Wedding Party Ideas

I feel like you can still invite your "would-be wedding party" to get ready with day-of and other pre-wedding events (showers and bachelorettes). I've been invited to both shower and bachelorettes without being in the Wedding Party, so totally do that if that's your style!

I feel as if I'm doing the opposite, myself and my wedding party are all over the province, so we can only get together at the wedding lol. My bachelorette might happen 2 days beforehand just with summer schedules.

I would let your friends know of your plan, let them know you aren't really having a wedding party, but you'd still love it if they participated in pre-wedding celebrations. Also, have a plan of who you want to sign as the witness on your marriage license.

We are not having a wedding party at all. I think the wedding should be about the couple-not about how many people you have standing up beside you; so I totally understand!

I think this is a great idea though, to have a "wedding party" but not have them stand up with you. It is your day after all, and should be about the two of you.

We will still be doing pictures with everyone and getting ready etc to make everyone feel as though they are part of our day. We are having quite a small, intimate wedding so this will work for us. Good luck!

I see your vision and it can go 2 ways:

1. Having a wedding party does allow to be there with you without the added expense of buying their dress/suit.

We had only 2 each side of wedding party MOH/BM (Best Man) total of 4 standing up with us. The BM were our witnesses as well. We took the MOHs shopping and they paid for their sarees and alterations.

2. No wedding party and just walk down the aisle as planned still getting the ready shots ahead of time with a seat in the front row for witnesses.

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AH! Thank you for this reply! Its nice to know someone else is doing it in this way!

I LOVE the bubble blowing, that is absolutely adorable!!

We chose not to have a wedding party.
We’ve told our inner circle that they can wear whatever they’d like and hang out with us before the wedding as their schedule allows. Haven been in wedding parties ourselves, we don’t want to put any pressure on any of guests to do anything beyond their capacity.

That being said our best friends will make the speeches, and I’ll have my little cousins blow bubbles down the aisle, and I may give my female inner circle flowers to wear in their hair if they want to wear them.

I think your friends will understand.

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Thank you I read about it on a wedding blog and loved it!

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Thank you!!! This was wonderful advice! I wasn't sure to add it in when I asked them to be a part but this makes it more casual and comfortable!

View quoted message Well being there are so many people on this site.. I didn't expect everyone to understand or have advice but I'm sure there is someone that will. No I do not want my bridal party standing up with me as I think the ceremony is about the couple plus they don't need too feel obligated to have extra expense. But id still like my best friends to get ready with, enjoy pre wedding events, and photos with. We will be also doing a two person head table for just us at the reception as the point to all of this is it to be what the bride and groom want..

Will defiantly add a day of duties sheet though keeps everything organized and less confusion!

Well then first of all, congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the Wedding Wire community!

And then when it comes to your little dilemma in how to express this - I would just mention it when it comes up. Like if they are talking about walking down the aisle or something or if they say "of course I will stand up there with you on you wedding" then you can feel free to let them know that you had a different picture in your head. You could word it like, "y'know how people have sweetheart tables sometimes at their wedding reception? Well I was thinking that what we want for our wedding is to just have the two of us up at the alter." and if you plan on having them still walk down the aisle and whatnot then I'm sure they may even joke that they are happy they won't have to stand for 30 minutes! (Or however long your ceremony will be.)

I'm not doing that but I love that idea! There's something more intimate about it being just you and your FH standing up there

I'm honestly never heard of that before, so I don't really have advise. Is there a reason you don't want them standing up with you? I've been to weddings where the bride and groom both just had one person stand with them to be their witnesses when they sign their marriage license, and that was fine. Since you wont have attendants next to you, you'll need to have a plan to get your witnesses up to sign, who has the wedding bands and how you get them for exchanging rings, and if you're having a bouquet, who you're giving it to during the ceremony.

My fiance and I have opted for a sweetheart table for the reception rather than the traditional head table. This way our bridal party can sit with their significant others during dinner, and we can have a space just for us two. I can see the appeal of doing something similar for your ceremony. I think when you ask your party, just let them know that, and maybe specify what their day-of duties would be if they're not part of the ceremony. Are they taking photos with you? Do they need to be in matching dresses/suits? Those are questions I'd have at least.