One of the most common questions we see is what to do with an uneven wedding party. First off, this is not uncommon. So many brides and grooms worry about rounding out the wedding party so that everything is perfectly matched from photos, to how it looks during the ceremony to how your bridesmaids and groomsmen will be matched up during the ceremony. The last thing I suggest is to start rounding out your wedding party with people that you are not close to just to make it even. These gals and girls are supposed to be your closest friends and family, so do not go invite the coworker who barely made the invite list to be in your wedding party. So how exactly do you deal with the anxiety you may be feeling about how this will look during the ceremony and photos. Here are 3 tips on how you can make the uneven match seamless.
1) The Procession – you probably picture the procession as one groomsman walking one bridesmaid down the aisle, but a simple trick to not have two groomsmen or two bridesmaids walking down together is to double up. Have more groomsmen? Have two of them walk one bridesmaid down the aisle. Also, there isn’t anything wrong with two bridesmaids or two groomsmen walking down the aisle together. There are so many ways you can mix and match the procession to make it seamless.
2) The Wedding Photos – much like the procession, mixing and matching will take the focus away from the uneven number. You probably picture the photo where all the bridesmaids are standing on the bride’s side and all the groomsmen are on the groom’s side. While you can still capture this picture, you will probably want to think about having photos where the numbers are more evenly distributed by having the groomsmen and bridesmaid be more fluid to which side they stand on.
3) The Ceremony – First off, if you are dead set on having bridesmaids stand on the bride’s side and groomsmen stand on the groom side….do it! One trick you may want to incorporate though is to have the side with the lesser number spread out a bit when they are standing during the ceremony. This is a bit of a camera trick, but will definitely help give the perception of a more even wedding party. Another trick is to do the same thing you did with the photos and just evenly distribute the wedding party on both sides. Lastly, you could have them all stand together off to one side during the ceremony.
Bottom line is that this is your wedding and those bridesmaids and groomsmen mean something to each of you. Don’t feel like you have to fill out the wedding party or worse ask you significant other to kick out one of the people that means the most to them. Don’t sweat it, use these tips and tricks to create the visual symmetry that you are probably worried about.