Colours for your Bridesmaid

Best friends and sisters come in all shapes, sizes, colourings and personalities, so how do you choose one dress that will suit all your bridesmaids? Or do you select your bridesmaids to suit your dresses? How many young ladies have been passed over in the competitive world of the 'would be' bridesmaid?

But is this really necessary? Or are there compromises to be made in the name of friendship? Just how can you dress your dearest friends, so they all look their best as they follow you down the aisle?

One method of narrowing down the colour choice is to make use of a colour palette or possibly the colour guides given away free in DIY stores where they mix any shade of paint on the premises. Select from the wide range of colours and cross out any you definitely do not like, then hand the charts around to your bridesmaids, so that each one in turn can cross off any colours she dislikes - then see what is left.

Once the colours have been narrowed down to a few, obtain material samples for the gowns, if they are being made specially, and try again. There are some colours that will suit most colourings, for instance cream, eau-de-nil or a delicate shade of blue, but all these are rather understated hues and may not be as striking as you wish. Silver could be a daring choice, especially if the bride was wearing a fashionable gold wedding gown. But what else will do?

There is no reason why all the bridesmaids have to wear the same colour, it can be visually stunning to create a rainbow effect with a shimmering cascade of shades. The same dress, the same material but a carefully selected compatible range of colours.

Look around you for inspiration:
- Rainbow colours
- Sweet peas
- Jewels
- Sugared almonds
- Firelight
- Shades of a single colour, from dark to light
- Ice creams
- Spring flowers
- Water - from ice blue to sea green

To enhance your colour scheme, each bridesmaid's posy could echo the colours of her individual gown.

Flowers come in every shade these days, the florist can even dye them to the correct colour, and the addition of ribbons or artificial flowers can also increase the range of colours available.

Alternatively, the posies could contain a mix of all the colours chosen, so creating a unifying effect. Small bridesmaids can have patterned dresses, echoing the colours of the older bridesmaids, maybe a white ground with small motifs or a coloured sash helping to unify the overall colour scheme.