Wedding Planning

HOW MANY BRIDESMAIDS SHOULD I HAVE?

We looked at stats across the country to give you the big picture.

If you have 10 bridesmaids, is that a lot? Statistically speaking, it puts you in the 98th percentile for bridal party size in the U.S. Read: just 2% of weddings in the U.S. have bridal parties with 10 or more bridesmaids. When you consider that there is typically one bridesmaid per groomsman, 10 bridesmaids could mean a 20+ person wedding party! (That doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. We’ve worked with bridesmaid parties of up to 19, and it’s so much fun.)

Your Bridal Party: How Does It Compare?

For weddings across the U.S., the median size of a bridal party is 4 bridesmaids. By contrast, the top 1% of bridal parties in the U.S. have 11 bridesmaids.

(The top 0.07% of all wedding parties have 15 or more.) On the opposite end of the spectrum, 23% of bridal parties have only 2 bridesmaids.

Location, Location

In which cities do brides tend to gather the largest wedding parties? Charleston, S.C. wins, followed by Birmingham, AL and New Orleans, LA.

As to the highest proportion of large bridal parties (7 or more), southern cities win again, with a roughly 25% chance that any given wedding will have 7+ bridesmaids.

Compared to the rest of the U.S., South Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama take the top spots when it comes to the number of bridesmaids in the wedding party. On the other end is New Mexico, where bridal parties have some of the fewest bridesmaids.

What Feels Right

There is no “right” number to how many bridesmaids you should have in your bridal party. It’s your wedding! The “right” number is whatever feels right to you.