When you think of your wedding party, you want them to match, right? But, you also want to make sure the bridal party is feeling their absolute best on the wedding day. Your bridal party will be by your side all day long, so you want to make sure their outfits coordinate accordingly.
Matching bridesmaids and groomsmen is such an essential part of wedding planning and can be super tricky and confusing. We're here to help you coordinate your bridesmaid and groomsmen, so your wedding party looks flawless as if a professional put them together. Get ready because we have all the best tips and tricks to help coordinate your bridal party to absolute perfection.
Ryan & Cameron Bridesmaid Dresses in Moss | CR Photos
Coordinating Bridesmaids and Groomsmen
Bringing two sides of a wedding party's outfits together to match is easier than you think. Coordinating and matching bridesmaids and groomsmen is how you set the tone and personality for your wedding, but also reflecting your style. Now let's be clear, it is entirely unrealistic to completely match your bridal party with so many different shades of colors and all fabric types, but that's okay! Once we all have accepted that fact, it will be much easier to choose your bridal parties outfits.
Kennedy Blue Bridesmaid Dresses in Bordeaux | Dani Nicole Photography
We're here to help you coordinate bridesmaid and groomsmen, making this an easy process to plan. To match the bridal party correctly, there shouldn't be too much stress. With our help, you can pull off a cohesive and straightforward matched bridal party! Here is your step-by-step guide for you to follow on how to coordinate your wedding party. Believe us - you're going to be shocked at how easy this is - let's get started!
Wedding Party Colors: How To Choose Your Color Scheme
First, to coordinate your bridesmaid and groomsmen, pick out your wedding colors and overall theme. Your wedding colors are going to be used everywhere throughout your big day in the decoration, outfits, etc., so it's essential to spend some time making this decision.
When deciding on your perfect shades, know you're not limited to only two or three. It is common and pretty standard to have primary wedding colors and secondary 'accent' colors. This gives you endless possibilities of ideas you might want to tie in creatively. We recommend you and your partner choose around 3-5 colors for your wedding palette that you will love.
Wedding Shoppe Fog Color Swatch | Beth Joy Photos
There’s no “correct” way to choose your wedding colors. You might want to start by looking at weddings in the colors you already know you like. You could also search for weddings in your favorite aesthetics or that most similarly match your style and see which colors they used. You could even check out some lists of trending wedding colors for inspiration.
Now that some of the favorite colors have been identified for your wedding, it's time to solidify 1-2 primary colors. These are the colors seen predominantly throughout your ceremony space and will be the colors you choose for your bridesmaids and groomsmen. You should consider what your primary color will look like as a suit or a bridesmaid dress and validate you love it.
Wedding Shoppe Gold Color Swatch | Natalie McIntire
Common ways to coordinate your bridesmaids and groomsmen would be using your primary color for the bridesmaid dresses and the groomsmen accessories such as a tie, a pocket square, and even socks!
You want to make your primary wedding colors shape the overall aesthetic of your wedding. This process can be a fun part of the wedding planning process! Your wedding colors will help reflect you as a couple and help set the mood for the rest of the wedding day.
Order Bridesmaid Dress Swatches to See Colors In Person
Ordering samples of your bridesmaids and groomsmen elements are a perfect way to look at the fabrics and colors together at the same time. This will make coordinating those elements super easy and stress-free. Be sure to order a few different bridesmaid dress fabric swatches so that you can see how your favorite colors look in different fabric types.
Emerald Green Velvet Fabric Swatch | Paige Allred Photo
Color swatches also make it easy to coordinate your bridesmaids with the groomsmen! You can easily compare exact colors when you have swatches in hand. Plus, color swatches are great to hand off to your vendors to color match, such as your florist or decorator.
Decide On Your Favorite Bridesmaid Dresses Color
Your favorite primary colors don't have to stay in just one shade. Get creative! Mixing and matching your bridesmaid dresses is a super stylish and unique way to make your bridesmaids feel extra special. It's a great way to incorporate your primary wedding colors.
When you use different shades from your primary colors, it makes it that much easier to coordinate bridesmaids dresses and groomsmen suits in your wedding party. You'll have more than enough options to make sure the dresses and groomsmen accessories are coordinated and not too matchy-matchy.
