Fifty-two years ago, I was tapped to be the flower girl at my aunt’s wedding.  My mother was SO excited!  What mother does NOT want her her daughter to be “the darling” at a wedding?

The evening of the wedding finally arrived.  I was about the age I am in the picture to the right with my dad… and little dog – three years old.  If you will notice  – there is NO picture of me in my flower girl attire.

That is because I refused to go through with it.  I was NOT walking down the isle and scattering rose petals.  Maybe the evening candlelit ceremony unnerved me.  Maybe I just had ‘good old stage fright’.  But I would NOT do it.  Even the WHOLE dollar my dad tried to bribe me with didn’t work.  (Now maybe if he had offered chocolate 🙂 )…And maybe…I was just too young.

My own daughters, Tess and Julia, were honored to be flower girls at our friend Mollie’s wedding in Chicago.  They were older than I when I was asked to be an attendant, and they had each other.  My girls  did a great job, and I was proud.    So this raises a question.  Are you as the bride, or mother of the bride, willing to leave an important part of the procession in the hands of a fickle little girl(s)?  I wasn’t.  When Kenny and I married, I chose to not have a flower girl.  The main reason being, I knew how I had acted as a young child. And truth be told, I didn’t want anyone to be cuter than I… 🙂

But children add a certain sweet innocence to the affair, and the photo opportunities are endless.  They can also add comic relief to a emotion-filled ceremony.  If I had it to do again, I’d have a flower girl, and a ring bearer to boot!