Your best friend is getting married and has asked you to be a bridesmaid for her big day. What an honor! Congratulations!

Looking at the part of a bridesmaid is all about the dress. And getting to try on bridesmaid dress options with your bestie is a time-honored tradition.

However, if you’ve been on lockdown—like most of the world, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic—you may not be able to physically shop for a bridesmaid dress. But have no fear! The internet is full of opportunities and it’s now easier than ever to try on bridesmaid dresses at home.

Though not the traditional route, online shopping has become more and more popular for bridal attire, out of both convenience and necessity. Of course, shopping online comes with its own set of quirks.

Here are our top tips to optimize your virtual shopping experience and try on bridesmaid dresses at home.

1. Start With an Open Conversation About Budget

As a bridesmaid, your main obligation to the bride is to be present for them, which will include bearing some financial costs. Aside from the bridesmaid dress, other essentials may include: travel fares, makeup and hair, bridal gifts, and of course the bachelorette party and bridal showers.

Bridesmaid expenses can add up quickly. Assessing your budget for what you can afford is an important first step. So take some time to plan a budget!

Speak with the bride about her vision, and openly discuss how much you can afford to spend. This conversation doesn't have to be awkward or embarrassing. Make it fun! Invite all the bridesmaids to an open group discussion, including the bride, to determine an affordable budget that works for everyone. And as a bridal party unit, you can mutually settle on fabulous bridesmaid dresses that won’t break the bank.

If you’re the bride reading this, it’s up to you to convene with your bridesmaids, especially if you have a specific aesthetic in mind. You can even put it all in writing! For example, TikTok user Lisa Marie Torres drafted a “transparency letter” for her would-be bridesmaids, detailing her expectations and the associated costs so everyone was on the same page from the get-go. In any case, it’s perfectly acceptable to request your bridesmaids wear a particular style for their shoes, hairdo, and dress fabric. But to make things simple, try offering a few price range options and take a group vote for the range that best fits everyone.

Afarose stocks beautiful bridesmaid dresses at prices starting as low as $70, so you can browse with confidence, knowing there are plenty of affordable options for every budget range.

2. Set up a Bridal Party Virtual Shopping Session

Time to select some dresses!

Round up the bridal party and enjoy a virtual shopping session together. Have some fun with it! Everyone can chime in to coordinate colors and silhouettes to ensure they match the overall bridal theme and palette.

A virtual group shopping session is a great opportunity to break the ice and introduce your bridesmaids to one another so they can get acquainted early on. The bridal party is often a mix of old friends from school, coworkers, and childhood pals—so the first meeting can be a bit intimidating for some.

But shopping together can be a wonderful bonding event. This will also be a great time to plan subsequent social get togethers, including a try at home bridesmaid dress party.

3. Take Accurate Measurements at Home

You’ve decided on the perfect bridesmaid dress, now it’s time to make sure they fit well too. Time to get some your measurements. It’s best to have either a friend, family member, or professional seamstress do the measuring for you to get the most accurate measurements.

The more you can measure, the better—Afarose, for example, uses over 11 different measurements to construct the perfect dress.

If you’re measuring at home, make sure you use a soft, flexible tape, and be careful not to add any extra space. Also, put on similar undergarments to the ones you'll wear on the wedding day including heels of the same height as your bridesmaid shoes.

If you're ordering your dress from a bridal shop and your measurements correspond to different-sized dresses, experts recommend ordering the dress corresponding to the largest measurement and having the dress altered to fit the rest of your body.

For example, if your bust is a size 10, your waist a size 8, and your hips a size 6, order the 10. It’s much easier for a seamstress to take fabric in rather than trying to add extra. This ensures you’ll get the most flattering shape for your body.

4. Take Advantage of Try-at-Home Programs

After you decide which dresses and sizes you want to try on and have taken all your measurements, order sample dresses and have them delivered to your house for a fantastic try-at-home bridesmaid dress party. It’s easy and convenient, and it’s more flexible to try on bridesmaid dresses at home than attempting to schedule multiple store-hopping shopping dates.

At Afarose, all final orders are custom-made for a proper fit, so you can still order any sample dress and size even if all sizes are not available in the exact color you want. Renting a sample bridesmaid dress to try on costs $10, which covers shipping both ways when you try on two or more dresses.

Afarose also offers a FREE fabric swatch for each bridesmaid dress ordered to try on at home! The swatches sell for $2 online normally, and usually cost more at in-store retailers. Swatches let you assess how the colors and fabrics look in person, which is great for deciding color palettes accurately.

Afarose allows seven days to try on and return the dresses, so we suggest you plan a group fitting ahead of time and schedule the return accordingly. As mentioned earlier, a try at home bridesmaid dress party is great for building camaraderie among the bridal group!

To complete the party, the bride can order her own bridal gown samples from Afarose as well, so everyone can test several looks together and find what works best.

Shop for Stunning Bridesmaids Dresses with Afarose

Preparing for the wedding of a lifetime? One of the biggest hurdles in planning is finding the perfect set of bridesmaid dresses. They have to be beautiful (on the day and in photos), and comfortable, and all work in sync with each other and the bride.

Rather than navigating the logistics of shopping at twenty different physical stores with a full bridal party during a pandemic, use Afarose’s try-at-home program!

Afarose’s wide range of stunning styles will make any bride and her bridesmaids feel like a full royal court on the wedding day, no matter the aesthetic. Shop for everything from short to long hemlines in every color imaginable.

Visit us online today to plan your try-at-home shopping experience for your entire bridal party.