Entourage

I was thinking of what to give my lovely bridesmaids as thank you gifts for all their participation and support leading up to the wedding when I stumbled across these.



These aren't quite right for my girls, as cute as they are, I don't think they'd get much use out of them but I love the playful spin on the classic gift of flasks for groomsmen.

This got me thinking about wedding parties and what they mean to us. For Rob and I, choosing who would stand up with us was a no brainer. Some people will tell you there's a formula for how big you wedding party should be based on the number of guests you are inviting. And while I will agree that 9 bridesmaids at a wedding of 50 guests would look odd, I also think that these "rules" are antiquated notions, and that you should do whatever the heck you feel like! If you can't pick and choose and you really want to include all your sisters, a cousin or two, some friends and your new sisters in law, well, gee whiz, just do it! Just remember that more 'maids means more money (more bouquets, more thank you gifts, more dresses, hair and makeup)
We each chose 4 people to be in the wedding party, and I am so happy to say that they were the right people. I absolutely know that there will be no drama, no issues and all the love and support we could want or need. These are our best friends and we are so honoured they said yes.

Nowadays the wedding party is just a bonus, an extra, and although traditional, not necessary, but historically the wedding party served a very different purpose than it does today. While in our era the wedding party is a way to honour your friends and family by having them stand up beside you when you make the commitment of a lifetime, in the past things were a bit different.

In many parts of the world it was once believed that evil spirits would try to hurt the bride or interrupt the proceedings, so the tradition evolved that her closest friends and sisters would dress alike to her, thus becoming decoys to confuse the spirits. Presumably, this is why, still to this day, bridesmaids typically all dress the same.

Likewise, groomsmen developed to aid the groom before and at the wedding. In times when marriages were more politics than romance, the groomsmen were employed to be at the ready in case the bride needed to be kidnapped in order to have the marriage happen. They also acted as security guards at the ceremony, should anyone try to derail the proceedings. This is also why, typically, when you are looking at a (Western) wedding ceremony,the bride is on the left and the groom on the right: this allowed for the groom to have faster, clearer access to his sword (or other weapon) in case there was any funny business.