Groomsgirl rules you HAVE to live by
These are the official rules that all groomsgirls, best women, and any ladies standing by their favorite dudes: there are NO rules. We recently spied Orange is the New Black’s Lauren Lapkus at this super gorgeous vegan and pink wedding as one of the groom’s attendants. She ROCKED a feminine suit that matched the groomsmen and even walked one of the bridemaids into the reception. Hell yes! After that, we knew we needed another reminder of how awesome groomsgirls and best women can be. (Oh, and spoiler: these tips totally work for bridesdudes, too!)
Here are the things you totally do not have to do as a groomsgirl:
Wedding toasts without sexist marriage cliches
I’m a feminist bride with a feminist fiance looking for some advice. I was at a good friend’s wedding recently and the groom’s older brother gave a toast with a whole section on how the groom should just accept that he’ll never be right again now that he’s married — even when the facts are on his side, he should defer to the wife to keep the peace. How can we give people the opportunity to wish us well without inviting their sexist garbage?
Aesthetic vs. identity: how cool are you with changing your look as a bridesmaid?
Remember this post about how to be an offbeat bridesmaid in a traditional wedding and where to draw the line with changing your look to suit the bride’s wishes? If you’re reading this site, chances are you’ve been there. Maybe more than once. We’ve got some follow-up real talk from reader Vanda that we needed to share…
Honor your moms with a “Mother’s Kiss” at your ceremony
There are lots of ways to show your love and respect to your parents (and parent-like figures in your life) at the ceremony. They can light unity candles, walk you down the aisle, do readings, be given a flower, and of course, be memorialized, if that’s the situation. But we love the idea of the “mother’s kiss” from Jacqueline and Felipe’s country glamour wedding.
They decided to honor their mothers by getting one last kiss as single people before they were married. It was pretty damn sweet. Here’s how they did it.
Can you invite someone to an engagement party but not the wedding?
If you search the internet for “can you invite someone to an engagement party and not the wedding” you’ll get two answers:
1. HELL FUCKING NO. Don’t be a daft asshole.
2. Sure. Times they are a changing, and some people have super-small weddings, or wedding very far away, and can’t invite as many people as they’d like.
So which answer is it?
…Because sometimes you have a wedding day brawl (+ some wedding crasher tips!)
I’ve seen a lot of stuff photographing weddings, but brawls are a different story. This is not the story of that time I totaled my car on the way to a wedding or that time the groom spent the wedding day grabbing my assistant’s ass. This is the story of Meggen and Jake and their wedding day brawl.