Payment of bridesmaids dresses

[BoringMumso]

Hi , new here so bare with. My best friend is maid of honour at my wedding plus two teenage bridesmaids. My fiancé and I will be paying for her accommodation and the night before the wedding including a dinner. we paid for her at the tasting meal and of course we paid for the make up trial and hair and makeup on the day, all of which we were happy to do. The bridesmaids dress is £120 and obviously there are shoes, accessories etc to buy. Should I ask her to pay for her whole outfit, just the dress, just shoes and accessories or all of it. There is such conflicting info on line.
Thanks

She didn't need to come to your tasting meal. That's a bit much.

I paid for whole outfit, hair and make up but not accommodation. Lots of things you are paying for didn’t apply at my wedding - the make up trial was just me and there was no need for accommodation the night before the wedding as the venue was only 7 miles away.

Pay for it all. My 4 bridesmaids, flower girl and page boy were kitted out by me including shoes and accessories. Girls had hair and make up done too. I wanted them as part of my day, so why should they pay for that privilege?

You pay for her outfit. If you’d wanted to save money the ‘tasting meal’ and pre-wedding dinner was where to do it.

You pay for all of it. If you're not paying for accommodation she needs to be able to choose where she's staying as the wedding hotel may be more expensive than others.

I think inviting people to a tasting meal and a pre wedding dinner is s bit OTT but hey ho! I paid for both my bridesmaids entire outfits.

It shouldn't cost the bridesmaid anything to be a bridesmaid. It's not THAT much of an honour that they should end up out of pocket.

Sorry, I agree with others. You should pay for the bridesmaids dress unless it’s literally “wear whatever you want / we’re not doing bridesmaid dresses, just something smart”

I paid for all my bridesmaids costs. I can't think why you wouldn't!

Only Americans make their bridesmaids pay for the bridesmaid dress. Otherwise, you pay the dress. If you’re not bothered about shoes, she can get her own shoes. If you stipulate shoes, you should pay for them.

I've been a bridesmaid twice and I had to pay for both dresses and shoes. Also had to pay for my hair and make up to be done (which I opted out of and did myself!)

I've been a bridesmaid three times and never paid, though one bride did choose cheap illfitting dresses so I got stung with the expensive alteration cost.

Complication is that you've paid for other things I wouldn't expect you too, so now you'll be out of pocket

Same as @hehedgehogger1

We had 5 adult bridesmaids and we paid for dresses, alterations, jewelry, hair and make up. We asked them to provide their own shoes, mainly because we wanted them to be comfortable, we simply asked they be a specific colour.

Younger bridesmaids we paid for everything including shoes.

When my brother and sip got married,they made it clear I had to buy my own dress,in the colour/style they wanted-and I had to buy my kids clothes too

fine

what wasn’t fine is that they changed their mind a week before the wedding and expected me to buy 7 new outfits/shoes/jewellery and casually told me that they thought £200 per person was ‘reasonable’ (I was a single mum on tax credits at the time)

i didn’t and told her to find some other mug-so she did and I’ve not spoken to them since

you really need to fund the dresses as a bare minimum

Bride pays for all.

Lordy, that sounds like one expensive wedding. What was the total cost?.

Bride pays for it all x

Thank you for all the kind helpful advice and not so much for the judgy stuff.😂 Weddings are something one doesn’t give much thought about prior and then suddenly one is thrust into a completely new world and you have to learn quick! Without asking how would we learn. 😘

If she can wear any dress and shoes she already has that would work - otherwise you pay. Information online isn't conflicting it's just opinion.

I would be seriously annoyed paying for a dress though I would expect to pay for my own hotel

You need to pay for the dress at least. Entirely your call if you pay for hair, makeup, shoes, accessories, but don’t expect the bridesmaid to fund it.

It’s fine not to pay for the shoe if it’s a generic look you require- eg. Gold
but all other parts to the outfit you pay

If you’ve looked online, you may well have hit upon American websites. It is commonplace for bridesmaids to be expected to pay for their own dress etc there. Hence why they always seem to have a whole tribe - the bride doesn’t pay! I had a friend who was a bridesmaid 8 times in one year - it cost her the best part of the equivalent of £2000 for all of them.

If you’re UK, you pay for it all as the bride.

When I've been bridesmaid I've always paid for my own shoes as the brides have always said get what your comfortable in.
Everything else paid for by the bride.

You should pay for it all

I don't think it should cost a member of the wedding party more to attend that another guest.

We paid for bridesmaid dresses, make up, shoes and for the grooms the hire of their outfits.

They paid for their own underwear and accommodation.

If I were you I would pay for the outfit but expect them to pay for their own accomodation.