Back for our last round of two truths and a lie, friends!! You ready? Because today we’re zeroing in on the cutest part of the ‘I do’ crew: flower girls and ring bearers. If you’re just catching up on our “meaning behind” series, we’ve been digging into the origins of some of our favorite wedding traditions and uncovering truths behind them. So, today we’ll outline three details about how flower girls and ring bearers came about, once upon a time ago, and you’ll make some guesses on which two are true and which one is false. No pressure, have fun – these flower and ring-toting tinies are, after all!
🌹💍 Flower girls dress like the bride, because processing right ahead of the bride symbolizes the soonlywed’s transformation from child to adult on their wedding day
🌹💍 Ring bearers carry rings on a pillow to portray the hopes and dreams of the couple becoming reality
🌹💍 Having flower girls and ring bearers in your ceremony hints about your family to come – the amount of children in your wedding party presupposes the number of children you’d like to have in the future
Like we shared last time, there are tons of wedding traditions that we practice today moreso for the fun and “YOLO-level” festivity that they offer rather than the obligations and pressure they represent. Flower girls and ring bearers are the best example of this, because while these adorable little ones can add so much personality and comic relief to a wedding celebration, they don’t need to be a part of it, if you don’t want them to! If you’d like to have them for the ceremony and photos, but would prefer an adults-only reception, you can do that too, without judgment. Just wanted to clear that up, in the event you’ve been on the fence about whether or not you should invite kids to the wedding.
Today, flower girls can wear whatever you (as the couple getting married) would like them to wear on your wedding day – be it a darling dress that takes style cues from the bride herself or a tulle take with bow or ribbon accents that match the bridesmaids’ palette. But in the beginning, during Elizabethan times, flower girls would walk down the aisle before the bride, dressed in white, as a sort of flashback to the bride’s youth and innocence. The flower girl was essentially meant to emblematize the bride transforming from a child into an adult.
To be honest, the backstory of ring bearers and their roles in the wedding isn’t very clear; but according to Egyptian folklore, ring bearers were expected to deliver the rings (which were affixed to the top of a pillow) to the end of the aisle, and then successfully pass them along to the Best Man. The point of the pillow was to represent the culmination and realization of all of the couple’s hopes and dreams in marriage. Sweet, right? We’re happy to keep this one up, because little gentlemen wearing bowties and carrying fluffy pillows down the aisle just make our hearts happy.
What we’re not really into honoring these days is the old-school idea that flower girls and ring bearers are there simply as pawns for the couple’s procreation and fertility fortune. So, if you thought the third sentiment sounded a little sketchy, don’t worry, we see you and we feel the same way!! Historically, flocks of flower girls were favored by Greeks and Romans as a means of bringing good luck and bounty into the newlyweds’ chambers. The girls would precede the bride, showering her path with herbs and grains, which, of course, symbolized fruitfulness and the promise of many future children. While there was never any tradition that followed “if you have X children in the wedding, you’ll have X children in life,” there was still a very pronounced reason for littles to be included in the special day – and it had everything to do with babies-to-be.
We repeat, there is no correlation between your choosing to have tiny attendants in your wedding and the amount, if any, children you choose to have thereafter. If you want kids someday, but not for your wedding, you got it. If you’re game for flower girls and ring bearers at your wedding, but still contemplating whether or not starting a family is in your grand plan, totally fine!! Or if you’re gearing up for a squad on your wedding day and eventually one of your own, then by all means, do it!
Of course, on the day-of, you can also get your smallest brigade some very special gifts as a ‘thank you’ for their collective hard work (tossing petals and keeping tabs on those rings – by the way, they’re usually decoys anyway – is tough work!).
Take a peek at our Style Me Pretty Shop and our accessories section, in particular. From baskets and pillows to tiny bells and tissues (to ring and signal all those first kisses of yours and/or to hand out and ensure the criers in the back can blot those tears), these items are sure to make all of your tinies thrilled with their titles!