6 Tips for Choosing Your Wedding Party
Choosing your wedding party is a significant step! After all, they’re the ones who will be by your side every step of the way and ultimately have a significant impact on your experience. With that said, we know as wedding planners that avoiding stepping on toes can make for one rocky trip to the aisle! It’s crucial to have set boundaries and guidelines to ensure your wedding day reflects your authentic desires. When “popping the question” to your VIPs, keep these tips in mind!
If You Don’t Want a Wedding Party, You Don’t Need One
More and more couples are opting to fly down the aisle solo—and you already know we love to break tradition! Many still invite their VIPs to bachelor/bachelorette parties but choose to keep the focus on them on their wedding day. Others have reserved seats for their VIPs but prefer the feel of an intimate ceremony with fewer people standing at the front. There’s no right or wrong way to include your favorite people on your wedding day, so don’t stress and just go with what feels right!
Include Wedding Party Expenses in Your Budget Breakdown
If you already know you want a wedding party, include related expenses in your budget. And be sure to stick to your agreed maximum amount! From attire to grooming services and gifts, these expenses add up fast. Choosing your wedding party is fun, but watching it slowly eat up your savings isn’t!
In addition, your budget will help you determine what size wedding party is feasible for you and your partner. Simply divide your agreed-upon number by individual expenses for each member.
Consider Timing
If your ceremony is early in the day (anywhere from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.), be prepared for you and your wedding party to have an early morning. Depending on how many people are receiving beauty services, it isn’t out of the question to start as early as 3 a.m.(!). A good rule of thumb is to expect to finish beauty services two hours before your ceremony starts—IF you aren’t planning a first look. That also assumes that you’re getting ready within 15 minutes of (or at) your ceremony venue. If not, you’ll have to tack on more time for travel.
Also, consider the timing for your wedding party portraits. The larger your wedding party, the more time photos will take. So, if this portion of the day isn’t a priority, consider slimming down your wedding party—or skipping one entirely!
Just Because Their Significant Other is in the Wedding, Doesn’t Mean They Have to Be
This one speaks for itself. Rarely is an engaged couple close enough to both members of another partnership to include both in their wedding party. Your best friend and her boyfriend aren’t literally joined at the hip, so don’t stress over including one and not the other when choosing your wedding party.
The Decision to Include Kids (or Not) is Yours
And no one else’s! When it comes to this hot topic, stick to your guns. You probably already know in your heart of hearts whether or not you want children at your wedding. If the answer is no, you don't have to include them.
If someone is already imagining their child as your flower girl or ring bearer and asking that you include them in your ceremony, you can kindly but firmly tell them ‘no.’ Simply say that although you’d love to see their child at the wedding, you and your partner have decided not to include kids. Sure, they may be disappointed, but we PROMISE they will get over it! In the end, they may even appreciate that they’ll get a night out to themselves without the stress of keeping their kids in line.
Figure Out Your Approach to Ceremony Photos
Decide if you’d like your ceremony photos to include your wedding party or just the two of you. If the latter, your wedding party can simply sit down in a reserved row while you exchange vows! Personally, we prefer this approach as it produces cleaner photos with you and your partner as the primary focus.
We hope these tips for choosing your wedding party help you navigate the tricky etiquette of this subject. And we hope they’ve made you even more excited to party it up with your VIPs! Our top priority is for our clients to enjoy a stress-free planning and wedding day experience. That’s why we take care of all the little details and headaches that crop up along the way! Learn more about what we do by writing us a quick note. We can’t wait to get the conversation started!
