A big question that we are often asked is "How big should my bridal party be?" There is no proper answer for this question. However, we can tell you from experience of attending weddings on the regular that the smaller the bridal party, the more relaxed the bride is. Why? Because the bigger the bridal party, the more people you're keeping track of! Don't fret -- if a big bridal party is your thing, just make sure you're super organized and delegate, delegate, delegate!
In 2024 there in no manual on what a "traditional" wedding should look like. There is an ever-evolving list of what is trendy or "in". But at the end of the day, there is no right or wrong so just do what feels right to you.
You are not obligated to ask every girlfriend you have to be in your bridal party. Also, some things to consider are giving a job to each individual bridesmaid so that each girl has a purpose, and she knows what her purpose is. This alleviates the maid of honor from delegating jobs and takes the hard feelings out for anyone who may not get the job they would have chosen for themselves.
Some examples of tasks that you can assign to your bridesmaids are:
Bringing the brunch for the bridal party (guys & gals -- we know we can't trust the men to remember to bring something ... ha-ha)
Being the keeper of your phone on wedding day -- you will get lots of well wishes that day, but you'll also get people asking for directions and if there's anything they can bring etc. It removes stress and distraction from the bride if you delegate that task.
Create a checklist for all of the items that need to be accounted for in the bridal suite on the night of rehearsal before your event. This gives ample opportunity to double check that there's nothing forgotten for the big day!
create a timeline and delegate someone to keep that timeline for your bridesmaids the day of (arrival time - who has hair and makeup & when - what time they need to be fully dressed and ready to jump onto the timeline the photographer designs)
delegate a single person whose vehicle all of the personal items are loaded into. At the end of the night, everyone is trying to help you get loaded out and start loading stuff into vehicles. Items get lost or misplaced and sometimes it's something sentimental that can't be replaced. Put one person in charge to make sure that everything makes it from point A to point B in one nice little package.
If you have a crafty gal pal, put her in charge of bouquets.
Don't forget to consider when choosing your I do crew, that just because they're friends with you does not mean they're friends with the rest of your gal pals. Make sure you don't set yourself up for an instant disaster -- just add alcohol!
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