She can do her own hair and make up or pay for a professional if she feels she'd like this. I will get my sister a nice thank you present to be given at the reception, but wont spend a fortune on it, she knows I love her!!!

I also have two teenage bridesmaids (my fiancee's nieces). We have paid for their dresses and boleros and will also pay for their shoes. If they feel they need make up (which at 11 and 13 I don't personally think they do, but I expect they will feel otherwise) then they can do it themselves or their mum can help them do it. We will get these two wrist corsages, rather than the full bouquet my sister will be having. We will also get them a small token present.

Hope this helps.

stef240377

For my day i had my daughter as one BM and my future sil for the other.

H2B at the time insisted we paid for her dress, shrug and shoes plus flowers. In return his brother who was best man paid for his own highland wear (£109) and their hotel room (£80) plus a round of drinks for everone as well as the arrival drinks. SIL paid for her hair and make up to be done as she only uses one hairdresser and only uses MAC makeup so it was easier this way.

In total clothing and shoes came to around £120 and flowers £25 for fresh hand tied bouquet.

minerva_windsong

Depends whether you're OK with them paying for certain things themselves - I know you want to buy the dresses, but things like their shoes and any accessories maybe they could cover. I was a bridesmaid for both my sisters and would quite happily have paid for everything myself, although as I was a poor student at the time my very generous mum wouldn't let me and paid for it for me - so my dress, wrap, shoes, hair accessories, getting my hair done and my room at the hotel. I only had a bouquet at one of the weddings and that came out of the general budget for flowers.

The only things I bought myself were my make-up (cheap Boots stuff to recreate something I'd had done at a Benefit counter) - but then at both weddings all the bridal party did their own make-up - my train tickets back from uni for the weddings, and a bag to match one of my outfits.

I also got small gifts of a spa day voucher and a little mirror compact.

Generally if I was a bridesmaid I would go in expecting to pay for everything myself, and would be perfectly OK with that, so anything the bride was willing to pay for would be considered very generous. But I think etiquette dictates that you'd pay for the dress, flowers and possibly hair and make-up, and the bridesmaids pay for the rest, although ultimately it's up to you how you spend the money.

RainbowDrops

I was a bridesmaid for my sister a couple of years ago.
She had 3 bridesmaids, and boutght our dresses from Oasis. They were gorgeous pink silk dresses, and only cost £50 each.
Because they weren't a "bridesmaid" design, I've worn mine loads of times since.

As for the rest, I paid for my own hair style (at T&G), I did my own make-up, and I paid for my hotel room.
I don't think people would expect you to pay for everythin (unless you have lavish tastes).
As for fake flowers, if you're planning to have them to keep, you might need to spend a bit more on them to make sure they're good quality.
Another option of a bouquet keepsake is drying / pressing the fresh flowers after the big day - that's what I did

Mme.Hibou

Cat72 wrote: »

Also remember you have a present to get them too .HTH .

This is incorrect OP, you don't have to buy them a gift at all. I've been a bridesmaid once, my SIL (the bride) bought my dress. No shoes, no hair dresser, no make-up, no gift and it was still the second best wedding I've ever been to!

I've been a bride once and had my sister as my bridesmaid, she got a dress and shoes. No gift ... I did think about it, but I didn't bother.

Alyssa_C_2

You can do as much or as little as you want. I am going to be buying their dresses and (though they don't know it yet) their hair and make up. They've taken it as read that they will be doing their own but I'd like them to have a little suprise I will also be getting them a small pressie but undecided what atm. However, they know they're paying for their shoes I certainly will not be paying for their rooms, but will be for the flowers

Impet_Limpet

Thanks guys that's been really helpful! You've really helped me out here!