28 NovThe Weding Party

I really struggled with choosing my wedding party because I felt uncomfortable with the process of essentially “ranking” my friends and family. Only the very best ones get to stand up there with me! The rest of you riff-raff are invited to sit and watch…if you’re lucky. Do all brides find this a sticky social situation, or am I just paranoid? In retrospect, I was worrying about nothing.

My fiancé wanted to have three groomsmen, so I decided that three bridesmaids would be fine for me. (We have to keep it symmetrical, after all). I thought it was tough to pick the “top three” friends, but I guess everybody else doesn’t see it that way. My three bridesmaids, close friends from high school and university, were touched and excited to be asked, and all my other friends were just as happy that I’m getting married and they can come to the wedding. (Now, having to choose who made the cut as far as the invite list goes is another matter entirely!).

I finally picked my bridesmaids, but I felt even weirder with the idea of choosing matching dresses that I would then force them to buy, wear and smile while doing so. It seemed like asking my best friends to be bridesmaids would end up being more of a punishment than a compliment! I briefly reveled in the thought of making my good friends wear some fluffy aquamarine monstrosity that would keep me giggling all the way through the big day, but I felt like somehow that joke would ultimately end up being on me. All my friends have good taste and I decided to let them choose their dresses themselves.

My only request was that they pick a dress in our wedding colour, navy blue. After all my stress on the subject, I learned that a lot of brides don’t pick matching bridesmaid dresses anymore, and letting them choose their own dresses is becoming much more normal. Now that breaking with convention is conventional, nobody will care that my bridesmaids aren’t carbon copies of each other. Letting them choose individual dresses will let their personality and style come through, and give my ceremony a much more unique look.

By: Beth Curley