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Bar none, the most important thing you shouldn't do when choosing dresses for your bridesmaids is pick the ugliest dress you find to cut costs. This leads to unhappy bridesmaids who will look like it in your wedding pictures. Not to mention aggravating your friends is not the best way to have the perfect day. They may pretend they don't mind, but think about it, would you want to wear something you absolutely hated and have your picture taken in it? Your bridesmaids can be beautiful without outshining you and in any case if you happen to have a friend who is prettier than you are, you will outshine her without a doubt because happiness lends beauty.
Ugly dresses extend to ugly colored dresses so all those fuschia, magenta, lime green, teal, aquamarine, burnt orange etcetera are all out. Don't even glance at them regardless of how pretty they are to you, unless you know for sure they compliment your bridesmaids skin tones and honestly, no one looks good in lime green or fuschia.
Be sure to avoid ruffles, bows and hearts, there's enough love between you and your groom to be, don't make your wedding look like a kindergartener's valentines day card. Subtle works just as well as or even better than overt sometimes. Stay away from sequins, no one needs to have a show girl as a bridesmaid, they make for tacky wedding pictures.
Look for simple bridesmaids dresses and don't go overboard on the embellishments or embroidery, too much can be overwhelming. Choose a color that compliments the complexion of all your bridesmaids, pastels work nicely for almost all skin tones and simple dresses do well for almost all body types.
Never choose bridesmaids dresses that you yourself wouldn't wear but don't allow yourself to be pulled in all directions by your bridesmaids either. They can have their opinion but if they can't all agree on the same dress initially then take their preferences into consideration when choosing a dress but ultimately it is your decision to veto or accept a dress. What you can do if everyone can't agree on a dress and you feel like you absolutely need to cater to everyone, have them all agree on a color and allow them to get different dresses in the same color as all your other bridesmaids. Remember that this is your wedding and while these rules are helpful ultimately it's your decision so make yourself happy above all else as you won't have another special day like this again.