Choosing Wedding Party Attendants
In this article, I will discuss some of the principles you should use in choosing wedding attendants.
While it is nice to simply pick good friends, friendship is not the only thing to consider.
Rather, wedding party attendants have important functional roles that should be kept in mind when making a decision.
The following are helpful things to keep in mind when choosing your wedding party.
Helpfulness: The wedding party are primarily your assistants during your wedding.
They can be delegated jobs such as preparing decorations, clothing and transportation.
As a result, when choosing attendants, you should pick people who will be able to fulfil these roles.
While it might be nice to have your friend living in another city in the wedding party, that person probably won't be very helpful when it comes to planning and co-ordinating your wedding.
Personality: Weddings bring out the best in people.
They also bring out the worst.
Having someone as a wedding attendant who have a very critical personality or who is very domineering can create serious problems that can do far more harm than good to your friendship.
Be careful about the kind of personalities you have in your wedding party.
Generation: While it is by no means a hard-and-fast rule, the wedding party usually represents your generation at the wedding.
You may invite an uncle if you wish, but it is far more common to pick people for your wedding party who are roughly within your own generation.
Parents especially should not be chosen, because they have other ceremonial duties that would be incompatible with being attendants.
Religious Restrictions: Some religions have restrictions as to who may serve as attendants.
This may especially apply to the best man and maid of honor.
Be sure to check in advance if there are any religious restrictions as to who can be an attendant.
Having to either dismiss an attendant or marry outside a house of worship that is important to one of the spouses is a choice that can easily be avoided by doing some research.
While it is nice to simply pick good friends, friendship is not the only thing to consider.
Rather, wedding party attendants have important functional roles that should be kept in mind when making a decision.
The following are helpful things to keep in mind when choosing your wedding party.
Helpfulness: The wedding party are primarily your assistants during your wedding.
They can be delegated jobs such as preparing decorations, clothing and transportation.
As a result, when choosing attendants, you should pick people who will be able to fulfil these roles.
While it might be nice to have your friend living in another city in the wedding party, that person probably won't be very helpful when it comes to planning and co-ordinating your wedding.
Personality: Weddings bring out the best in people.
They also bring out the worst.
Having someone as a wedding attendant who have a very critical personality or who is very domineering can create serious problems that can do far more harm than good to your friendship.
Be careful about the kind of personalities you have in your wedding party.
Generation: While it is by no means a hard-and-fast rule, the wedding party usually represents your generation at the wedding.
You may invite an uncle if you wish, but it is far more common to pick people for your wedding party who are roughly within your own generation.
Parents especially should not be chosen, because they have other ceremonial duties that would be incompatible with being attendants.
Religious Restrictions: Some religions have restrictions as to who may serve as attendants.
This may especially apply to the best man and maid of honor.
Be sure to check in advance if there are any religious restrictions as to who can be an attendant.
Having to either dismiss an attendant or marry outside a house of worship that is important to one of the spouses is a choice that can easily be avoided by doing some research.
