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!
