Questions to Ask Bridesmaids in Google Form
Form questions for collecting what you need from your bridesmaids in one go: sizing, measurements, budget, dates, dietary and accessibility needs, and what each person would rather not be asked to do.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What name would you like on stationery and place cards?
Why ask it
Put this first because it is easy and it catches the things you would otherwise get wrong: a preferred name, a new surname, a spelling you have been guessing at for years. It also saves asking again when the calligrapher needs a list.
What is the best phone number and email address for you?
Why ask it
Collect both, because dress suppliers and hotels often email while everything else happens by text. A form is the only time people give you the address they actually read.
What dress size do you usually take, and where do you normally need alterations?
Why ask it
Bridal sizing runs small and inconsistently, so the useful part is the second half: long in the body, short in the arm, needs a bust adjustment. Make this a short text field rather than a dropdown.
Can you give your bust, waist, hip and hollow-to-hem measurements?
Why ask it
Suppliers ask for these four and will otherwise ask you for them one bridesmaid at a time. Link the measuring instructions in the field description, since self-measured numbers vary wildly without them.
What is your shoe size, and what heel height can you comfortably stand in for six hours?
Why ask it
Asking about duration rather than preference gets a realistic answer. If the venue involves grass, gravel or stairs, say so here so nobody arrives in stilettos by mistake.
What is the most you would like to spend on the dress, shoes and accessories together?
Why ask it
Give a range of bands rather than a text box, so nobody has to type a number they find embarrassing. Set your budget from the lowest band selected, not the average.
Which of these dates could you make for the bachelorette?
Why ask it
Use checkboxes with three or four specific dates. Asking when people are free produces vague replies and weeks of back and forth, where a shortlist gets answers the same day.
Are there dates in the next twelve months you already cannot do?
Why ask it
This catches other weddings, exams, work trips and school holidays before you plan around them. It is also how you find out who needs to book leave months rather than weeks in advance.
Do you have any dietary requirements or allergies?
Why ask it
Ask once, in writing, so the answer survives the year between now and the catering order. Allergies mentioned in conversation get forgotten by everyone except the person who has them.
Do you have accessibility needs I should plan around?
Why ask it
Stairs, long distances between venues and standing through a ceremony all exclude people quietly. A form is easier to answer honestly than a group chat, which is the main argument for using one.
Do you need accommodation on the wedding night, and who would you be happy to share with?
Why ask it
The sharing half is the part that causes problems if you assume. Make it optional free text so someone can say they would rather have their own room without explaining why.
How are you planning to get to the venue, and do you need a lift?
Why ask it
This surfaces the people who have not thought about it yet, which is better found out now than the week before. It also lets you match drivers with anyone stuck without transport.
Would you like hair and makeup done by the team, or would you rather do your own?
Why ask it
Artists charge per face and often have a minimum, so the count changes your quote and your morning schedule. Say in the field description whether it is being paid for and by whom.
Are there any styles or colours you know do not suit you?
Why ask it
People will wear almost anything if asked and then feel wretched all day in a neckline they knew was wrong. Asking for the vetoes rather than the preferences gets you information you can actually use.
How would you rather get updates: group chat, direct message, or email?
Why ask it
Some people mute group chats and then miss every deadline in them. Knowing who needs a direct message stops you mistaking a notification setting for a lack of interest.
How involved do you want to be in decisions?
Why ask it
Offer three options, from wanting a say in everything to wanting to be told the plan. Plenty of bridesmaids find open consultation stressful, and giving them the second option is a kindness rather than an exclusion.
Would you be willing to give a speech or do a reading?
Why ask it
Asking in a form lets people decline without doing it to your face, which is why you get a truthful answer. Treat a maybe as a no and follow up individually with anyone who says yes.
Are you happy for photographs of you to be posted publicly?
Why ask it
Some people have professional or family reasons for staying off social media and find it awkward to raise in person. One yes or no here saves a round of deletion requests later.
Is there a job you would like to take on?
Why ask it
List real tasks and let people pick: chasing suppliers, assembling favours, running the group chat, handling the bachelorette budget. Volunteered work gets done and assigned work often does not.
Is there anything else I should know, or anything you would rather not be asked to do?
Why ask it
Leave this open and put it last, where people write the thing they came to the form to say. Answers about money, health or family are the reason a form works better than a conversation here.
Building the Form
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to set it up
- Keep it under twenty questions and put the quick ones first. Completion drops off sharply once a form looks long.
- Collect email addresses and turn on one response per person, so you can chase the people who have not replied.
- Make only contact details and dietary needs required. Required budget or measurement fields make people abandon the form.
- Use checkboxes for dates and bands for money, and reserve free text for the two or three answers where detail matters.
- Say in the opening description why you are asking and who sees the answers.
Asking about money and bodies
Bands, not numbers
Selecting a spending range is far easier than typing a figure. Set your budget from the lowest band anyone chose, and if that is not workable, talk to that person privately rather than raising it with the group.
Link the measuring guide
Self-measured numbers are unreliable without instructions. Add the supplier's guide in the field description, or offer to have measurements taken at a fitting instead of on the form.
Make the sensitive answers optional
Room sharing, accessibility needs and anything under the final open question should be optional. A blank answer is information too, and a required field there just produces a polite fiction.
After the responses arrive
- Reply individually to anyone who flagged money, health or a limit. A form answer that gets no acknowledgement reads as being ignored.
- Send the group a short summary of what you decided and what changed because of their answers.
- Do not share the sheet itself. Budgets, measurements and medical details were given to you, not to the group.
- Ask again about dates and dietary needs closer to the day, since both change over a long engagement.
- Only ask what you intend to act on. Collecting preferences and then ignoring them costs more goodwill than never asking.