An Unbalanced Act

A balanced wedding party used to be the standard, an equal number of guys and girls standing up on behalf of the bride and groom. Nowadays, we brides-to-be get to be more creative with our wedding party. A Man of Honor? Heck yeah. A best gal friend? Absolutely. More 'maids than 'men? Go for it, and that's what we've got goin' on.

I've thrown out my number a couple of times but for good measure I will remind you that I have eight bridesmaids. Our wedding party will be a total of thirteen, not including the troop of 'lil ones. Simple math tells me this can only mean one thing: we have an uneven number of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Me with eight, Mr. Honey with five. An unbalanced wedding party.

Just like Miss Candy Apple and Mrs. Fro Yo, among others, I have embraced that our wedding party is not going to be symmetrical. The majority of our groomsmen will be escorting not only one, but two bridesmaids up and down the aisle. Two girls to one guy; those lucky boys:

Image via Weddingbee/Photo by Mrs. Bee

My initial fears of having odd looking pictures were put to rest when I came across this recap post by Mrs. French Fries, whose uneven wedding party was the furthest thing from obvious or off-looking in pictures:

Image via Weddingbee/Photo by Molly of MThree Studio

This, of course, prompted me to look at more group shots of wedding parties and I was soon drawn to the nontraditional shots of wedding parties. You know, the jumping ones: 

Image via MyWedding.com/Photo by Betwixt (formerly Theorie)

The perfectly unorganized ones:

Image via Elizabeth Anne Designs/Photo by Ameila Strauss Photography

And the casually strolling ones:

Image via Pinterest/Photo by Ben Blood

My point is, that unless you sit and count the number of 'maids to 'men, no one will ever know the difference. And, more importantly, who cares! I wouldn't want to sacrifice any of the girls I have chosen and would not expect Mr. Honey to scrounge up another three guys to stand up with him on our important day just to make it even.

I have a mix of old friends: MOH Stac & I met in preschool and are still super close 26 years later. Her & I became BFF's with BM Scoot and BM Fawn in high school. And new friends: BM Candace and I have known each other for years but became besties in our early twenties, and BM Hogan and I met six years ago. And family: I don't have sisters, but I have my cousins BM K, Mae & Bel. Mr. Honey has BM Cruise who is like a brother from another mother. GM Frank, Steele & Jack who go way back to his childhood in Alabama, and GM Joel who is a newer Colorado friend. Thirteen people standing next to us when we say I Do.

Our groomsmen and bridesmaids will actually be walking the processional together, because (a) I have been in weddings and I much prefer to have someone else share that attention with me and (b) we are getting married with snow on the ground; having lived through 28 years of winters, I know it's easier to walk on snow when you have someone to lean on. I digress.

Logistically, I'm still figuring out the best way to have them paired up. Obviously MOH Stac & BM Cruise will walk together. But that leaves four groomsmen to seven bridesmaids. Oh, and our doggy Zeus. Big Z, as we often call him, is one hundred pounds of pure Weimaraner excitement. He needs a good guide down the aisle.

I could sit and contemplate the best way to pair them up, but I'm going to go ahead and say that it probably won't get hammered out until we are together with all thirteen of them the day before W-Day.

Until then, lets hear who else has the opposite of a standard bridal party? Tell me about your unevenness, Hive!