There is an irony here that most of the bridesmaids that I have known well enough to hear their opinions on the matter (wife and her friends and close relatives, sisters, daughter, nieces, cousins, etc.) complain that the outfits (dresses, heels, shapewear, hair...) are expensive, ugly, and uncomfortable. They cannot wait to ditch all of it. Being a bridesmaid usually tries their friendship with the bride more than it enhances their friendship. After the event, the dresses are left in a closet and forgotten or given to charity or to a starry-eyed young girl playing dress up. Yet when these women are not bridesmaids, they expect and demand these wedding customs. Trying to make sense of it all makes my hair hurt.
This all gives me much respect and admiration for my daughter, the most honest woman that I have ever known. She complained mightily about wedding "nonsense" (her word, not mine) and avoided being a bridesmaid whenever she could get away with it. When she became a bride, she rejected the whole wedding falderal and eloped, publicly stating its folly and needless expense as the reason. My wife is still wigged out about that decision a decade later. I cried all the way to the bank and then made the down payment on her house.