How Big is Your Bridal Party?

We are only having one on each side. Short, simple and less stressful!

I go back and forth on this. At first I wanted 0, then I wanted 1 each, then 3 each, now I'm back to zero.

 

And I'm leaning toward zero because i don't want people to feel obligated to attend. It's a lot of money to go to a wedding anyway, let alone a DW, and then to be in it also! thats a chunk of change.

I felt the same way. I waited til I knew that each person was definitely going to ask them to be in the wedding, that way I knew that they weren't going because they felt they had to, you know?

Same here! A couple of close friends have asked if I've chosen a wedding party and I just tell them that we're not deciding that now because we don't want them to feel like the must come and that we understand if for some reason they cannot make it.

But then on the flip side, there are days that I think "three or four nights in Mexico for our wedding is going to cost them the same thing it cost Joe and I to go their stateside wedding..."

I'm indecisive on this.. obviously.

I went back and forth on this, it was driving me (and my FI and my mom etc) crazy. When I finally did ask one of my girlfriends to be in my wedding, I told her it would be "the most expensive wedding she was ever in". She made me feel better my saying that she would be paying to come and paying for a dress if she was in it or not, so it's not that big of a difference in price... a good way to look at it.

We are having 4 on each side. Our first list would have been 6 or 7 on each side, but we decided to cut it down for financial reasons from BOTH perspectives - for us, we're paying for one night at the hotel for everyone, and that really adds up! And for them, it's expensive to be an attendant when you factor in dress, bridal shower, all that stuff, so I didn't want to ask more than a few very close friends.

 

We also figured that we're at that age now (29) where most people have been in many weddings already, and it's kind of a relief for them to just be able to attend the wedding and not have to go through all the hoopla of being in the wedding.

We started out with 5 on each side, scaled down to zero when I got a sense that noone can make it, and now we're back to:

 

1) one on each side for the Las Vegas Wedding (9 guests will be attending)

 

2) two on each side for the Riu Palace Wedding in Playa Del Carmen (14 will be attending).

 

Since the wedding party is small for both weddings, we've planned for an intimate dinner reception. Then we:

 

1) go on a night out the next day to see Phantom of the Opera @ the Venetian, Las vegas

 

2) go on a day excursion the next day to see Chichen Itza, Mexico

We will have three on each side. I always liked the idea of 3 actually, one MOH and 2 bridesmaids... and one BM and 2 groomsmen, but we did wait and see who booked and luckily it was the close friends we wanted to be in our parties who WANTED to come and be there for our wedding, and then we asked them to be in our wedding party and they were honoured.

 

I bought the girls their dresses (they were under $100 so it wasnt too bad) and we bought the men's shirts for them as well. They didnt expect it but were greatful!

I have 9 and he has 8! I know it's sounds like so much but 5 of my bridesmaids are family (sisters, SIL, cousins). As for FI, he has a group of friends from college that are so close he had to include them all

I was going to have 3 on each side, now I am not sure. My sister is going to have a baby in Feb so she can't make it. Can I have male bridesmaids? lol most of my close friends are actually guys. Paul has more close friends so he still hasn't given me his final number yet. But I guess we should wait to see who's all going first then decide.