Expecting? Maternity Dress Options for Pregnant Bridesmaids

Just because one of your best friends or you sister is expecting a bundle of joy soon doesn’t mean she can’t be part of your wedding party. These days there are many places to find beautiful maternity bridesmaid dresses to make that expecting bridesmaid fit right into the mix.

From Bari Jay to Watters and Watters to Alfred Sung, many of the bridesmaid dress designers that we love either carry some maternity versions of their dresses or dresses that will elegantly show off her bump without drawing too much attention towards it, giving you many choices and a few more decisions to make. But don’t worry! We’re here to help.

Before you get started on the issue of bridesmaid dresses we need to sort out some decisions on the silhouette of the dress in order to be sure that the one who is expecting feels just as beautiful and comfortable as the rest of the bridal party.

If you want all the bridesmaid to be matching exactly the dress style that you are going to want is either an empire waist dress or an A-line dress (check here for definitions on dress silhouettes). An empire waist dress will fit a bridesmaid even up to her third trimester and may be the more comfortable of the two choices. A plus for all the other bridesmaids is that this silhouette tends to hide the sides of us we women don’t like showing, making it a choice all the girls will love.

For the more confident (and less pregnant as this silhouette doesn’t really work for the third trimester) expecting bridesmaid, the A-line silhouette is a perfect match. The A-line dress is a classic cut for bridesmaid dresses, but be careful about sashes or bows, as the bridesmaid with a bump will either have to place it on top of the bump or opt out of it altogether.

Another option is choosing separates, meaning the dress comes as a skirt and top separate from each other. This will make it easier for the expecting bridesmaid to add a maternity panel to the skirt that will help her feel more comfortable throughout the big day.

If you have already found bridesmaid dresses and the silhouette is something other than the previous mentioned three, look into making a maternity bridesmaid gown out of the one that you have already chosen. Talking to the store that you are ordering the dress from would be the best place to get answers. The seamstress there will be an expert in the brands that the store carries and will be able to tell you if altering the dress to make it fit the bump is an option, or, even better, if the actual dress comes in a maternity style as many do at Bari Jay, Watters and Watters and Alfred Sung. Otherwise you can try getting a dress made in the same material and color tone with in either an A-line or empire waist silhouette.

Whatever you choose remember one last piece of advice: order the dress big. You never know how big a baby bump may get and altering a dress that is too big is better than scrambling to find another dress altogether!