Part 1: Buying bridesmaid dress for my JIEMEIS!

Ah ha! Bridesmaids can be the most tricky link of the wedding preparation.
You have to be prepared for it!

Here's a rule of thumb for brides-to-be:

• If you do not wish to spend on bridesmaid dress, give them a choice of colour and let them prepare their own clothes. But don't expect all of them to wearing the same colour tone/design etc
• If you are very particular about what they wear and want to keep everyone sychronised, then you would have to prepare the bridesmaid dress for them

Trying to cope with the expectations of my 6 bridesmaid was no easy task.. but its GAME ON!
As usual, everyone has their own likes/dislikes... its important to make sure everyone is happy during this process and minimize the conflicts. It can be a frustrating process for the bride I know, but after all bridesmaids are your besties so bear with it yah!

To shortlist the right bridesmaid dress, here's some of the shortlisting criteria that I put in place:

1) Colour
What are the colours available?
Do they match the theme?
Do the bridesmaids like the colour chosen?
Does the colour clash with the colour of the wedding gown?

I try to avoid colours that are too dark like navy blue (though I love it) and black because for day time, these colours looks very dull on bridesmaid and don't look very nice in pictures.

I chose to go ahead with baby colours in the end as I feel that they look very soft and sweet which will match with my theme (:

Credits to www.siroccodesign.co.uk

2) Style
Shape of the dress (gown? flare? bodycon?)-> Do take note of your bridesmaid body shape. What looks good on you may not look good on them. Bodycon dress may make your bridesmaids look fat at the tummy and thighs.

Textile (lace? neoprene? cotton?)-> Depending on the environment... neoprene may be a little hot for Singapore's weather especially if your bridesmaid will be running around the whole day to help you settle the nitty gritty stuffs.

Length (Short? Long? Midi?)-> I personally feel that long dresses are more formal, elegant and suitable for my church wedding. Some of my bridesmaid are tall and some aint that tall, so a short dress may expose some of their assets ;x Most importantly they must feel comfortable with it.

I am not very particular about the length so I allow my bridesmaid to choose the length and specific design that they like. In the end 5 of them chose a long dress and 1 of them chose a short dress LOL

3) Sizing
Please make sure all your bridesmaid fall within the size range of the available sizes.
Especially if you intend to buy from blogshops like lovebonito, hollyhoque etc... their sizes may not necessary suit everyone

Example of lovebonito sizing which is TOO small for my bridesmaids /;

4) Other expectations
Do your bridesmaid have special requirements? Important to ask this right from the start!
One of my bridesmaid wanted a dress that doesn't expose her cleavage and something to cover her arms so I have to respect her and put it as my search criteria.

5) Price
Price of the bridesmaid dress is very important for me because I am on TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT budget. But I don't want to buy ugly cheapo dresses for my bridesmaids so its really about balancing my budget and finding something value for money.

I would think Zalora would be a good place to start if you would like to find something locally for lesser than $35SGD (my friend got her bridesmaid dresses during sales at less than $17 per dress). There's plenty of blogshops providing bridesmaid dresses too but they are over my budget.

So I am back on my favourite website TAOBAO to search under 伴娘礼服 and here's what I have got for my bridesmaids!

Baby blue bridesmaid dress! I let them choose between purple and blue and this is what they chose.
The reason why I like this bridesmaid dress is because it is stretchable at the back with a zip at the side. It will help to fit my bridesmaids of varying body shapes (:

We did a fitting and here's a picture of their 三八 pattern LOL. Cute please!

The dresses fit them well, looks good and quality is good!
The dresses even came with padding!
 I am very happy with my purchase and so are my bridesmaids (:

Guess how much they cost?
Long dress at $48RMB = approx. $11sgd
Short dress at $34.36RMB = approx. $7.80sgd
Shipping cost to Singapore not included (local china shipping cost is about $2SGD)
If you are interested you can purchase from the seller here.

Part 2 here where I have shared on the other value for money bridesmaid dresses that I shortlisted on Taobao (:

Hope this is a good guide to help you choose the bridesmaid dress that you want!
Good luck!