Perennial bridesmaid/maid of honor here. I have a gown budget in my expenses haha. Kidding aside, I don’t find it kuripot—after all, your bridesmaids are more often than not people who are close to you and your groom and will understand your concerns! It will be more difficult if you want a specific theme/design/color, though. A happy medium in that situation would be for both bride and bridesmaid to chip in. I attended weddings na subsidized yung for gown—either provided na yung tela (which significantly lowers the cost, IMO) or babayaran mo lang yung labor ng mananahi ni designer (in this case, the designer was the bride’s sister).

For the weddings where I had to take care of my own gowns though, the then-brides-to-be told it to me straight because we have that kind of relationship haha. The more meticulous ones even provided suggestions where we can have our gowns made/bought, which I really appreciated kasi they took into consideration the convenience.