Bridesmaids - what did you pay for?

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Mums - I'm struggling with bridesmaids and what you do and do not pay for...

What did you pay for?

Dresses?
Hair and make up?

I have 5 bridesmaids and paying for the above for them all is just prohibitive. Should I give them the option for paying for their own hair and make up if they want it?

How on earth do I broach this? I might be able to stretch to paying for dresses, (mostly as I'm hoping to get them all second hand)... though I'm not totally sure that'll be possible.

Thank you, from a mum with approximately 3 million tabs open in her head.

When I got married we were quite young and on a budget. I paid for dress and alterations, they wore their own shoes. We all did our own hair and makeup, although one bridesmaid did my hair (very simple). Friend that got married at the same time paid for dress and alterations plus shoes as it was a shorter dress. I also gave them a present, as did she which was a necklace.

My friend just has myself and one other person as bridesmaids as she wants to pay for the following:
Dresses
Hair
Make up

We are both wearing shoes we already have, they will barely be seen anyway underneath our long dresses. We will pay for dress alterations. None of us will wear jewellery.

I am engaged and I plan on doing the same , only selecting the number of bridesmaids I can afford to buy dress , hair, make up for.

In your situation , I would ask people to do their own hair. Surely between them they can curl each others hair or straighten it, keep it simple.
Id rather pay for make up as I find make up MUAs do lasts longer (but maybe that's cos I'm rubbish at make up/don't wear it often).

Personally we paid for all of the expenses for our wedding party. We also kept it low key less than 80 guests and both ceremony and reception was held in my in laws back garden.
I was able to get the dresses for under $30 each. We rented tuxes for the men.
So I would guess our total wedding was under $2,000
My dress was 90% off from a bridal store that had closed.