Asking a buddy to be your bridesmaid is a huge responsibility. For you and her.

For her, this means taking on an area of the burden of creating sure that the wedding works out just as you have planned it. Organizing the young flower girls. Make sure you look your most breathtaking at the ceremony (arranging veils and trains etc.) Providing a shoulder to cry on/hand to keep when the stress reaches you. Helping using the RSVPs, deciding on the venue, the wedding cake ... the list goes on.

And what's your responsibility? Well, first of all you need to make certain you're deciding on the right person to become your bridesmaid. (And that is probably not your best friend either.) You have to have a person by your side who's reliable, trustworthy, organized, reasonably unflappable, and available. Your childhood friend who now lives 3000 miles away may be the person you would like, however, you need to have somebody along with you who can be physically there a great deal of the time. Your other Uni friend may be great fun but a little scatterbrained and also you don't want to be worried about what she's forgotten or prone to forget.

A-line/Princess Sleeveless Long/Floor-Length Chiffon Bridesmaid Dress With Pleated

We've all been at weddings in which the bridesmaid continues to be forced into wearing an outfit that didn't suit her. Maybe she was tall and lanky coupled with to wear a wedding dresses that they just did not have the curves for. Or maybe she was voluptuous coupled with to face as much as frills that did nothing to accentuate her good points but emphasized the not-so-good.

We think one of the biggest thank-you's you are able to pay your chief bridesmaid is allowing her to select her bridesmaid dress. Okay, therefore we don't mean that they can rock up in an outfit of her choosing on the wedding day (she may be a Goth or something like that!) however, you do have to let her possess a say with what she wears.

Let's think first about palettes. Say you've selected blue. Now there are lots of different shades of blue. A baby blue pastel might look stunning in your blonde bridesmaid but a little washed out on another. There's nothing to say you are able to have different shades of blue for the bridesmaid's dresses - that's called an ombre effect. The same goes for pinks, greens, purples, reds.

Don't believe every bridesmaid has to put on the same type of dress either. You can keep to some color theme but let your maids wear variations from the dress. Some might be in sage bridesmaid dresses, others inside a high neckline, others in halter-necks.

You'll find many different bridesmaid style dresses at Dessy inside a rainbow of colors and countless different designs. Have a browse. Set up a mood board. Ask your maids the things they would like to put on.

A-line/Princess Sleeveless Sweep Train Chiffon Bridesmaid Dress With Sashes/Ruffles

Make sure your maids look their best on the wedding day and they're going to be friends for a long period (and also you'll also end up using the wedding photographs you would like.)

What do you consider? How are you thinking about dressing your bridesmaids?

Photo credits: Featured image Awkward Family Photos, second image Christian Oth Studio, fourth image Araujo Photography, fifth image Mr. Hook via Style Me Pretty.