ALT-2 Non Traditional Weddings Alternatives to Flower Girls
For years it has been traditional to have a flower girl in a wedding. This girl would walk down the aisle and sprinkle flowers or petals in front of the bride. The tradition originally came from the belief long ago that sprinkling rose petals in the bride's path would keep away evil spirits living underground and also give the bride the gift of fertility. This is hardly a belief still held today, yet many weddings still feature the flower girl. There are several alternatives, however, for those who do not wish to incorporate the tradition into their wedding.
Just because you don't want a traditional flower girl in your wedding doesn't mean you can't include a young girl who you would like to honor in the wedding party. If you don't want flower petals sprinkled in the aisle, you can have the child carry a bouquet of flowers like the bridesmaids and stand at the front as a junior bridesmaid. Another similar option is to have the child carry a bouquet of loose flowers and pass them out to the guests as she walks before the bride. If you have two or three small children you would like in the wedding, you can dress them up and have a girl pull them down the aisle in a wagon decorated with flowers and ribbons. You could also have a junior bride. This is a young girl dressed identically to the bride who walks before her. Other options include rice girls, who pass out the rice or petals to be thrown at the reception, and girls to attend the bride and hold her train during the procession.
Perhaps you don't have a girl you would like to include in your wedding but there are boys you want to honor instead. There is, of course, the role of ring bearer who carries the rings (either real or fake) on a pillow. Boys could also be used to hold the bride's train or to pull or be pulled in a decorative wagon as described before.
Other choices can involve the use of animals, particularly dogs. People who have trained pets that they are very close to may want to include them in the wedding procession. In this instance, the pet(s) would either take the place of children or children could lead thepet(s) down the aisle.
Still other options can involve a girl or boy playing another role in the wedding. Older children might read a passage during the ceremony. Children with special talents might sing a song, play an instrument, or do an interpretive dance. Other roles for older children could be to deliver gifts to the gift table, help serve during the reception, pass out wedding favors, or sit at the guestbook table and ask people to sign.
You may not even want children in your wedding, and that's okay too. There are lots of weddings, especially informal ones, that don't include children. Sometimes children aren't even invited to the wedding. It all depends on the way you want to do it. You should never feel pressured to include someone in your wedding if it's not what you want. It is your wedding, and you have to do it the way you like or you will have regrets later on. There is no rule that says you must have a flower girl.
