Oh, that sounds gorgeous, Xylochick! I remember a Theta friend's wedding done in various pastels and the bridesmaids just looked like a garden.

I've also heard of "graduated shade" weddings where the first bridesmaid will be, say, in dark pink, and the next one in a lighter pink and so on all the way back to the maid of honor who's in palest pink.

You Southerners crack me up! Nine Bridesmaids???

Think nine is a lot? I was at a wedding a couple of years ago where there were 13 bridesmaids and 11 groomsmen (that's counting the maid of honor and best man). This was at a Jewish wedding in Boston.

Since there was an uneven number of attendants, two of the groomsmen each escorted two bridesmaids. Each of these two young men walked along with a woman on each arm... and an ear to ear grin! ;)

I haven't seen that "graduated shade" thing (though I've seen weddings where the MOH will be in, say, bright pink and the other BMs in pale pink) but it sounds like it would make quite an effect.

Anyway, what your daughter picked out is really pretty. :)

I'm from Georgia and when my mom got married, she had two sets of bridesmaids, for a total of about twenty. The first were her very close friends and sisters and the second were made up of those girls who had to be in the wedding (family friends, second or third cousins, etc.). The first group got to walk down the aisle and stand at the front, while the second served as ushers, then stood in the outside aisles of the church during the ceremony. I can't imagine having that many people in my wedding party! I bet that the tulle producers in my hometown had quite a time with all of those dresses.

I've never heard of the "graduating shades"!!! That sounds completely gorgeous!!!!! Some colors, of course, would lend to doing that better than others (pink, blue, purple come to mind), but it sounds just lovely!

What kind of flowers does your daughter have in mind? When I think of "Christmas wedding", I always think of hunter green or apple red dresses with holly, roses, and magnolias.

Well, the dresses are apple red and she thinks she wants to carry AOII red roses with a couple of those roses that are both red and white, then her maid of honor will have mostly the red/white roses, then the bridesmaids will have mostly white roses. They'll have some kind of Christmas item in them--holly or maybe little Christmas balls like I used. Any suggestions?

We don't know what the junior bridesmaids and flower girl will carry, possibly white fur muffs with holly on them or some type of Christmas kissing balls.

I also read about the graduating shades theme being used in fall weddings--the first bridesmaid wore rust and then it shaded back to the maid of honor in deep peach.

OMG, HappyKappy! I'd better not let my daughter see how many bridesmaids your mom had or she'll go for that idea! All our relatives had baby girls in the eighties and there are tons of cousins she wishes she could use! Plus with 8 sisters of her own, she's hardly able to use any friends. And somehow she's got the idea that asking people to be in the house party is insulting to them, that you only want them to work during the reception.:rolleyes:

Haha - I'm wearing that at the end of April! The skirt is white, though, and we're wearing white ribbons around the waist.

I love the bouquets! I think a bit of holly in each bouquet would look amazing.

What are the junior bridesmaids and flower girl wearing? Maybe the junior BMs could carry all white roses with some holly? The flower girl could carry the same, or a basket of rose petals to scatter. Just some ideas off the top of my head.

What is a Christmas kissing ball?

Grrrr. Okay, I've tried to get a million pictures of kissing balls up here and none will copy or paste. Please go to Google images and type in kissing balls! The second one on the first page--the red one--is a good example of what we're talking about. They can be made of sugared fruit, greens, flowers, shells, or whatever.

We're still debating what the jr. bridesmaids will wear. ASLFRose likes the idea of long dresses just like the bridesmaids' but I'm voting for tea length dresses since I know her little sisters won't really have anyplace else to wear floor length gowns. The flower girl, also her little sister, will probably wear a white dress with red accents.

I'm with you, Carnation. I once read a horrible account of a flower girl in a long & full dress and candles. *shudders*

Tea length should look lovely!

I know nothing about weddings, except that in Trista and Ryan's wedding they did the graduated shades thing with their seating. I think the chairs in the very front were pink and got almost to a dark pink/reddish color by the last row. It looked...interesting. I'm guessing it would look different/better with dresses.

Random question about flower girls and ring bearers: is there an age limit for them?

Not that my beau and I are getting hitched any time soon, but if we ever decided to, I realized that neither one of us have little cousins, nieces, nephews, and none of our close friends or family members have kids yet. Suggestions?

Carnation mentioned jr. bridesmaids and I was just wondering what their role was... and what age they are and such.

Technically there isn't an age limit, because it's your wedding and you can do whatever you want. :) But I think the age range is generally 3-7, but everyone will have a different opion.

You don't have to have a ring bearer or flower girl. I only had a ring bearer because I didn't have any close relatives/friends with a little girl and I didn't want to ask someone just to ask someone. I had a lot of friends who chose not to have either because of the problems that go along with having small children at the wedding and reception. I think the ring bearer and flower girl can also tend to be the center of the wedding and take away attention from the bride and groom.

