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