Jr. Bridesmaids, Flower Girls, & Ring Bearers... Oh my!

So this weekend my fiance (still feels weird saying that!) and I went to back to Landrum (outside of Greenville, SC) to visit with his family. His parents live in a beautiful house on acres of land up in the mountains. Every year in October, they have a hay ride -- his dad fills up a trailer with hay and pulls it behind his tractor around a trail he creates through their property. After the sun goes down, the whole family piles in the trailer for the ride, and the little kids love it.

And I'll admit, I get a little scared, lol - because the trail goes back into the woods way behind their house. My fiance spends most the time trying to scare me - which doesn't help.

Well, I thought that this weekend would be the perfect time to ask my fiance's nieces and nephews to be a part of our big day since we would all be together.

His older sister is married with three kids - two girls ages 11 and 9, and a little boy age 6. His older brother is married with two little ones - a little girl age 5 and a little boy who will be 2 in February.

My fiance and I decided that we wanted the two older girls (they will be 12 and 10 for the wedding) to be Jr. Bridesmaids, the other niece (will be 6) as our flower girl, and the oldest nephew (will be 6) as the ring bearer.

We talked about making the younger nephew (will be about 2 and half at wedding) a ring bearer as well - but with such a large wedding, we were afraid he might get overwhelmed by all of the people and potentially be fussy or too scared to walk down the aisle...but we still want him to be a part of the big day. So we have decided to make him an "honorary" ring bearer - he'll wear the same little suit, be in the program as the honorary ring bearer and still be in all of the pictures - he just won't have to deal with the stress of walking the aisle.

First things first, I called both of the moms (my fiance's sister and sister-in-law) Friday night to first ask their permission to have their kids in our wedding and mentioned we wanted to ask them Saturday night. Of course they were elated and said "Yes, yes, yes!" and I knew they wouldn't say otherwise - but I felt it was the proper thing to do to ask them first.

I wanted to do something special when we asked the kids on Saturday, so I found these great books on Amazon for each of them that tells a story about their role in the wedding. I wrote a special note to each of them in the front of their book telling them how special they are to us and asked them if they would be a part of our big day.

For each of the girls, I created these heart shaped pins with their role in the wedding and the date. They were super easy (and affordable) to create... I got all of the pieces at Walmart. I thought it would be fun for them to wear them up until the wedding - or put them on their dolls, book bags, etc.

I painted these wooden hearts a dark blue with a sponge brush and paint I already had.


After they dried, I just decorated them with these glitter, sticker felt flowers I also got for cheap at Walmart and some rhinestones I already had. I used a white paint pen to write the wedding date and the role on the front.


Then on the back, I attached a pin - I also got these in the craft section of Walmart and they already had a sticky back to them, so it was easy to put it on the heart. Then I just signed the back and dated it.

Finished product - glue dried clear, FYI. :)


We gave each of the kids their book and the pins Saturday night along with a cupcake from a store here in Charleston called Cupcake that makes delicious cupcakes in a variety of flavors - they are sooo good. The youngest nephew really enjoyed his cupcake...

The kids were so excited, and so was my fiance's sister and sister-in-law. :) I know that the little girls will always remember being a part of our wedding. My sister was the flower girl in our Aunt's wedding when she was little and she still talks about it (and she's in her thirties now). :) So I can't wait to see the little ones all dolled up and excited to be in the wedding.


We also asked my fiance's sister to be a reader in our wedding - we wrote her a sweet note on a pretty card that told her how much she meant to us and asked her to pick something meaningful to read at our wedding - and we asked her to surprise us. I love that we have no idea what it will be until she actually reads it on our wedding day -- I think that makes it that much more special.

So now I'm working on my bridesmaids...as soon as I get done asking each of them, I'll share with you what I did for them!

And...I need your input... wedding band versus DJ? We are almost certain we want a DJ - which is against the norm for a Southern wedding, but we've talked about it a lot and we are leaning that way. But... I know that's risky because some DJs are awful and I've been to weddings where they have been awful. But on the other hand.. I've also been to weddings where the band was awful. And you're more limited in your song choices...

So... wedding band or DJ? Talk amongst yourselves... :)