Mismatching bridesmaid dresses can seem a little intimidating as a bride because you don't want the dresses to look too different. If you need help, check out our helpful guide to mismatched bridesmaid dresses!
Kennedy Blue Bridesmaid Dresses in Spice | Tonya Hjort Photography
Bridesmaids at Mariah and Tanner’s fall wedding wore different styles of dresses all in the same color: spice. The dresses range from the Kennedy Blue “Courtney” with flowy ruffly sleeves to the simple and elegant Kennedy Blue “Riley” bridesmaid dress. Keeping the same color assures that your bridesmaids will all match but letting them choose their style of dress allows them to wear something they feel comfortable in.
Kennedy Blue Bridesmaid Dresses in Sea Glass, Moss, and Deep Sea | Dacre Co. Photo
Patrick and Rachel’s wedding featured bridesmaid dresses in 3 coordinating shades of green and blue. These dresses are in Kennedy Blue colors Sea Glass, Moss, and Deep Sea. They chose a few different styles of dress including the Kennedy Blue Iris and the Kennedy Blue Amanda.
Mismatched Bridesmaids Dresses in Different Textures | Brianna Lane Photography
If you really want to mix it up, you can let your bridesmaids mix and match colors and textures. Alyssa and Joshua’s bridesmaids feature dresses in different shades of blue in different styles and fabrics, even some in velvet!
Coordinating Groomsmen Suits with Bridesmaid Dresses
Coordinating groomsmen suits with your bridesmaids’ dresses is usually fairly simple! Most groomsmen suits are made in somewhat neutral tones. Black, navy blue, and grey are the most popular colors for groomsmen to wear. These colors are easy to coordinate with bridesmaid colors! You can even choose groomsmen ties that match the bridesmaid dresses exactly.
If you want to get creative, groomsmen suits come in many other colors, which may take a little more effort to coordinate but are more unique. Cream, white, red, and beige are other interesting options for groomsmen suits. Tan suits are especially nice for a beach wedding! You could even do a pattern if your groomsmen want to go bold.
Black Groomsmen Suits
Black suits are a classic choice, especially in fall and winter! They coordinate well with just about any bridesmaid dress color, especially darker and deeper tones.
Black Tweed Groomsmen Suit | Riley Bridesmaid Dress in Spice | Tonya Hjort Photography
Grey Groomsmen Suits
Grey is a nice lighter alternative to traditional black suits. Grey is a nice neutral color that is easy to coordinate with your bridesmaids dresses. We especially love grey suits with lighter colored dresses.
Grey Groomsmen Suit | Sea Glass Bridesmaid Dress | Newhouse Photo
Navy Blue Groomsmen Suits
Navy allows your groomsmen to wear a color but is neutral enough to match a lot of other tones. You could contrast blue suits with a warm color bridesmaid dress. We also love when groomsmen wear navy and bridesmaids wear other cool-toned colors like blue or green.
Navy Groomsmen Suit | Kennedy Blue Iris in Moss | Dacre Co. Photo
Groomsmen Ties
Ties are the easiest way to match groomsmen to bridesmaids. We love the cohesion that matching dresses to neckties adds to wedding colors. Ties are also a great way to add a pop of color to groomsmen who are often in black, grey, or another neutral color suit.
Cinnamon Bridesmaid Dresses | Coordinating Groomsmen ties
Choose A Common Element For Your Wedding Party
We are nearing the end of our guide to perfectly coordinate your bridesmaids and groomsmen, but this is where the effortless look comes into fruition. All you have to do is choose one element that will remain the same between the two sides of the wedding party. It's truly that simple!
Selecting one element can help create that consistent look without being overwhelmingly matched which could pertain to color, a color pattern, or a particular print. When selecting the element, the outfits have to complement each other. For example, the bridesmaid dress color could match the design of the groomsmen tie or vice versa.
One interesting way to accomplish a coordinated look is by choosing different shades of the same color. You could also match the bridesmaid's accessories to the groomsmen pocket squares. Because these are both smaller elements, when pulling the same shades of color, it perfectly ties the two together without looking forced.
Need Coordinating Bridal Party Inspiration?
All that information can be overwhelming, and it's a lot to process, especially on top of all the other wedding planning that needs to get done! To ease your mind a little, here are some matching bridal party examples.
