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Brooke
Just Said Yes October 2023

Junior Bridesmaids

Brooke, on March 8, 2023 at 12:39 PM Posted in Wedding Ceremony 0 4
Considering asking my 2 soon-to-be nieces to be junior bridesmaids - I believe they will be 10 and 12 at the time of the wedding.

Current plan: to have them join us in the bridal suite room of the chapel after the BM and I have gotten ready off site (chapel does not allow alcohol so we’re getting ready off site), maybe 30 minutes before the ceremony. I’d ask their mom to do their hair and any makeup beforehand and then they can get in their dresses (similar to the older BM dresses) at the chapel. Or they can get to the chapel before me and fully get ready at there - I don’t particularly care. Just want my inner group when I’m getting ready as I know I’ll be very nervous.

Then I’d have them walk down the aisle either together or one at a time, before other BMs, and then sit in a front/second pew with their parents. My mom suggested having them light candles on the stage steps before sitting but I can’t have real flames and don’t know my decor plan, so haven’t figured that idea out yet.
I know typically Junior BMs stand by the BMs for the ceremony. They are old enough to do so but I do not think they’d actually enjoy it in the moment and honestly the youngest is very squirmy and the oldest has intense resting bored face lolThey are sweet girls and we have a good relationship. I know they’d love to be involved in the wedding somehow but I don’t want them to be flower girls. It would also be better for mine & FH’s relationship with their parents if the girls were involved.
Trying to figure out the best way to plan this and also how to ask them and their parents in a way that’s exciting, but doesn’t make the parents upset that the girls won’t be standing for the ceremony. My future SIL told me not to worry about it and just make them Junior BMs and tell them how it’s going to work and to not care if their parents are bothered that the girls won’t be standing up there. Again I think the girls will just be excited to be involved and wear the BM dress and will not care too much about not standing.

4 Comments

Latest activity by CM, on March 9, 2023 at 1:01 PM
  • C
    CM ·
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    TBH, I don't think your reasons for not wanting your future nieces to stand up with you are very convincing, especially with respect to the girl whose facial expressions you don't like. How long is your ceremony? I bet you would be surprised at how they would likely rise to the occasion. Ten and twelve years old are plenty old enough as you said. If your concern is that they won't enjoy it , I would leave it up to the parents and the girls themselves.

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  • Brooke
    Just Said Yes October 2023
    Brooke ·
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    Fair enough, I respect that.
    Honestly I’m ambivalent to them being in the ceremony. I love them, I think it would be exciting for them, and it’s the path of least resistance with the family. But It’d be for them, not for me, but in the end I’d be happy to have them involved somehow. I won’t lie, trying to figure it out is annoying me - just the fact that I feel obligated to figure this out. If I didn’t feel like it was expected by family I’d be just as happy for the girls to be guests.
    Other family members have agreed it’s best to involve them and that a junior BM is probably the best way, but they also said it’d be fine to have them sit with their parents. But everywhere I’ve looked online says that Junior BMs always stand. I’m sure lots of people would say I’m dumb to not want them to stand, and that’s fine. There’s the reasons I gave, plus not wanting the stage to look crowded, but mostly I just don’t want kids standing on the stage.
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  • M
    VIP August 2021
    Michelle ·
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    Tell your FS to have them on their side. They can handle attire and positioning and their Sister. Then stop talking planning with family members because they are way too involved. Even if others are paying for your wedding, you have every right to choose who is up there supporting you and what organizational burdens to undertake.

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  • C
    CM ·
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    It sounds like you don't really want them but feel pressured. In your place, I'd either include them as an integral part of the wedding party, or I wouldn't ask at all. From what you say, I suspect putting them on FI's side or excluding them from the ceremony may not go over all that differently than not asking them, so what's the point? My attitude is, if you're going to end up doing something, anyway, do it graciously.

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