Long vs Short Bridesmaids Dresses

[Pheebs1201 269]

It seems like VJ has an answer for everything so I pose this question to you!

Long or Short dresses for bridesmaids, and why?

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Well, it depends- for a casual beach wedding, short would be ok, but in generally, I'd favor long.

Long dresses are more elegant, tend to fit a variety of figures, and more conservative religious celebrants (and family!) will prefer them too.

[Ontarkie 14,275]

Depends on a few things.

What is the setting, what is the bride wearing, time of the year that sorta thing.

[Pheebs1201 269]

Okay, more information is required!

We are planning a rustic theme wedding in mid June with a barn dance! It should be pretty warm here in Oregon, and we still want it to be fairly formal but not necessarily black tie.

I originally wanted shorter dresses complete with cow girl boots but my maid of honour wants a long dress

Edited January 13, 2015 by Pheebs1201

[Ontarkie 14,275]

Do what you want, it's your wedding

Short would be fine in that setting. I like the short dress and cowboy boots look.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Split the difference? MoH in long dress, other bridesmaids in short dresses?

While it is your wedding, your friends who are standing up for you should be comfortable, and some are simply insecure about showing leg...

[Pheebs1201 269]

Split the difference? MoH in long dress, other bridesmaids in short dresses?

While it is your wedding, your friends who are standing up for you should be comfortable, and some are simply insecure about showing leg...

See, this is what I was thinking. But then I looked at pictures online where the MOH is in a long one and the other (in my case two) girls are in short ones and it just looked a bit odd. I agree that I want them all to be comfortable and feel confident and beautiful, so perhaps the best compromise is to just choose long dresses. I might scrap the cowgirl boots in that case, sigh...

[Ontarkie 14,275]

I think it looks funny with the different lengths.

What is your idea of short and why does she not want to a shorter dress? And who is paying if they are I would give them more say?

I don't think you need to go all bridezilla but it is your wedding and you should be able to have the theme you want.

[Pheebs1201 269]

I think it looks funny with the different lengths.

What is your idea of short and why does she not want to a shorter dress? And who is paying if they are I would give them more say?

I don't think you need to go all bridezilla but it is your wedding and you should be able to have the theme you want.

She doesn't like her legs (but it's not like I'd have them in miniskirts and coupled with the cowgirl boots, it would really only be their knees showing).

They are paying, however, only if they are very cheap (for example I showed them one that was $89 and they were outraged, so I may have to rethink who is paying... although with eBay it may be possible to fit their budgets. In fairness, they are all also flying from the UK to be there but I have given them 18 months notice).

Still unsure what to do!

[Transborderwife 4,666]

What about a tea length/retro 50's length skirt?

[Ontarkie 14,275]

Maybe if you can find something just below the knee it might work for her. So she hasn't tried anything on to see how she would look in it?

It's so hard sometimes, how many girls are you having in your party?

I had 4 in my first wedding it was a pain in the butt.

My second marriage I only had my daughter to worry about so much easier keeping it small.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Ontarkie

[Pheebs1201 269]

What about a tea length/retro 50's length skirt?

My MOH wants full length, I have suggested many different lengths with no success

Maybe if you can find something just below the knee it might work for her. So she hasn't tried anything on to see how she would look in it?

It's so hard sometimes, how many girls are you having in your party?

I had 4 in my first wedding it was a pain in the butt.

My second marriage I only had my daughter to worry about so much easier keeping it small.

I have my MOH and then two others (the other two are happy to wear whatever) but we are on a very tight budget for our wedding as we have both just graduated and obviously I won't be able to work for another six months or so once I have my visa and wait for my EAD (we are doing the courthouse thing for the visa requirement and then hoping for a wedding in June 2016).

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I'd rather wear a burlap sack than a calf-length gown. For ladies of short stature (like me) they generally look weird. If you have any bridesmaids who are conscious about their calves, also a no-go. I am an at the knee and higher girl myself because I'm so short, long dresses swallow me up and make me look even shorter (plus I have nice legs ).

But for the kind of wedding you're going for, long or short would be appropriate. You choose and everyone else has to lump it. I have worn some truly hideous bridesmaid dresses because I was doing it for the bride. I understand that you want to be sensitive to what your ladies want, but at some point you need to remember the day is about you and your fiancee. The MOH sounds like she's being a little bit of a diva. I know she's travelling a long distance, but seriously, it's a few hours in a dress.

Good luck and choose what YOU want!

[Pheebs1201 269]

I'd rather wear a burlap sack than a calf-length gown. For ladies of short stature (like me) they generally look weird. If you have any bridesmaids who are conscious about their calves, also a no-go. I am an at the knee and higher girl myself because I'm so short, long dresses swallow me up and make me look even shorter (plus I have nice legs ).

But for the kind of wedding you're going for, long or short would be appropriate. You choose and everyone else has to lump it. I have worn some truly hideous bridesmaid dresses because I was doing it for the bride. I understand that you want to be sensitive to what your ladies want, but at some point you need to remember the day is about you and your fiancee. The MOH sounds like she's being a little bit of a diva. I know she's travelling a long distance, but seriously, it's a few hours in a dress.

Good luck and choose what YOU want!

Yeah she is only 5"4 so I thought just above the knee would be perfect but apparently not haha. Also with regards to the plane ticket/travelling I'll be doing exactly the same thing for her when she gets hitched!

Thanks so much for the kind words!

[NikLR 13,227]

They were outraged at $89??? My bridesmaid dress for a friend's wedding cost $270 before alterations. It ended up another $200 for those!!! Darn thing cost more than my WEDDING dress for my own wedding. I would have been ecstatic to have an $89 dress to wear for her wedding (which was also set in a log cabin and wasn't fancy but the darn dresses sure were!)

I would think at knee would be the lowest you'd want to go for that setting.