The bridesmaids should never outshine the bride. Some brides, however, seem to be taking this to the extreme when dressing up their maids of honor. Or maybe time changes fashion trends so much, that after some the style that was "in" starts to look simply ridiculous. Either way, Bored Panda has collected a series of vintage bridesmaids dresses that are so funny, that you'll probably feel sorry for the women who wore them.
The 70s fashion brought outrageous patterns, floppy hats, and undiscernable silhouettes to the mix, 80s fashion later added vivid color, spandex, and space-filling hairdos. No matter the era, though, these absolutely unique vintage outfits would make your silly Spongebob PJs look like a classy suit. Scroll down to check out the images and upvote your favorite outrageous fashion statements!
This post may include affiliate links.
The dresses day "garden party" but the hats say "yippee ki yay". The groom's tux says "we'll be here all week, try the veal and don't forget to tip your warehouse."
These women at least look somewhat comfortable and like they're having fun
Put some wheels under this and you've got a pretty decent parade float.
The dresses are blessedly simple. The issue here is the headgear. They look like someone re-purposed Easter decorations.
I agree, except for the ugly grey/silver color of her train and veil. I love her hat, it preserves her beautiful hairstyle while framing her face very nicely.
Load More Replies...
An imaginative way to cover up the spot on the rug from the stag party.
The dresses are kind of pretty, and the color is nice. Too matchy-matchy with them wearing the same necklace, and the puffy sleeves are vintage '80s. The bride's train is silver not white, for some reason.
Load More Replies...
The bride wins this one. She looks like a golden era film actress. Late 40's to mid 50's. Crazy gorgeous.
I agree; however, her bridesmaids look young enough to be her daughters.
Load More Replies...
Get rid of the hats and change the color to purple and it would look like my wedding. Gotta love early 90's.
The pic is pretty bad(especially the faces...again. The torture of non-digital photography I guess, and even then you could still take better shots) but I actually think the dresses are kinda cool. Old-fashioned by now I guess but damn this swan-style giant white skirt(whatever the proper word is) is just op x_x
I think it’s the light making the satin train look silver. It matches the gown. The train is beautiful and it’s nice that she only has 3 bridesmaids since her pictures are in a small room.
I love the way her dress is spread out for the photo. Kind of looks like a rug. And so many of the pics remind me a little bit of my mom’s wedding photos with tons of lace and the puffiest sleeves ever. Can anyone relate?
Are these girls bridesmaids at their mother's second wedding? The bride looks older than her bridesmaids; are they family? Did she not have any close friends? Maybe it's the'40's hairdo which reminds me of my aunts when I was a kid.
Now these bridesmaids dresses are cool...unfortunately I don't think the groomsmen suits will ever come back in fashion
"Jimmy and I met when we both ordered a Tequila Sunrise at the bar...."
I forget how young people got married back the day.....all these fresh little faces. Before someone jumps my s**t....I'm not saying I think it's a great idea to get married fresh out of high school. I'm just observing.
Those dresses remind me of the non-slip decals we used to put in our bathtubs.
If you go inside the church, you'll see that all of the wallpaper in the hallways is gone.
I hate to admit it but I think I like these ones! The bride looks lovely.
I honestly am not bothered by the oddness of the dresses. I just live how happy everyone looks. No one is trying to look cool; they seem genuinely happy to be part of the day.
That was fun but Twenty years from now people will be making fun of our fashion trends too.
Interesting collection, perhaps if dates and places were provided the trends could be better understood. Are they from the U.S.A., Eastern Europe or where? When and where were the awful floral prints in vogue?
Most of the floral prints were probably late 60s and into the 70s here in the USA. The big hair and "prairie-like" dresses were probably late 70s early 80s... Not sure about the one with the bride with the basket on her head, I'm thinking Europe somewhere?
Load More Replies... Maybe I'm weird but I genuinely think most(not all for sure but still lol) of those were not so bad at all. Not up to modern fashion standards perhaps but then if you look up modern wedding fashion you'll probably end up with some much weirder sh**. Some of those kinda look like people were short on money and perhaps couldn't afford more intricate designs and others are just bad pictures of not so bad outfits(no making 300 pics while seeing the previews of all them and then photoshopping them to perfection back then, remember)
A lot of these photos look like they were from weddings in the 70s. If you're too young to remember that time, we had avocado green refrigerators, burnt orange shag carpet, TVs the size of coffins, bell bottoms and cars that got worse mileage than a lot of military vehicles. Most of all, we had color and weren't afraid to use it. Subtle wasn't in our vocabulary.
Truthfully, to state these dresses ridiculous is uncalled for. It was the style then, and it isn't the style now. It was simple, well tailored, modest and gave a vibe of elatedness.
I really don't understand why there's "Ridiculous" in the title. This was the fashion in that time and noone considered it ridiculous back then. Ok, there are some pictures which are over the top. But even they are still a whole better than what a lot of people wear on weddings now.
they were appropriate and beautiful for the time, not "ridiculous", get over yourselves, we'll be called ridiculous in future (in fact i think everything is ridiculous now)
My mother was a dressmaker. I can imagine her having make some of these dresses, except the yellow polka dot set. I think/hope/pray she would have drawn the line at that!
