Advice needed - bridesmaid selection in the pandemic

No one should be picked prior to 6 months before, pandemic or not.


If you are marrying in a state that requires quarantine, then only ask people who live in that state who you are super close to. Generally otherwise, you would ask whoever your closest people are regardless of where they live. But not everyone is able to quarantine that long.

I would recommend that you still choose whoever you want by your side on your wedding day to be in your wedding party. I am never a fan of choosing people for other reasons (such as, they live close to you, out of obligation, just because you stood up in their wedding, etc). If they can't make it, they can always decline. Also, restrictions will hopefully change between now and your wedding date, so I would definitely choose who you want by your side, regardless of distance.

I would select who you want and hope for the best. It would suck if you didn't pick who you want and then the restrictions are lifted or changed to would enable them to attend.

View Quoted Comment I agree with Lisa!

I agree with Lisa too.

I agree with Lisa as well! lol

View Quoted Comment I had something similar (ish) happen. My wedding was originally planned for 200 people and we decided to downsize since we really had no idea how the wedding would go due to Covid restrictions. My wedding party didn’t change, even though there’s a lot of them - 11 on both sides. We decided to cut our guest lists to close friends and family. We’re also in South Carolina and our guidelines aren’t completely restrictive for a somewhat normal wedding.
What we did to kind of keep the wedding formally informal for our wedding party is not have my bridesmaids wear matching dresses. They will walk the aisle traditionally with a groomsmen but are sitting front row. If you did something like that, it would give you some room to plan for restrictions and it not be the end of the world if someone couldn’t make it!
I’m also getting married in September and my wedding party has been selected since we got engaged this past September. If you plan on having a full, fun engagement I would definitely not wait until 6 months out! You want time to plan showers, bach weekends and everything else.
Sorry this was a novel! Just my experience and opinion! Good luck gal!

Bc of COVID, we decided to not have a wedding party. Most of our friends won't even feel comfortable participating during the pandemic

View Quoted Comment Thank you all! This is very helpful! It makes sense to ask the "right" people.


Personally I'm also leaning towards asking people more than six months out since I'd like to give as much as heads up as possible. Michelle - I'd love if you could say more about your rationale.

View Quoted Comment Good luck on your planning. It can be a lot lol