Bridesmaid advice and When to officially pick your bridesmaids

I say wait! Ask them all closer to the date (that way they won't feel like they were an afterthought!): I would say a year before maximum. You never know what can happen! My fiance and I had originally talked about getting married last summer. But, before we got very far we decided to wait another year. My bridal party would've looked different if we had gotten married last year. Friendships change. Nothing wrong with that, but you want the friends standing beside you that are closest to at that moment.

When choosing your wedding party, decide beforehand what you expect of them! I have three, and one lives in another province. I was not expecting them to help with any pre-wedding stuff (except the bachelorette!) so I was okay with having someone who lived far away. But, if I had wanted them to help put together invitations and favours and flowers, I would've chosen someone who lives closer. Instead, I chose the three who I feel I am closest with and will be life-long friends!

My friend had to pick between two friends and chose one that she felt she was closest to, but that friend is also...shall we say, flakey. She ended up not helping with any of the pre-wedding stuff and my friend had wished she had chosen the friend who was more reliable.

I didn't even need to read half your post (don't worry, I did anyways, haha)... but let me warn you now: Do not invite in drama where you don't need it. If you know in your gut already people could cause problems, avoid it!

Your two sisters, FSIL and BFF should be your core. How many guys does your FH have? want? You can always play the card, "keeping it small and matching numbers"... Your new friends will be involved in all your pre-wedding festivities regardless.

People kind of expect you to name your bridal party ASAP, but it doesn't mean you have to. I got engaged 4 months ago and I have already had to replace my MOH. I knew she could cause drama, but went with her anyways out of guilt. Now she may not even come to the wedding...

If people ask, simply say "We are waiting to be closer to the wedding to start making those decisions".

Also, the friend who is the best man's ex? As much as you might want her to be involved, the bridal parties do need to co-exist, and if it's going to be awkward or cause drama, you might need to make the call to not include her. But then again, 2 years is a long time, and maybe they will be better being around each other by then.

Again, back to, push off that commitment until at least a year out!

I know there's a lot of excitement to ask your girls to be party of your bridal party now but wait as long as you can. Things change whether you like it or not. Obviously your sisters are automatic, just hold off on the rest.

My wedding isn't until August 2019 and I'm keeping tight-lipped on who I'm going to ask because anything could happen with my friends.

There's no rule on when you HAVE to pick people.

You could always ask your family members, or the people you know you'd want 100%. IN a while you could re-assess how you feel about the 3 other girls and ask them a bit closer to the date. I'd ask about a year out though as thats when planning will start to pick up and you'll have to think about bridesmaid dresses.

I would also say to wait until about a year out. If questions come up, just say you are waiting until the date gets closer. Definitely announce you've chosen your sisters to be MOHs, but leave the rest until the year out, when you know the relationships a bit better and are ready to ask them to commit to being your bridesmaid. The last thing you would want is someone to only stay friends with you because they are in your wedding party or things go south with other relationships and they make a bunch of drama for you.

Definitely wait until closer to the date. I picked my MOH and BM's right way and honestly should have waited, or not even asked anybody at all. Pick those who you know are going to be there for you and will actually help and support you through the planning process.

I'd wait until it's closer to crunch time (about 12-18 months out). We were debating on asking our niece and nephew (well, ask their mom anyway) to be our flower girl/ring bearer, but with the wedding being almost 2-years out, it made no sense because they'd totally forget about it and wouldn't really care hahaha. Now that the excitement of us being engaged has died down, we're happy we're waiting, because our plans have definitely changed since we got engaged.

I had originally set my date for 2020 and we had debated the same thing. Because so far away what should I do and who should I pick. My fiancé said he would wait till a year before to choose as he wasn't sure. I knew my girls instantly. However, there's always drama behind things sometimes. Its really up to you when you pick. You can wait a year or pick them know and ask. The girl you are nervous about, that's something you will have in the back of your mind regarding their relationship no matter what. if something were to happen and relationship went south. She would more likely drop out, do you care if its uneven and it might still give you time to ask someone else. The last girl about the timezone, I would stay away from only due to issues with the best man. You mentioned you only new her for a year or less. She might be in a new relationship by then but you never now when people see eachother again years later what emotions might come out. If you think she is capable of not pulling a dumb stunt then forsure have her! I just used a bridal shop that my friend could order off line from to order her dress.