My bridesmaids (mid 90s) wore cowboy boots and denim mini skirts. The groomsmen had bolo ties. My gown had fringe and the groom had a suede vest.
I just recently signed up for bored panda but this collection and the BP comments leaves me wanting to already drop out. I don't think it is right to ridicule the tastes of another age, or for that matter to ridicule much of anything. For the age, I found many of these precious.
First off there is nothing wrong with man-buns. They are comfortable for us people who don't like going to get our hair cut. Hehe. Also none of these were awful. A lot of them appeared to have culture behind them, some didn't. The whole wedding ceremony itself is an odd thing to do anyway, require a bunch of people to get dressed up, wait around for a long time, all this just so a couple of people can talk, cry, laugh and then kiss. Then they all move to another place just so people can dance, laugh, eat, and get drunk. I think it is interesting that out of all this silliness the white dress is always there no one changes that one.
The one with Mia Farrow on the end is Mia Farrow. Robert Altman's movie The Wedding.
Have you looked at wedding dresses movie stars wore back from the ‘60’s and up through to ‘80’s and ‘90’s? They cost a fortune and some were hideous and way more tacky than some of these.
All I can think of is "the good thing is, you can shorten it and wear it again!"
In 20 years, people will wonder why all brides wore strapless dresses. They all look the same!
Everyone who says "Thwt was just the fashion of the time!" obviously isn't aware of the reputation bridesmaids' dresses had back then -- that they were some of the most hideous, impractical outfits possible, unflattering and nothing you would *ever* be able to wear anywhere else. People joked that they were a loyalty test on the part of the bride, sort of "Let's see if you're *really* good enough friends to be willing to pay good money for these hideous things and wear them in public!" And everyone else just figured they were meant to make the bride look good in comparision!
I was a bridesmaid seven times. Every bride, without exception made sure that I and my fellow bridesmaids wore the most hideous dress imaginable. One bride, who put us all in taffeta for a mid summer wedding, had the gaul to get upset when we all pitted out the underarms. And every bride always says, "You can shorten it and wear it again!" B.S., I would never wear anything that ugly again no matter what length it was.
There's only a few of them that stand out, either for the right reasons or the wrong reasons...80% of them are exactly what you expect though, and nothing noteworthy.
I don't feel so bad about my wedding pictures now. Tried to do a rainbow theme that was popular eons ago, but most of my bridesmaids dropped out at the last minute, so I ended up with only one in yellow and one in green. With five groomsmen in blue, it looked rather odd and very unbalanced.
I let my bridesmaids pick their dresses and both my best friends and my nieces (jr bridesmaids) all liked the same dress! Made my life easier. My nieces were to be in light blue and my Friends in Royal blue but my nieces asked to be in Royal too...and the color suited all skin tones! Best part was the only alterations anyone needed was in the elastic in the off the shoulder sleeve!
I am sure all parties in these photos must be with either cringing with embarrassment or killing themselves laughing.
They were supposed to be memorable for the event. And boy that nobody will ever forget them.
The conclusion is: always dress in a normal way, don't follow trends and you won't be ridiculed after a few years. Also: why would anyone need bridesmaids all dressed the same? Or bridesmaids in general?
I agree. I worked very hard to find outfits my bridesmaids and groomsmen could wear again. And I succeeded. They've all told me they wore them again. That goes for my non-white, non-bridal gown. I never understood the point of spending a lot of money on clothing (and shoes!) that you only wear once. As for these pictures, even for the times, which I lived through, some of these are ridiculous. The dresses I had to wear were ridiculous at the time, or so I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through this post and comments.
Load More Replies...
Why get married at all? Just be with someone. Ceremonies and licenses don't make love burn any brighter.
I feel like all these crazy dresses take away from the bride. I certainty wouldn't be looking at the bride. Those dresses are distracting.
Did the brides hate their bridesmaids? Fancy asking a friend to wear any of those dresses! And look happy doing it, too!
A missed opportunity that all brides in these pictures wear white. I expected seventies brides to be more original and colorful.
Creative in their bridesmaid dresses and colour themes but still would need to be very traditional in white.
Load More Replies... That was fun but Twenty years from now people will be making fun of our fashion trends too.
Interesting collection, perhaps if dates and places were provided the trends could be better understood. Are they from the U.S.A., Eastern Europe or where? When and where were the awful floral prints in vogue?
Most of the floral prints were probably late 60s and into the 70s here in the USA. The big hair and "prairie-like" dresses were probably late 70s early 80s... Not sure about the one with the bride with the basket on her head, I'm thinking Europe somewhere?
Load More Replies... Maybe I'm weird but I genuinely think most(not all for sure but still lol) of those were not so bad at all. Not up to modern fashion standards perhaps but then if you look up modern wedding fashion you'll probably end up with some much weirder sh**. Some of those kinda look like people were short on money and perhaps couldn't afford more intricate designs and others are just bad pictures of not so bad outfits(no making 300 pics while seeing the previews of all them and then photoshopping them to perfection back then, remember)
A lot of these photos look like they were from weddings in the 70s. If you're too young to remember that time, we had avocado green refrigerators, burnt orange shag carpet, TVs the size of coffins, bell bottoms and cars that got worse mileage than a lot of military vehicles. Most of all, we had color and weren't afraid to use it. Subtle wasn't in our vocabulary.