I never saw junior bridesmaids until fairly recently. They seem to be, maybe, ages 10-14? They pretty much do what bridesmaids do except they usually don't have escorts and the style they wear may not be as mature.

Honeychile, I hope we can keep candles away from the close-in ceremony area. When my Beta Buddy (temporary big sis in Pi Phi) was getting married, her veil caught on a huge standing candle as the couple turned to leave the altar. It started to tip towards her veil and a groomsman made this heroic leap and grabbed the candle at the last minute.:eek:

In some cultures, young boys aren't ring bearers, but they act as "escorts" for the flowergirl. They're usually called "pages" although in Hong Kong, the poor kid is called a "flowerboy."

We're having a heckuva time finding a place for the reception because being the Christmas season, all these places were booked 2 years ago. I'm wondering if she ought to see if she can get one if she moves her wedding back to Friday night....the church is free that night too...

I don't know how many people you're planning to invite, but have you "thought outside the box"? I know one person who is a wedding planner for three different art galleries and/or museums. I've also been to receptions in historical houses - which could save a lot of money on the decorating, too!! And now that I think about it, I've noticed that more & more of out-of-the-way places are booking receptions.

Carnation....
Just a few ideas....

If the David's bridesmaid dresses don't work out, check out Chadwick's . They usually have very similar styles at inexpensive prices.

I had 13 attendants. Three of the ladies were designated as "Honor Attendants." They wore the same color dresses as the wedding party and processed in before the bridesmaids but were seated on the front row during the service.

I had my reception at a bed and breakfast. It was lovely and even had rooms for some guests to stay. They did a package deal for the reception, rehearsal dinner, and all of the rooms booked for the weekend. We did have a small wedding though, only 250 guests in attendance.

We had rose balls for all of the bridesmaids. Red rose balls are stunning and can have some holly or glitter sticks (How about sheaves of wheat painted with gold paint?) tucked in for just a splash of color.

Roses,
Silver

Ooo! You mean they carried the balls you carry by a ribbon? How big were they in diameter?

Yes! Rose balls on organza ribbons. With rose balls, you start thinking big, but soon realize that smaller is much better. The core for them was only about the size of a tennis ball (maybe smaller), but they still required over a dozen roses. When put together, they are lovely.
I would not recommend white roses. Turning brown and bruising. ick.
For one of the pictures, the photographer had me to face the altar and spread my train down the steps to the altar. She placed the rose balls all around the edge of my gown. Stunning picture...
Silver

Dear sister, explain to me how 250 people is a small wedding...I'm going to have maximum 20-30. That is small. 250 is a grand event. =P

one lovely gesture i have enjoyed at out of town weddings is a"welcome basket or bag". the brides family or family friends makes the basket or uses gift bags and places water bottles, soft drinks, candy, crackers, homemade cookies, directions to the church and reception, info about local restaurants and things to do in the area, important phone numbers, and a schedule of the festivities that the guest would be included in, with directions to those events and a brief note of thanks from the bride and groom. the most recent one was printed and had a casual photo of the bride and groom as its heading. one basket per room with enough water, soft drinks for each person staying in the room.

here in the south, i have not been to many weddings where favors are given, especially if a welcome basket is made for each out of town guest.in a previous post someone did have a lovely idea about a christmas ornament for each guest, which could be personalized. that would be lovely and does not need to be expensive. other weddings i have been to boxed up a slice of wedding or grooms cake for each guest , tied the box with ribbon and it was presented to the guest as they left the reception. or if the cookie table does come to be, cookies could be boxed or bagged and used as favors before all are put out at the reception . can't wait for updates!!lisa

ps-there is a place in south georgia(maybe americus) called the bridal barn, i believe, that is supposed to have unbelievable prices on wedding and bridesmaid gowns, mothers dresses and all that stuff. a cousin of mine bought a gorgeous wedding gown at a cheap, cheap price.

I was wondering the same thing. Not that I'm going to be getting married anytime soon, but if it did happen, I don't have any relatives or close family friends that are young enough to be ring bearers or flower girls.

I guess if anything, I could get our family cat and tie a pillow to it with ribbon and it can hopefully make it up the aisle as the ring bearer :p

ok.. i was kidding about the cat thing :p

Haha I was thinking the same thing!!! 250 people is a lot of people!

LOL! Maybe I should have said, "a small southern wedding down here!" We invited 450, and just like the rule suggested (40% rule), we had 250. MANY of my friends have 300-400 plus in attendance...maybe there is just not that much to do around here! ;)

All of the wedding party had small gifts, and we made sure that all out-of-town guests were invited to the rehearsal dinner.
We had little plastic slippers filled with candy and tied in tulle.

