ALOT OF GIRLS IN MY WEDDING PARTY

Although I don`t know of any rules, persay, 24 people in a wedding party is huge. My first fiance and I had 22, I believe, and once we started getting into the details of planning the wedding, organizing all of those people was a nightmare. I could never get the girls together to look for dresses, everyone had their own idea of what dresses they would or would not wear. Then, try to find a place that can accomodate a wedding party that large. It won`t happen. You will end up having a sweetheart table (which I didn`t want). You will also have alot of money into gifts for the bridal party, transportation for the bridal party, and other things you probably won`t think of for months. The engagement I mentioned broke off about 6 months before the wedding, so I didn`t even get into the gory details.

I just recently (June) got married. We had a MOH and a best man. We were going to stop there, but my nieces and nephews really wanted to be in the wedding, so we had my oldest niece and nephew as bridesmaid/groomsman, then a ring bearer and 2 flower girls.

I would HIGHLY suggest not having a 24 person wedding party. It will be a headache. Anything over about 5 bridesmaids/groomsmen is really just too much.

I don`t think there is any rule on how many attendents you can have in your wedding party but I do think that 11 on each side is a ton. This is you and your fiance`s day, so I think you can do whatever makes you happy, but here are a few ideas in case you feel the need to shorten the list.

• Make your wedding party family only, when a friend asks why they weren`t standing up there...it is easy to say, "there were so many people we wanted to have up there with us...we decided family only to help find a solution." If you don`t want to hurt any feelings, list your friends that you were thinking of including as honorary attendents in your program. They will still sit with the rest of the guests, but everyone will know your close and they mean a lot to you.

• Don`t worry about hurting peoples feelings. If you are close then they will understand. If you are still worried that sitting in the audience isn`t going to be enough for them, have then pass out cake, serve drinks, help with dinner, be at the guest book, light candles, read a peom, if they can sing, let them sing. Give them something special that they can do, without the clutter of 22 extra people at the front of the church. In the end that will only take away from you...the bride and the groom...how will you stick out with all those people.

Other things to consider is the cost of having so many attendent...how will you get then all to the church (one limo for a few, compared to 2-3 for 22 people), if you are paying for dresses & tuxes...who can afford that? Flowers for the girls to carry, guys flowers...that will get pretty expensive. Think about pictures...the bride and groom should be the main fixture in each of the photos, but who`s going to see you with 22 extra people.

I know this is a long response, I just hope somewhere in it I helped you out!! Good luck!

Mandy

IN A RUSH OF EXCITEMENT, I ALREADY HAVE ASKED JUST ABOUT 11 GIRLS TO BE IN THE WEDDING, NOT REALIZING THE TRANSPORTATION ISSUES ETC. HOW CAN I ASK AT LEAST 4-5 OF THEM TO STEP DOWN WITHOUT HURTING THIER FEELINGS. I FEEL LIKE SUCH A FOOL, AND I DON`T WANT TO HURT ANYONES FEELINGS.

Explain that you were so excited and you really want them to be a part of your big day, but you didn`t consider everything you should have before asking them. Just be honest.

I would ask the few that you want to step down to be personal attendants, usherettes or host (pass out programs) also you would need someone for the guestbook. I have 5 in mine and another close friend who is also ordering a dress along with them(because she wanted too) but is acting as a personnal attendant. If they truly care about you they should understand, explain that you didn`t realize all the other roles you needed in the wedding and you want them to know that you still want them to participate to the fullest extent.