Wedding Party Guide

Having a flower girl can add a lot of fun to your wedding, but it can also add some stress if she’s young. When they’re young, they’re cute walking down the aisle and you’re sure to get a ton of  ’ohs and ahs’. The tough part is that a young flower girl can be somewhat unpredictable and you might be more worried about her nerves than your own. Here are a few tips to think about if you have young flower girl.

1. Get her involved in ALL of the wedding planning (if she’s old enough). She can help with shopping (especially for her flower girl dress) and certainly attend the shower and all of the rehearsals. If she feels part of it and really comfortable with knowing what is going on, you’re less like to have a day-of freak out.

2. Have her walk out before the maid of honor. That way if she gets freaked out and stops, the maid of honor can take her hand and lead her the rest of the way.

3. Make sure her grandparents and other key family members are in view when she walks out and as she’s walking down the aisle. This will ease her discomfort and they can help encourage her.

4. If you are having her scatter petals, make sure she’s not responsible for all of the scattering. You should have someone scatter the bulk of the petals before guests arrive and then the flower girl can just scatter a few as she walks down the aisle.

5. Make sure your flower girl knows your wedding party so that everyone there is familiar to her. You should spend a couple of minutes with her before the wedding too.

6. Find something for her to do right before the wedding that isn’t messy, but it will take her mind off of things and not give her time to stress out about the day.

Last time we discussed the four most well known members of the wedding party, so this time we’ll focus on the rest of the group.

Father of the Bride – Also known as Mr. Moneybags, because he tends to pick up a substantial part of the bill. As if that weren’t enough, in more recent years he has started to be responsible for a wedding version of a “honey-do” list. Traditionally he gives the bride away.

Father of the Groom – His main responsibility, financially anyway, is the rehearsal dinner, but he assumes the role of “in charge guy who really isn’t in charge” dealing with vendor issues. He is usually found toasting at the reception and dancing with the guests.

Mother of the Bride – This is one role that isn’t very clearly defined because the bride chooses her responsibilities and as you can imagine this varies greatly from wedding to wedding. I think we all realize that the the mother of the bride probably takes gets the things done that the rest of the bride’s party misses, way to go Mom!

Mother of the Groom – She is allowed to assist the mother of the bride in any way needed, but her moment comes at the mother and son dance at the reception.

Flower Girl – This is usually a younger child say 6 to 12 who precedes the bride going down the isle preparing for her a carpet of flower petals.

Ring Bearer – Again, a young child, who carries a pillow with two fake rings on it to represent the wedding rings in the procession

Junior Groomsmen, Ushers, and Bridesmaids – Depending on how large or extravagant the wedding ceremony is planed to be, there may be junior versions of the groomsmen, bridesmaids, and ushers. The only real difference in their roles is that they aren’t going to be attending the bachelor and bachelorette parties (well, not most of the time). They still dress the same (unless the girls dresses are too revealing for a 12 year old, then they are a little different) as their adult counterparts, but they are just much more cute!

Officiant - Whether male, female, rabbi, priest, preacher, bishop, or any variant thereof, we cannot forget the ceremony official. Without the officiant it would just be another fancy party!

Now that we have the introducations out of the way we can proceed on to the other definition of the Wedding Party. Next time we’ll discuss beverages (adult and otherwise) that will make the day more festive.