We also had the photographer to take a posed family photo of each of the guests. We sent a thank-you-for-attending letter to each family and a copy of their photograph. It was the best thing that we did. Everyone was so appreciative of their family photo and now we have pictures of many cherished friends and family...some who have passed on. We negotiated this into our photo package on the front end. Easy, nice, and cherished "gift" for attending.
Roses and red rose balls,
Silver

I was in a wedding when I was 12 - too young to be a bridesmaid, too old to be a flower girl - so I was a junior bridesmaid. I hope that helps clear up that question.

They did that at the last wedding I went to, also, and it was very much appreciated!! Also, they had a contract with the photographer, and after taking all of the standard photos and the table photos, the photographer set up a corner for anyone to get their photo taken. Now, I don't know how more that cost them, but a LOT of people took advantage of it and had a good time! Since this was a man on our soccer team, we took a team photo, which the groom just loved! All in all, it was a FUN wedding!!

I was thinking the same thing, I'm afraid :)

I love the idea of the rose balls. They sounded beautiful! I love weddings.

Carnation -- get your invitations ONLINE! That's what I did, and it was so much cheaper than going to Swoozie's or another paper store in the Atlanta area. And they were beautiful and high-quality, too. I don't remember the name of the company I used right offhand, but I can find it for you if you're interested. (E-mail me if you want to chat-- you've still got my e-mail address, right?)

I had a blast planning my October wedding in 2003, and my cousin did a Christmas themed wedding a few years ago, so please feel free to get in touch with me if you want suggestions or need to bounce some ideas off of anyone. :)

Congrats to your daughter!
Carrie

I tried to pm you! Clean out your pm box! :)

I am having 4 attendants and 180 guests. That is a perfect size wedding for us.
The flower ball idea is something my friend did & I loved it so I think I want to do that for my 2 flowergirls. Unfortunately, my nephew refuses to be my "ring bear" as he calls it. I won't force him so I have to come up w/another idea...
Any suggestions?

Carnation this is a good idea you might want to check out. I know in the Los Angeles area that quite a few places are allowing receptions - for instance we have the Museum of latin american art in Long Beach that one of my friends checked in to for her wedding and reception. If I could afford it (whenever i finally get engaged) I would love to have my reception at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Not sure what options are open for your daughter based upon the city the wedding is in but definitely check some of the places out.

Carolyn

Today is the day for blunt advice. How about telling him if he's such a brat, he doesn't get to participate?

Yeah I did but he was relieved. MY sister is the one who really wants him to do it & I would love to have him but not if he is going to throw a tantrum & refuse to walk down the aisle. BTW, he's 7 so he knows what he's supposed to do. He just doesn't want to do it.

Haha good for you.

bette, you are wise beyond your years. if little nephew is telling you he does not want to be ringbearer, it is very wise to listen to him. don't let your sister or your parents force him into it. there might be as scene at the wedding. you don't have to have a ringbearer. children often upstage the bride(for good or bad reasons!) and it is your special day/

My brother-in-laws sister had her rehearsal dinner at the Aquarium in Dallas and it was beautiful. Plus for the cocktail hour you got to look arounda t all the fishies! I would take my glass of wine and go watch the penguins. It was great.

I had neither a ring bearer nor a flower girl at my wedding. I wanted my nephew to be the ring bearer but his real dad was marrying the woman with whom he cheated on my sister (he was married to my sister, cheated on her while she was still pregnant, got the other girl pregnant when my nephew was 6 months old, divorced my sister, had another kid with the woman and then decided to get married) the same day. I was not happy about that because we had already been planning our wedding for a year when they decided they're going to get married the same day. (I don't think my sister told them that was also my wedding day.) Whatever.

Some friends of ours are getting married at the Art Musem here in July. They were going to get married at a gorgeous old theatre until the city decided to do some work on it. I think their wedding will be absolutely gorgeous and can't wait for it.

My fiancé wants to have our wedding reception at the Aquarium in Brooklyn. My mother thinks it doesn't sound elegant enough for a wedding reception. What do you guys think?

For those of you asking about aquarium weddings/receptions, it can be very elegant. I was a bridesmaid for a wedding that was held at the South Carolina Aquarium and it was a really cool locale. I'll admit that I was wary about it but it ended up being really neat. The ring bearer used a stuffed sea turtle as the "pillow" for the rings and the favors were a cute little creamer and sugar set with aquarium scenes on them. The bride and groom were both big scuba-divers (and the groom had a B.S. in Aquaculture), so it was neat for them. It was an evening reception too, so it was really classy.

Thanks for the input. I am working on my SCUBA certification right now. My fiancé is a diver. When he suggested this location, I thought he meant we would get married inside a display underwater wearing SCUBA gear surrounded by fish, lol!