On today’s Fox 7 TV Segment with anchor person Sarah Brownlee we talked about being involved in the wedding party.

Your friend is getting married. She’s asked you to be a bridesmaid. You accept! NOW you are a “member” of a very important group on that day…….”the wedding party”. With that acceptance comes responsibility. Here are some quick pitfalls to AVOID at ALL COSTS as a wedding party member:

1. Do not complain. This warrants repeating. D-o  n-o-t  c-o-m-p-l-a-i-n. If you do not like standing for long periods of time and smiling for pictures, wearing uncomfortable shoes or a tux in hot weather, then you should decline to be part of the wedding party. Nobody wants to hear you moan and gripe. And yes, we do need to take pictures at least 2 hours before the wedding and 1 hour afterwards. Cause most of the time, you are late.
2. Do not be inflexible. If your child is a ring bearer and “nap time” is smack in the middle of our scheduled photography session, then can you try to wake the little darling up early in the morning to re-arrange his napping schedule? Or, if you know he’ll be crabby anyway, we understand. Just let us know and we can scoot him in the pictures later. But no, we cannot re-arrange 30 other family members, change the time of the wedding, our scheduled time in the church (cause Mass starts one hour after the ceremony) and disrupt 40 other vendors to let the little sweetie sleep. So please don’t ask.
3. Do not run out of money. On average, if you are asked to be part of a wedding party in your home town - then plan on saving anywhere from $500-$700 to spend on the wedding. I can hear you gasp. Well what did you think it would be? You have to buy your dress, rent your tux, buy/rent shoes, undergarments, jewelry, hairdo, plan on attending multiple parties and be expected to bring gift. So if you are in a position to not financially swing this - I am here to tell you that is OK and perfectly acceptable to decline the invitation to be in the wedding. It is better to do that than become a frustration or burden to the couple later.
4. Do not forget to eat on the wedding day. Eat a good breakfast. If you normally don’t eat breakfast, eat a good breakfast anyway. Most couples try to plan to host food at the church during pictures for their wedding party. But as you know, things don’t always work out. And sometimes, couples don’t even think about providing food. So bring some power bars and a few extra (you may end up saving everyone)! Because you know if you are tired and crabby, then we are back to Point 1. It’s human nature. And I get to see it every weekend.

Plan on! -saundra

thanks for the old school wedding party photo: library.thinkquest.org

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