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Bridesmaid dresses and who pays for them · updated September 2026

Bridesmaid Dress Cost: What the Party Actually Pays

A bridesmaid dress is bought several times over, so a difference of fifty dollars is a difference of several hundred across the party. It is also the one wedding garment somebody other than the bride pays for.

$200median gown in these accounts (58 prices)
85purchases that touch this subject
15first-hand accounts on this page
$850median gown across the whole dataset

What they cost

  • Shopping the same silhouette outside the bridal label saves the most: dresses sold as bridesmaid, prom, gala or evening in ivory ran 140-300 while comparable bridal versions ran far higher.
  • Non-bridal and fast-fashion routes: Abercrombie 53, Lulus 89, ASOS 150-200, LindyBop 85 GBP, a 110 white bridesmaid dress, LoveShackFancy 800, a Neiman Marcus off-the-rack white gown 900, Anthropologie 2,000, a 450 Nadine Merabi jumpsuit.
  • Bridesmaid dresses sold as white or in a colour work as wedding dresses at $90-$100, with Azazie named as the source for a $100 bridesmaid-style gown.
  • Older price points for context: about 1,600 in 2011, 252 for an ivory bridesmaid dress in 2018, 800 for a boutique ballgown in 2021.
  • Vinnies in Waverley near Bondi Junction runs an annual wedding expo of new and secondhand bridal and bridesmaid dresses, held 18-24 April in 2026.
  • UK brides treat bridesmaid dresses as a couple expense: one capped hers at 150 pounds per dress, another planned under 50 pounds each and will tweak them herself as a dressmaker.

Where the party bought them

  • The same home try-on program works for bridesmaid dresses, and one bride saved money on a bridesmaid dress that way with easy returns.
  • At-home try-on services replace the appointment: Azazie charges about $15-20 a dress and lets bridesmaids order on their own accounts, and Revolve's returns policy is used the same way. One bride simply bought the try-on she liked for under $300, another got a final-sale try-on unit for $55.
  • The names brides class as legitimate budget-to-mid bridesmaid sources: Azazie, Ever Pretty, Birdy Grey, Lulus, Show Me Your Mumu, David's Bridal, Revelry, Leading Ladies LA, plus designers stocked in local bridal shops.
  • Non-bridal retail markdowns beat bridal-site prices when they land: an Anthropologie dress used for bridesmaids fell from 180 to 40, and Birdy Grey discounts individual colours periodically.

Alterations on a bridesmaid dress

  • Itemized hem quote: 350 minimum plus 150 per layer; a different shop quoted 100 just to shorten straps; a bridesmaid dress hem, straps and take-in cost a friend 100; pants hems run about 50.
  • Anytime Alterations in Kensington MD altered a bridesmaid dress (hem, new elastic, sleeves) for 300 but quoted 900 for a bride's simple dress, which brides read as bridal upcharging; Zoya in Falls Church quoted 400 for bridesmaid alterations, while Best Tailoring in Chantilly did them for about 120 each in 2017.
  • A maid-of-honor dress cost about 300 to hem and take in, twice its 150 purchase price; a bridesmaid dress alteration at a sister's wedding was 150.
  • Bridal alterations cost several times a bridesmaid dress alteration (300-500 vs 80-90) for similar work.
  • Bridesmaid dress alterations ran $100 to $150 a few years earlier; prom-dress strap and hem work at a dry cleaner cost double digits.

What brides paid

Every row is one bride, cheapest first.

GownYearThe account
$251995Rented for 25 about 30 years ago on a very tight budget; bridesmaid dresses also rented.
$552023Ivory bridesmaid gown caught on clearance; tailoring was only a hem plus a hook and eye at the zipper, which she put at under 100 rather than exactly 100
$802022Tea-length champagne dress with matching scarf from DB's bridesmaid section, on sale for 80
$1002025Bridesmaid style in her favourite colour rather than white and it drew constant compliments
C$1202026Niece wore a white bridesmaid dress bought for about 120
$1252022Midpoint of the 100 to 150 she paid for each of the four bridesmaid dresses she has been asked to buy; avoids online-only sellers
$1602026About 160 for an Azazie bridesmaid dress ordered in white; open back and lace, nobody guessed
$20020181500-plus gown for 200 at a thrift store after passing on a 360 white bridesmaid dress; budget max 400
$2502023Structured floor length bridesmaid dress in off white with an extra layer added; bought on a whim at a small dress shop
$2522018Fancy bridesmaid dress ordered in ivory
£2802026Monsoon high-street dress 280; bridesmaids cut the train off with scissors mid-reception so she could dance
$4002026Plus-size friend's long-sleeve ball gown ran about $400; same bride buys custom-measured bridesmaid dresses near $100.

