Kids are just the cutest. To be sure, they illicit many "ooh"s and "ahh"s when they are all dressed up and playing a part in your wedding. How sweet it its to see a little girl scattering flower petals and a little boy carefully guarding the rings. Children wonderfully fill the traditional role of the flower girl or ring bearer in the ceremony, but there are other ways to include a special little someone in your day.
At the time we were planning our wedding, Greg had a nephew and three nieces, and I also had a niece. The girls ranged in age from just under three to seven, and the boy was nine. I love them all, but the thought of either having four flower girls or choosing just one was not acceptable to me. Also, I was afraid that so many little girls standing up with us would distract from the seriousness of the covenant we were making to each other and to God. To top it all off, our venue did not allow the scattering of flower petals, glitter, bubbles or anything. My initial instinct was to just not have them play a part at all, but the point was made that this may well be the only chance any of them would have to be a flower girl or junior groomsman.
My solution was to have the children escort our parents down the isle. The girls were dressed all alike, in complementary colors, and our nephew looked very distinguished in khakis and a jacket. The eldest on Greg's side escorted his mom, and my only niece escorted mine. The advantage was that the kids got to be involved and add a lot to the ceremony, but were seated with their mom or grandparent, reducing any chances of distraction from the ceremony.
Oh, and a word on flower girl dresses. Wow! They are expensive! At one popular retailer, they ranged from $99 to over $200! With one sister having to buy three....whoa! Also, a lot of those dresses looked like mini-bride dresses, which was not the asthetic I was going for. I wanted little girls to look like little girls. So, I started a web search for flower girl dresses, and came across Cutie Clothes. We found the most adoreable silk dresses for the girls, under $40 each. They fit great and blended very nicely with my color scheme. Cutie Clothes has sale and clearance sections, as well as a "flower girl" section that has the mini-bride looks if that is your thing.
Another great place to look is on EBay. There are new and used dresses, starting at $5, but many in the $25 and up range. Just search for "flower girl dresses". My recent search turned up over twenty five thousand hits. You can narrow this down quickly but also including the size you need in the search. For example "flower girl dress 3T." If you need just one, this is an inexpensive way to go. I'm sure the parents will thank you!
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