Red Dresses

Bridesmaid Dresses to Pair With Red Wedding Gown
By Laura Firenze

Red wedding gowns have become increasingly popular with brides who choose the color either to honor their cultural heritage or who just want to wear something other than the traditional white bridal gown. A red wedding gown can be absolutely gorgeous, but it can make it tricky to pick out bridesmaid dresses to coordinate. While any color goes with white, the same is not true of red, after all. These are some terrific ideas for bridesmaid dresses to pair with a red wedding gown.

A red wedding gown can actually take on a lot of different styles, from elegant to retro to dramatic, and that is a great place to begin when shopping for bridesmaid dresses to match your gown. Let's say that you are having a formal evening wedding, and really want your attendants to look sophisticated and elegant. Black satin column dresses would be very striking for the bridesmaids. You can bring in the red wedding theme with custom red crystal bridesmaid jewelry sets and bouquets of deep red roses. If you want to bring a touch of the bridesmaids' black to your bridal attire, add some black feathers to your bouquet, and maybe even wear them in your hair.

Black and red are a fairly dark color combination, so it will not suit every wedding. Metallic neutrals are a fantastic option for a chic bridesmaid dress color to pair with a red wedding gown. Silver or pewter chiffon dresses would be elegant for a summer evening wedding. In the autumn, a rich tone like bronze silk dupioni would be magnificent with a bride in red. Match the metallic to the undertone of the red of your wedding gown. If you are wearing a cool cherry red, silver would be a good complement. Brides in rich burgundy would look best surrounded by bridesmaids in warm metallic colors like gold. Glittering Swarovski crystals in a coordinating metallic shade would be great for the bridesmaid jewelry sets.

Red can also be retro, especially if the bride has chosen a tea length red wedding gown. It would be really cute to put your bridesmaids in dresses with a similar silhouette to yours in a color like yellow or pink. The yellow and red can be used together to create a retro picnic feeling. The pink bridesmaid dresses with the red are reminiscent of the popular color combination seen in vintage inspired letter press wedding invitations. This could make for a really unique wedding color palette if you choose to carry it into the decorations.

For brides who like the royal associations of a red wedding gown, the perfect bridesmaid dress color is another one with regal undertones: purple. Rich aubergine bridesmaid dresses will look like the epitome of elegance and style next to a bride in a deep red wedding gown. Tie the colors together with bouquets which combine the red and purple. The bride's bouquet could be mostly purple flowers with a few red blossoms, and the bridesmaids could carry bouquets that are the reverse. That will help the flowers to stand out against the color of the dresses.

Although red is not the traditional wedding gown color, it is actually a fairly versatile one. Once you have an idea of how to mix and match your red gown with the rest of your wedding details, the whole design picture will quickly come together. These great ideas for bridesmaid dresses should help you get off to a terrific start.