As you plan your wedding, you'll want to make sure your bridesmaids look great on your big day. You'll also want them to love the dresses you pick out. Use this guide to make the shopping process go smoothly so everyone in your party is excited about getting dressed up for your wedding.

Shop Early

Custom-made bridesmaid dresses can take time to make, which means you'll need to allow plenty of time between the day you place your order and your wedding day. Make sure to get the expected delivery date for the dresses when you order them, and allow for a few extra weeks between the delivery date and your wedding date. This will give your bridesmaids enough time to have any last-minute alterations done to ensure a perfect fit.

Discuss Budgets

Unless you are footing the bill for the dresses, you'll need to make sure the options you pick fit within your bridesmaids' budgets. This may be a conversation to have with each woman privately to prevent any embarrassment in front of the group. Once you know how much they can afford, you'll be able to start narrowing down your dress options.

Make A Day Of It

Have your bridesmaids spend a day shopping with you to find the perfect dresses. Check out several stores before making your decision on a dress, and look to see if you can have custom-made dresses created based off of a design you find in one of the stores. Be sure to schedule time in your day to take your lovely ladies out for lunch, and consider making the day extra fun by getting your hair done before you go shopping. Having a practice run of bridal hairstyles can help you to decide which overall looks you like best, and it makes it easier for you to envision each bridesmaid on your wedding day when everyone is dressed head-to-toe in their bridal looks.

Have A Backup Plan

While you want everything to be perfect on your wedding day, there are a number of things that can go wrong. For example, one of your bridesmaids may get the happy news that she is pregnant, which may mean that her custom-made bridesmaid dress won't fit by the time your wedding rolls around. Having a backup plan in place can reduce stress and keep everything on track for your wedding. A backup plan for bridesmaid dresses may simply be to have a seamstress available to make last-minute changes to the dresses, such as adding lacy side panels to all the dresses to make them match while still accommodating the mom-to-be. If you are concerned about your dresses arriving in time, you and your bridesmaids may want to make a trip to the local mall to buy dresses off the rack to have on-hand just in case.

Getting your bridesmaids the right dresses doesn't have to be hard if you do just a bit of planning. Use this guide to prepare for your shopping adventure, and prepare to have fun as you plan for your big day. Check out companies like The House of Couture to get started.