Are bridesmaids dresses a waste of money?

The great advantage of BM dresses over wedding dresses is that if you choose wisely, they can be worn again. £200 is a lot of money, but 1) you don't have to spend that much, there are cheaper options, and 2) a nice cocktail dress from somewhere like Hobbs or Phase Eight will usually cost £80+, so it's not quite such a crazy mark-up as it is for wedding dresses. I get that it's expensive, but I wouldn't call it a waste.

Your right I don't mean a waste after all I have been a bridesmaid for three of my friends before and didn't grudge paying. But we did say we would sell the dresses on and they could be cut or we would find something to wear them too. Years later I have taken them out the loft to look at for a few days and they will probably go back up. I would love my bridesmaids to go for the cheaper options and a more flexible style dress so that they actually can wear it again. It would be nice to see them wearing it in years to come and bring back some memories of my wedding day.

If you are going for your typical bridesmaids dress then yes, they are a lot of money but there are so many options for them now. A lot of my brides are just buying them off the high street. Is this an option?

I think £200 for a bridesmaid dress is a lot of money. i wouldnt be willing to pay that myself as I have 5 to cater for. Instead I went for dresses that were £80 (my FSIL works at Karen Millen and got 50% discount) and then could afford to buy their shoes and gift them jewellery to wear on the day. They get to keep everything I have brought them, it probably adds up to £200 but thats with everything.

I'm getting married for the second time but at my first wedding I had three adult bridesmaids and they all wore matching silky evening dresses from Top Shop in a mink colour, with pashmina type wraps and strappy sandals. They looked gorgeous and the dresses cost me £35 each in the sale ....(it helped they were all a similar, standard size I admit) the shoes were around £25. So 3 bridesmaids entire get ups came to well under £200, including necklaces and tiaras (again High street but they didn't look obviously 'cheap'. I do agree with you that specialist bridesmaids dresses of hundreds of pounds can be a rip off and nice cocktail/evening dresses from the High st can look just as nice, or even nicer, without the hefty price tag.

This time around I have my daughter (8) and neice (2) as bridesmaids and they are going to wear white tutus I'm custom ordering for about £30 each with matching leotards underneath which I'm upcycling to make them look prettier and shrugs from a high street kids store that cost me £6 each...

I realise it is each to their own and I'm on an extremely tight budget for the whole wedding (my own dress is a Ronald Joyce sample which I found at an Oxfam bridal shop for - £50!!! It is gorgeous, has never been worn and I have chosen it over an offer of the loan of a stunning Maggie Sottero gown as I would have been too worried about spilling red wine down it or something going wrong and wouldn't have been able to relax!)

I can't recommend the specialist Oxfam bridal stores enough and think some may also do bridesmaids dresses, I thought my local one would be full of puffy 1980's numbers and was amazed, there were some truly lovely dresses there and I loved the fact my money was also going to a good cause.) I have been tempted to buy my little girl an amazing 'proper' bridesmaid dress for my special day but balked at the thought of paying up to three times what I had spent on my own and know she will love wearing a tutu and look just as gorgeous as if I'd spent a load more I can't afford.

I think £200 is a silly amount of money for a dress that will only be worn once. No matter how carefully people choose 9 times out of 10 no one ever wears the dress again.

I got highstreet dresses from next that looked amazing and cost £40.

I think we can choose some affordable and beautiful bridesmaid dresses.