Questions

How much do bridesmaid dresses cost?

The reports here cluster around a couple of hundred dollars a dress, well below the gown but multiplied by the size of the party. The made-to-measure sites are the cheapest reliable route and the one most often named, because they cut to each bridesmaid's measurements and remove most of the alteration bill.

Why do bridesmaid alterations cost so much less than bridal ones?

The same work priced differently. Brides here report a bridal alteration at $300 to $500 against $80 to $90 for comparable work on a bridesmaid dress, and one shop that charged $300 to alter a bridesmaid dress quoted $900 for a bride's simple gown. Several brides describe not mentioning that a dress is for a wedding until after the quote.

Can bridesmaid dresses be worn as wedding dresses?

Frequently, and it is one of the largest savings in this dataset. The same design houses sell ivory versions of their bridesmaid lines at a fraction of their bridal prices, and brides who went that route report no one noticing anything except that the dress was comfortable.

Is it normal to regret your wedding dress right after buying it?

Several brides report the same thing unprompted: one felt it within a couple of days of ordering and went back to the boutique, one still regrets her choice five years later, and regulars say regret posts appear multiple times a day in this sub. It is very common here: several said they panicked after ordering and then fell back in love with the gown, while two rebought, including one who replaced a $2,700 dress with a $400 one.

How much does a custom-made wedding dress cost?

Custom ranged from 400-800 abroad (Eastern Europe, Argentina) and 420 made-to-measure in the US to 2,750-2,800 from US custom makers and 4,000-5,000 at custom bridal boutiques. Overseas custom from Vietnam or China came to under 1,000 for four dresses. Custom ranged from 150 made in China and 1050 made in Vietnam through Etsy ateliers at 850-1900, a Brooklyn designer under 4k, a 5500 custom that avoided any alteration bill, 7500 at Monica's Bridal and 7800 for a self-designed art-piece gown.

Should I go wedding dress shopping alone?

The bride asked this mid-discussion and the answers favoured it. One bride did every appointment alone except two and prefers it that way; going alone was suggested specifically for the confirmation visit when you already have a frontrunner. Every bride who rebought went alone the second time and calls it the better decision. Bringing bridesmaids adds scheduling guilt and outside opinions, which is what pushed this bride into a gown she is unsure about.

Should I try on wedding dresses above my budget?

Repeatedly called the cardinal rule of dress shopping: do not. The brides only put this one on to look at the back and ended up in tears in the mirror, which some brides read as the shop steering her toward a bigger sale. No. Brides repeatedly warn that stylists pull above-budget gowns and you fall for them; state a hard limit up front. One bride who gave a 1,200 budget was shown only gowns under it and paid 950.

does wedding dress regret go away

For the brides answering here it did. One had major regret a week out and now loves her photos; another wound up with something quite different from her vision and reports zero regret. the bride who asked later confirmed she was happy at pickup. For this bride it did completely. She wrote in a panic months before the wedding, wore the same dress, and came back afterwards saying she felt like a princess in it and was glad she had been talked off the ledge.

can you negotiate the price of a wedding dress at a bridal shop

brides say to ask the shop to meet you halfway or to sell it at your stated budget, and to ring other shops that carry the same gown to compare. The worst outcome is a no. Some brides did: one always asks for 10% off by citing another shop, one haggled a consignment gown to 500, and a shop honored a written misquote so a 10,000-plus gown sold for 6,000; a discontinued floor sample went for 50% off.

Related on this site

Sources

Price reports on this page come from 53 public discussions where brides answered in their own words. Each comment that stated an amount became one row; notes are paraphrased, never quoted.

Discussions used on this page (53)