How Many Shirts Should I Order for My Wedding Party?

The Quick Answer

For most weddings, the shirt count works out to: the couple (2) + every attendant on both sides + both sets of parents (usually 4) + 1–2 extras. A wedding party with four bridesmaids and four groomsmen typically needs 12–16 shirts. A larger party with six or eight per side lands in the 18–24 range once parents and extras are included.

The reason there's no single magic number is that "wedding party shirts" means different things to different couples. Some are only doing getting-ready tees for the bridesmaids. Some are outfitting both sides for the rehearsal dinner. Some want the whole extended crew - parents, flower girl, ring bearer, the officiant who happens to be an old college friend - in matching wedding party shirts for photos.

So the honest answer is: count your specific people, then add a small buffer. The rest of this guide walks through exactly who to count, how the totals typically break down by party size, and the one mistake that ruins more wedding shirt orders than any miscount - guessing sizes instead of collecting them.

Who Typically Gets a Shirt

Here's the standard roster, roughly in order of how commonly each group is included:

Always included

• The bride and groom (or both partners) - usually with a distinct design: "Bride," "Groom," "Mrs. [Name]," "Wifey"/"Hubby." Count: 2.
• Bridesmaids and groomsmen - the core of the order. Most parties have 3–6 attendants per side; large weddings run 8 or more. Don't forget the maid of honor and best man - they often get a slightly different design ("Maid of Honor" vs. "Bride Squad").

Usually included

• Both sets of parents - "Mother of the Bride," "Father of the Groom," and so on. Parents love these, and they photograph beautifully at the rehearsal dinner. Count: typically 4, more with blended families.
• Flower girl and ring bearer - if kids are in the wedding, a tiny "Flower Girl" tee is one of the most-photographed shirts of the whole weekend. Count: 0–2 (make sure your vendor offers youth and toddler sizes).

Sometimes included

• Honorary members - siblings not in the formal party, grandparents, the officiant, ushers, readers.
• The planner or day-of coordinator - a fun gesture, and it makes them easy to spot in candid photos.
• Extended family - some couples widen the order into full matching family shirts for everyone traveling in for the wedding weekend. If your guest list includes a big family contingent, this is a popular add-on - just treat it as its own design so the wedding party shirts stay distinct.

The simplest way to nail your count: write the actual names down. "Six bridesmaids" is an estimate; a list of six names (plus a seventh you forgot - there's always one) is an order you can place with confidence.

Shirt Counts by Wedding Party Size

Here's how the totals typically break down. The "core" column is couple + attendants only; the "typical order" column adds both sets of parents and 1–2 extras, which is what most couples actually end up ordering.

One practical note: if the bride's side and groom's side have different designs (very common - "Bride Squad" and "Groom's Crew"), count each side separately. They're effectively two products in one order, and you'll want the size breakdown per design, not just an overall total.

Should You Order Extras? The Rule of Thumb

If your design is generic (no names): order 1–2 extras, in medium and large. M and L cover the widest share of adults, so a spare in each is the cheapest insurance you can buy against a late addition to the party, a size that turns out wrong, or a mimosa spill halfway through the getting-ready photos.

If every shirt is personalized (names or roles printed): extras don't help - a spare "Jessica" shirt does nothing for the eighth bridesmaid named Amanda. In that case, put your effort into locking the roster and the sizes before you order, and build a little more buffer into your timeline instead.

For bigger orders - say you're also outfitting the extended family - the percentage version of the rule is to add about 5–10% extra, weighted toward the middle sizes. Our guide to average t-shirt size distribution shows how sizes typically break out across a group, which is useful for sanity-checking your totals before you commit.

Don't Guess Sizes - Collect Them

Here's the part that actually sinks wedding shirt orders. It's rarely the count - it's the sizes. You text eight bridesmaids for their size, five reply within a day, two reply "medium-ish," and one goes silent until the week of the wedding. Then the shirts arrive and the "medium-ish" answers turn out to have meant women's medium, which fits nothing like the unisex medium you ordered.

