Bridesmaids : Choosing my wedding women and their attire

One of the big decisions in a wedding is choosing the wedding party, and when you have so many wonderful people in your life it can be hard to pick who to have standing next to you on your big day!! The people you you decide to be most involved in your wedding can have a significant impact on your wedding day and the days and weeks leading up to it. The goal is to be surrounded by true friends, positive people, those who will be both honest and loving throughout the wedding planning process without dominating or being argumentative. I work as a consultant to help brides find their wedding dresses, and far too often I find out that brides have close friends and family members that care less about what the bride loves and wants and more about what they prefer.

Brady and I want our wedding to be on the smaller side (which for us means a limit of 150 people), we do not love being the center of attention, but we have large families and many loving friends that we are so thankful for! So we did not want a large wedding party and decided that four bridesmaids and groomsmen would be appropriate for our wedding. How many people are y’all planning to include in your wedding party? Do you guys think that the number of people in the wedding party should reflect the number of attendees? Is there such a thing as too many bridesmaids?!

For my bridesmaids I chose two of my best friends from college, one of my best friends for life, and one of my sisters. All of them have seen me at my best and worst, and all of them have been a part of my life as my relationship with Brady blossomed. These are all wonderful women who have been an important part of my life, they all know me well and will be huge assets in having a fun, relaxing, and joyful wedding day!!

In order to include more of my close friends, I decided to have a house party. A house party is like a girl equivalent of an usher in that they don’t stand up there with you, but they are honored friends who help out during the wedding/reception and take part in the pre-wedding festivities! I included my other sister (who really is kind of young to be a bridesmaid), Brady’s sister, and one of my good friends. Do y’all think that house parties are still relevant? I didn’t even know what a house party was a year ago! And I would not normally choose to include such a southern/traditional element into the wedding, but it means a lot to have these women be a part of our big day.

For my other close girl friends, I will include a couple in helping with certain aspects of the wedding, such as being a musician for the ceremony or coordinating certain aspects of the reception. In addition, I plan to have my mom join my dad in walking down the isle. Both my mom and dad have contributed so much to my life, and they’ve really been a team effort in bringing me up. I can’t imagine one without the other and I think both of their importance should be acknowledged in the ceremony in that way. How do y’all include the important women in your life? Have you had to say no to some friends? How do y’all deal with including a friend in the bridal party but not the rest of the friend group?

Another big question is the bridesmaid/house party attire. I feel bad asking these ladies to spend a lot of money because they mean a lot to me, and we are shooting for a more casual style, so the bridesmaids will wear various shades of green in whatever style of dress they choose. I think the mixed dresses and colors will follow our more laid back approach, but more and more people are letting bridesmaids choose their own dresses. I wonder if that trend will continue and if it won’t just be reserved for “budget” weddings in the future! Below I have included some ideas of the kind of colors and styles we are going for! It will be interesting and exciting to see how the inspiration we see before the wedding translates into the actual day!

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