Truthfully, to state these dresses ridiculous is uncalled for. It was the style then, and it isn't the style now. It was simple, well tailored, modest and gave a vibe of elatedness.
I really don't understand why there's "Ridiculous" in the title. This was the fashion in that time and noone considered it ridiculous back then. Ok, there are some pictures which are over the top. But even they are still a whole better than what a lot of people wear on weddings now.
they were appropriate and beautiful for the time, not "ridiculous", get over yourselves, we'll be called ridiculous in future (in fact i think everything is ridiculous now)
My mother was a dressmaker. I can imagine her having make some of these dresses, except the yellow polka dot set. I think/hope/pray she would have drawn the line at that!
My bridesmaids (mid 90s) wore cowboy boots and denim mini skirts. The groomsmen had bolo ties. My gown had fringe and the groom had a suede vest.
I just recently signed up for bored panda but this collection and the BP comments leaves me wanting to already drop out. I don't think it is right to ridicule the tastes of another age, or for that matter to ridicule much of anything. For the age, I found many of these precious.
First off there is nothing wrong with man-buns. They are comfortable for us people who don't like going to get our hair cut. Hehe. Also none of these were awful. A lot of them appeared to have culture behind them, some didn't. The whole wedding ceremony itself is an odd thing to do anyway, require a bunch of people to get dressed up, wait around for a long time, all this just so a couple of people can talk, cry, laugh and then kiss. Then they all move to another place just so people can dance, laugh, eat, and get drunk. I think it is interesting that out of all this silliness the white dress is always there no one changes that one.
The one with Mia Farrow on the end is Mia Farrow. Robert Altman's movie The Wedding.
Have you looked at wedding dresses movie stars wore back from the ‘60’s and up through to ‘80’s and ‘90’s? They cost a fortune and some were hideous and way more tacky than some of these.
All I can think of is "the good thing is, you can shorten it and wear it again!"
In 20 years, people will wonder why all brides wore strapless dresses. They all look the same!
Everyone who says "Thwt was just the fashion of the time!" obviously isn't aware of the reputation bridesmaids' dresses had back then -- that they were some of the most hideous, impractical outfits possible, unflattering and nothing you would *ever* be able to wear anywhere else. People joked that they were a loyalty test on the part of the bride, sort of "Let's see if you're *really* good enough friends to be willing to pay good money for these hideous things and wear them in public!" And everyone else just figured they were meant to make the bride look good in comparision!
I was a bridesmaid seven times. Every bride, without exception made sure that I and my fellow bridesmaids wore the most hideous dress imaginable. One bride, who put us all in taffeta for a mid summer wedding, had the gaul to get upset when we all pitted out the underarms. And every bride always says, "You can shorten it and wear it again!" B.S., I would never wear anything that ugly again no matter what length it was.
There's only a few of them that stand out, either for the right reasons or the wrong reasons...80% of them are exactly what you expect though, and nothing noteworthy.
I don't feel so bad about my wedding pictures now. Tried to do a rainbow theme that was popular eons ago, but most of my bridesmaids dropped out at the last minute, so I ended up with only one in yellow and one in green. With five groomsmen in blue, it looked rather odd and very unbalanced.
I let my bridesmaids pick their dresses and both my best friends and my nieces (jr bridesmaids) all liked the same dress! Made my life easier. My nieces were to be in light blue and my Friends in Royal blue but my nieces asked to be in Royal too...and the color suited all skin tones! Best part was the only alterations anyone needed was in the elastic in the off the shoulder sleeve!
I am sure all parties in these photos must be with either cringing with embarrassment or killing themselves laughing.
They were supposed to be memorable for the event. And boy that nobody will ever forget them.
The conclusion is: always dress in a normal way, don't follow trends and you won't be ridiculed after a few years. Also: why would anyone need bridesmaids all dressed the same? Or bridesmaids in general?
I agree. I worked very hard to find outfits my bridesmaids and groomsmen could wear again. And I succeeded. They've all told me they wore them again. That goes for my non-white, non-bridal gown. I never understood the point of spending a lot of money on clothing (and shoes!) that you only wear once. As for these pictures, even for the times, which I lived through, some of these are ridiculous. The dresses I had to wear were ridiculous at the time, or so I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through this post and comments.
Load More Replies... Why get married at all? Just be with someone. Ceremonies and licenses don't make love burn any brighter.
I feel like all these crazy dresses take away from the bride. I certainty wouldn't be looking at the bride. Those dresses are distracting.
Did the brides hate their bridesmaids? Fancy asking a friend to wear any of those dresses! And look happy doing it, too!
A missed opportunity that all brides in these pictures wear white. I expected seventies brides to be more original and colorful.
Creative in their bridesmaid dresses and colour themes but still would need to be very traditional in white.
Load More Replies...