The fix is to stop playing size-collector over text. Send the whole party one link instead: with Manatee Shirt's free size collection tool, each person opens the link on their phone, sees the actual shirt with a real size chart (chest and length measurements, not vibes), and taps their size in under a minute. You watch responses come in on a live dashboard, see exactly who hasn't answered yet, and get automatic totals per design - bridesmaids and groomsmen tallied separately, no spreadsheet required.

If you want the full rundown of every collection method - group texts, spreadsheets, Google Forms, and dedicated tools - we compared them all in our guide on how to collect shirt sizes for your group. The short version: for a wedding party spread across cities and time zones, the one-link approach wins by a mile.

When to Order: The Wedding Shirt Timeline

Work backward from the day you need shirts in hand - usually the getting-ready morning or the rehearsal dinner, not the wedding day itself:

• 6 weeks out: Finalize your designs and your roster. Decide who's included (parents? kids? honorary members?) so your count is real, not a guess.
• 4–5 weeks out: Send the size-collection link to the whole party. Give a firm deadline ("sizes in by Friday") - vague deadlines get vague results.
• 3–4 weeks out: Nudge the stragglers, close collection, and place the order. Three weeks before the wedding is the comfortable minimum: it covers 5–10 business days of printing and shipping plus a buffer for a reprint if anything goes sideways.
• 1–2 weeks out: Shirts arrive. Confirm every name against every shirt now - not the night before the wedding.

Can you pull it off faster? Often, yes - but every week you compress comes out of your error margin, and wedding weeks have a way of spending error margins for you.

The Bachelor & Bachelorette Party Crossover

Here's a money- and sanity-saving observation: the people in your wedding party shirts are almost exactly the same people in your bachelorette party shirts and bachelor party shirts. Same roster, same sizes, different design and date.

That means you only need to collect sizes once. Gather everyone's size early - before the bachelorette trip, which usually comes first - and reuse the same size list for the wedding-weekend shirts. If the maid of honor is organizing the bachelorette order and you're organizing the wedding party order, share the size breakdown between you instead of making twelve people answer the same question twice.

Counting for these is simpler, too: bachelor and bachelorette shirts are one side only, usually attendants plus the bride or groom, and often a couple of friends who aren't in the formal wedding party. A typical bachelorette order is 6–12 shirts; bachelor parties run about the same.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many shirts should I order for my wedding party?

Count everyone who gets a shirt - the couple, every bridesmaid and groomsman, and (usually) both sets of parents - then add 1–2 extras in middle sizes. A party with four attendants per side typically lands at 12–16 shirts; six per side lands at 16–20. Use the table above to find your bracket, then replace the estimate with a real list of names.

How many wedding party shirts do I need if I have 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen?

At minimum 14 (12 attendants plus the two of you). Add both sets of parents and you're at 18. Include a flower girl, ring bearer, or an honorary member or two, plus a spare M and L, and a realistic order is 19–21.

Should I order extra shirts for the wedding party?

Yes, if the design is generic: 1–2 extras in M and L cover late additions, wrong sizes, and getting-ready-morning accidents for a few dollars. If every shirt is personalized with a name, skip the extras and lock your roster and sizes before ordering instead.

Where can I order custom t-shirts for my wedding party?

Manatee Shirt is built for group orders like this: set up your designs (bride, bridesmaids, groomsmen - as many as you need), share one link, and everyone picks their own size from a real size chart on their phone. See how it works on our wedding party shirts page.

When should I order wedding party shirts?

Start collecting sizes 4–6 weeks before the wedding and place the order at least 3 weeks out. That leaves a week for size collection, 5–10 business days for printing and shipping, and a buffer for the surprises wedding weeks reliably produce.

Conclusion

"How many shirts should I order for my wedding party?" has a two-part answer. The count is the easy part: couple + attendants + parents + 1–2 extras, which puts most weddings between 12 and 24 shirts. The hard part - the part that actually determines whether the shirts look great in photos - is getting an accurate size for every single person on that list.

So make your list of names, pick your bracket from the table, and then solve the size problem the easy way: one link, real size charts, live results. You have a wedding to plan - shirt logistics shouldn't take more than an afternoon.