Sage Green Bridesmaid Dresses With Gray Groomsmen Suits
A soothing sage green goes perfectly with light gray groomsmen suits. This sage can also look nice in multiple fabrics. We love satin bridesmaid dresses in sage!
Kai Sage Green Bridesmaid Dress | Sage Green Groomsmen Tie
Dusty Rose Bridesmaid Dresses & Gray Groomsmen Suits
A shade of rose is a great way to add a subtle feminine touch to your wedding colors. We love how this color is almost neutral but still vibrant! We think it coordinates well with gray groomsmen suits!
Shannon Desert Rose Bridesmaid Dress | Desert Rose Bow Tie
Gold Bridesmaid Dresses & Black Groomsmen Suits
Gold, beige, champagne, and other warm-toned neutrals are all beautiful options for a light colored bridesmaid dresses. We love the contrast between these light shades and a black groomsman suit. Coordinating the color of the dress with a matching tie will bring the whole wedding party's look together.
Kennedy Blue “Marnie” Gold Satin Bridesmaid Dress | Matching Gold Groomsmen Tie
Black Wedding Theme
Black is an underrated bridesmaid dress color. Everybody looks great in black. The bride in white will really stand out with the groom, the groomsmen, and the bridesmaids all wearing black.
Black Bridesmaid Dresses | Black Bow Ties | Katherine Chapman Photo
Emerald Green Wedding
Emerald is a bold shade of green that is perfect for winter weddings. We love these bridesmaids in emerald, the groomsmen in black, and emerald bow ties to tie it all together.
Emerald Green Kennedy Blue “Zoey” Bridesmaid Dress | Emerald Green Bow Tie
Pink Bridesmaid Dress Wedding Inspo
There are so many shades of pink to choose from these days. We love Kennedy Blue's Rosewood because it's not too bright and not too pale. It's also not too feminine for the groomsmen to wear matching Rosewood bow ties.
Rosewood: Kennedy Blue Cameron, Alexis, & Rose | Ash McMahon Photography
Sage Green Bridesmaid Dresses With Black Groomsmen Suits
We mentioned our love for sage green bridesmaid dresses earlier with gray suits, but we also love this color with black suits! Sage can compliment just about any suit color.
Kennedy Blue Sage Green Bridesmaid Dresses: Kristen, Milly, & Athena | Sage Green Bow Ties | Megan Kay Photography
Neutral Wedding Colors
Neutrals are always a safe bet! We often decorate our houses in neutrals because they are timeless and calming to look at. Why not use the same logic with your wedding colors? We highly recommend the combination of light colored bridesmaid dresses and light colored groomsmen suits!
Kennedy Blue Zoey Bridesmaid Dress in Latte | Groomsmen Bow Tie
Coordinating Cinnamon Bridal Party Inspiration
Cinnamon is such a fun shade of reddish-orange! We love how bright it is and how it contrasts with these gray groomsmen suits! The fall flower bouquets, cinnamon bridesmaid dresses, gray suits, and matching cinnamon groomsmen ties all go together perfectly.
Kennedy Blue Bridesmaid Dresses in Cinnamon | Coordinating Kennedy Blue Ties
Coordinating Spice Bridal Party Inspiration
Spice is a pretty terracotta tone that looks great on bridesmaid dresses! Bridesmaids will look beautiful in spice and groomsmen will look handsome in black suits with spice colored ties and pocket squares.
Kennedy Blue “Caitlin” Bridesmaid Dress in Spice | Coordinating Groomsmen Pocket Square
Coordinating Light Blue Bridal Party Inspiration
We love light blue for winter and spring weddings. This pastel shade contrasts nicely with black groomsmen suits. It would also complement gray or beige suits!
Kennedy Blue “Jay” Bridesmaid Dress in Slate Blue | Kennedy Blue Groomsman Tie in Slate Blue
Get Started Choosing Your Wedding Colors!
We hope this guide has helped you start brainstorming which wedding colors best suit your vision! Need more inspiration? Check out the top 2023 wedding colors for this wedding season. Let us know what other questions you may have in the comments below!
Wow…thank you so much for this article. I feel way less stressed about my color combinations now!
