How I Curated the Perfect Mismatched Bridesmaid Dresses for Our Destination Wedding
Last Updated on March 25, 2026 by Lauren Belzer Sanford
When I started planning our wedding in Puglia, I knew almost immediately that I wanted my bridesmaids in mismatched dresses. Not the kind where everyone just wears “whatever they want in blush” and hopes for the best — but something intentional, curated, and cohesive in a way that felt effortless even though it absolutely wasn’t.
Four bridesmaids. Four different dresses. Four different stores. And somehow, standing in the golden afternoon light at Masseria Grieco against pale limestone walls and ancient olive trees, it looked like it had always been meant to be exactly that way.
Here’s how I did it — and how you can too.
Photography by Courtney Linden Photography
Why I Chose the Mismatched Look
There’s something I love about a bridal party that looks collected rather than uniform — like each person was chosen for exactly who she is, and her dress reflects that. I also wanted my girls to feel genuinely comfortable and beautiful, not just dressed. When everyone is squeezed into the same silhouette in the same shade, someone almost always feels like it isn’t quite right for her. The mismatched approach gives each person ownership over how she shows up on your day, which I think makes everyone happier — and it shows in the photos.
That said, “mismatched” can go sideways fast. The difference between a bridal party that looks intentionally eclectic and one that looks like everyone just showed up is almost entirely in the planning. It requires more thought upfront, not less.
Start With a Color Story, Not a Single Color
The first thing I did was step back from trying to land on one dress color and instead think about a palette — a family of colors that would feel cohesive when standing next to each other, and next to me in my Alena Leena gown.
I knew I wanted the overall feel to be soft, warm, and a little romantic — think an Italian garden in early summer. My florals were bright and wild (think open, booming peonies, garden roses, peachy, pink, yellow, blush), so I wanted the dresses to feel like they belonged in that same world without competing with the flowers.
I originally started with a palette that leaned heavily into pink, but somewhere in the process, I made a pivot toward green — and it was one of the best decisions of the entire wedding. The green tones (both solid moss and soft sagey florals) ended up being the anchor of the whole look. They grounded the palette in a way that too much pink wouldn’t have, and felt distinctly Italian against the landscape. When I told the girls about the switch, they were just as relieved as I was. The two in pink originally felt like they looked better in green, anyway (although they were supportive of whatever I wanted for my big day, regardless)!
The palette I landed on: soft butter yellow, warm pink-and-yellow floral, mossy green, and a softer sagey-green botanical floral.
Assign Each Bridesmaid Her Own Direction
Here’s the part that made this actually work: instead of giving all four girls the same parameters and hoping they’d end up in something compatible, I assigned each one a specific color direction. Not a dress — a concept.
- Bridesmaid #1 (My Twin Sister): Warm pink/peach and yellow florals
- Bridesmaid #2 (My Little Sister): Solid butter yellow
- Bridesmaid #3 (My High School Bestie): Green floral with touches of white
- Bridesmaid #4 (My Childhood Bestie): Solid mossy green (warmer-toned)
Assigning colors individually meant I could control the overall palette while still giving each person real choice within her own lane. It also meant the final result would actually look good together, which, when you’re relying on four different people shopping from many different stores, is the part that keeps brides up at night.
The Pinterest Board Method (How I Kept It Organized)
Once I had a color direction for each girl, I created a Pinterest board with individual sections — one per bridesmaid. Every time I found a dress that fit their assigned aesthetic (right color, right vibe, works for a destination wedding in Italy), I’d drop it into their section. By the time I sent each girl her link, she had 30+ options to choose from — all pre-vetted, all within the palette, all things I genuinely loved.
All she had to do was pick one she loved.
This method removed the overwhelm for them and the anxiety for me. They weren’t searching the entire internet, hoping to land somewhere in the right ballpark. They were choosing from a curated edit, which meant the final result was almost guaranteed to work.
The Canva Reality Check
Even with all that planning, I still had one final step before anyone placed an order: I pulled the product photos of each girl’s chosen dress into a single Canva graphic, labeled with her name, and looked at all four side by side.
It sounds simple, but it was genuinely useful. Seeing the four dresses together — even just as flat product images — let me check that the palette read as cohesive and that no one’s color was fighting the others. Everything looked the way I’d imagined it, and I gave everyone the green light to purchase.
If you’re planning mismatched bridesmaid dresses, I’d strongly recommend this step before anyone buys anything. It takes fifteen minutes, and it could save you a lot of stress.
What Each of My Bridesmaids Wore (and Where It’s From)
- Pink & Yellow Floral: My twin sister wore a peach-and-yellow floral from RESA — bright and garden-fresh, the kind of dress that looks like it belongs in a painting. It was the most colorful piece of the group and somehow tied the entire palette together.
- Solid Butter Yellow: My little sister wore a butter yellow pleated strapless gown from Park & Fifth — and this one stopped me in my tracks when I first saw it on her. Against the yellow flowers blooming throughout the masseria and the warm Italian light, it looked like it had been designed for that exact setting.
- Soft Green Floral: My high school bestie and bridesmaid wore a sage green botanical floral from Show Me Your Mumu — which felt like a full-circle moment, since the dress I wore in her wedding was also Mumu. It was the most ethereal piece of the group, soft and a little dreamy against the Apulian stone walls.
- Solid Warm-Toned Green: My childhood best friend wore a one-shoulder satin gown in a mossy green from Six Stories — a silhouette that was sleek and classic, with just enough of a sculptural quality to feel special. The solid color made her a beautiful anchor for the whole group.
Looking to recreate a similar palette for your own bridal party? I’ve put together a ShopMy collection of similar styles — shop it here.
The One Thing I’d Tell Every Bride Considering This
Give yourself more time than you think you need, and do the work upfront so your girls don’t have to.
The mismatched look is beautiful precisely because it feels considered — and the only way it feels considered is if you have done the considering (sorry, that was a mouthful). The Pinterest board, the color assignments, the Canva mock-up: none of it is complicated, but all of it matters. When your bridesmaids are standing in the Italian sun holding armfuls of peonies and coral roses, you’ll know it was worth every minute.
If you’re planning a destination wedding in Italy and want to read more about how we put the whole week together, you can find my full tips for planning a destination wedding in Italy, the intentional details we chose for our day, and a complete guide to wedding venues in Puglia — including the masseria where all of this unfolded. Or visit my wedding hub page for a full array of guides.