I appreciate the recommendation of the two companies at the end that will make the experience of coordinating bridesmaids and groomsmen so much easier since they both carry the same fabrics and colors! Thank you!
Great tips! This was a useful article!
Great tips!
The visuals were SO helpful!!!
Thanks for these tips!
My wedding is in oct and it’s screaming navy and maroon. The problem I’m having is I want the groomsmen in a laid back suit with khakis and everything looks like a school boy uniform.
For the guys, I definitely love the navy suit with a light blue tie and white shirt. Looks great with light blue bridesmaid dresses.
Love all these hints and suggestions!! Great way to explore color options and mixing and matching groomsman and bridesmaids!
The pictures are so nice
Cute
Love this!
A good read, thanks!
Love the blue groomsmens suits!
Love these helpful tips!!
We wanted burnt orange as our accent color, but there was no way I was making my girls wear an orange dress. Thankfully slate blue dresses look gorgeous with navy suits!
Totally loving that moss color!
❤️😍
Going with light blue for bridal party and navy for the men!
Loving the rustic colors and the barn theme would be wonderful to use some of these ideas for my wedding
love the grey colored suits with the bolder bridesmaids
I am huge on neutral, but I’m worried that it might wash out a few of my more “pasty” friends. Any suggestions?
This post was so helpful!
I would love to see some suggestions for using the new Moss color.
I was worried that the blue on blue would be too much , but it looks nice here. Makes me feel better going forward :)
This blog really helped me finalize my colors!! I was nervous about the way it would look with the venue but I am now just excited!!
Love these ideas! I plan on using blue and a pink!
Love the moss color!!
This is so helpful! I’ve been really stressed about color scheme and making everything fit together. This is a fantastic reference.
Super helpful information. Thanks Wedding Shoppe!
Thank you! Super helpful
This is so helpful. Honestly the most stressful part of this wedding planning process has been colors and making sure my wedding party looks amazing 🥰
These are amazing tips that I will be using for my wedding!!
Love these ideas!
This is super helpful in figuring out what colors go best together and seeing various color schemes with a variety of shades. Thank you!
We’re doing all black for everyone. I like the pocket square you guys used for the black tux.
Love the sage green color!!
Good read.
So inspiring! I have so many ideas for my wedding colors now!
I love it!
This is super helpful! We just picked out the general color scheme for our wedding but didn’t know how to proceed from there. Thanks for this post!
I found this information very helpful.
Good advice! It sure is helpful to see examples!
Love these helpful tips! And also love looking at some of these color schemes to get ideas.
Any suggestions on how to coordinate brides men so male friends can be a part of my wedding party without wearing a bright colored suit? 🤔
Great information! Excited to use the Rosewood color for my wedding in March 2021!
I love the slate blue combination!
Great ideas
Very helpful information!
Very helpful information!
Very helpful information!
Love the storm blue color!! Exactly what I want for my ladies!
I love the pics!
Great info!! Good read
This is what I was having trouble with but I think I’ve managed to figure it out with these tips. Thank you!
My fiancée wanted to pick out a maroon suit to wear because he thought it would be easy to match to garnet dresses. Convinced him to wear a white jacket and black pants with black bow tie instead!
Seriously, coordinating colors well is so much harder than I ever expected. Thanks for the tips!!
so hard to choose !!
Need to figure out what color I can use besides Dove!
This is very helpful! We’re thinking pink and black and white !
Great advice, my fiancée and I are struggling to figure out how we want to do our bridal parties. This is super helpful
Good ideas!
Thanks for writing this article! So helpful
I’m considering blue so I think the bridesmaid dress and tie combo may work- thanks!
Great advice!
Very helpful tips!!
I am doing different shades of slate blue for the bridesmaids and black suits for the groomsmen. Also pairing the blue with champagne and greenery.
Super helpful!!
Thanks for pointing out that men’s accessories don’t have to perfectly match the bridesmaids dresses. That’s a helpful tip!
I really like the blissful in blue look 💙
I love this post! It is so helpful for planning!
Storm, Navy, Sapphire, and Dove are my coordinating colors! LOVE!
I’ve been really struggling with figuring out how to coordinate my bridesmaids and groomsman and deciding what colors go best together. This post was extremely helpful in giving me a picture of what my wedding party could look like. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!