Family being Bridesmaids?

I have three-my best friend of over a decade is my MOH, my SIL and his cousin are my other BMs. I have four female cousins of the appropriate age, but I'm so much older than them, and they live halfway across the country.

My mom and aunts were a little concerned about having my friend be my MOH because friendships sometimes end, and "you don't want to look back and wonder who that person was or why you had THEM standing with you."

My cousins, when I talked to them, actually said that they didn't want to be BM's (all of them are college or grad students, and only one of them will be out by the wedding), so I found other things for them to do. Two will be guest book attendants before the ceremony, and the other two will be gift/card table attendants at the reception.

Yeah, your wedding party should be the people that you are closest with...who you want, not what other people think.

Mine is my sister-MOH, 3 friends-bridesmaid and bridesmen, niece and step-daughter-to-be-junior bridesmaids, FI's niece and cousin-flower girls

5 of 8 are family, but only because we are super close with them.

For me, my bridal party has to be people that I am close to because they are going to be helping me out and hanging out quite a bit. People shouldn't make us feel like we "have" to have someone in our weddings

I think it depends on the family setting. I have both my sisters, another family member (haven't asked her yet so here's hoping!), and a friend.

I have a friend who had a billion odd cousins as bridesmaids and I doubt she could have been that close to them all! But like I said, some families expect it.

All of mine so far are family... I'm going to pick one more person who technically isn't family by blood- but I've known her since before she was born and we grew up together so she's basically like my little sister.

I thought about picking friends, especially since one of FH's sisters isn't much for dresses and such- but I've come to realize that friends can come and go from your life more than family can... no matter what happens my family will always be there.

On the other side- I have no best friends from when I was younger really... so I think it depends. I was definitely hesitant to pick people from college though, but again that's me.

My Aunt is a bridesmaid (she's only 6 yrs older) and her daughter is the flowergirl. Fh has one of his uncles as his groomsman. Other than that the rest is friends.

PS- Our dates are so close! Yay! It's crazy when I first joined there weren't many people on here from 2013 yet. The more I see the more excited I am!

I thought I was the only one with a big bridal party lol. I have 9 in total my younger sister is my MOH the rest are friends, cousins and nieces and my fiances sister & cousin too. I think it should be people you are in contact with and really mean something to you. I also wanted to include my fiance's family since soon we'll be once big family.

Totally disagree with your aunts. The people stand up there for you should be the people you are closest with.

I'm not one of those people with a bunch of close friends (lol loner haha) so my BP were my sisters and DH's sisters.

My Side:

MOH - Friend of many years

BM - SIL

BM - DH's Aunt

His Side:

BM - Friend of many years

GM - Close friend/BIL

GM - Close Friend

I agree with the general idea that your WP should be the ones you are closest with, regardless of how they are related to you. I am very close with DH's Aunt, which made her a no brainer, along with my MOH. Originally I was only going to have 2 attendants, but SIL made a fuss because her DH was a GM so I asked her.

There is only one person in our wedding party (including the officiant) that isn't family and that is the Best Man. If I had friends that I was closer to than those I'm related to I would probably of had them in my wedding.

My best friend is my maid of honor and her sister is one of my bridesmaids along with my sister and 2 girls I've known my whole life (they are sister's as well). I consider those two girls my cousins (my mom and their mom have known each other for over 30 years) my sister's daughter is a jr bridesmaids and my MoH's daughter is a flower girl along with one of my "cousin's" daughter

I have 2 sisters, my best friend of 10 yrs, my sil, and my daughter

I'm one of those people who has a lot of really close friends that I hang out with all the time. I barely see my cousins unless we are at a family gathering. So... I figure, we should probably keep it at that! LOL!

My best friend is my MOH and my 3 sisters are my BM's, I am not close with my cousins and they weren't even a distant thought in my mind as my BP.

Mine was all family--but then again, there were only two of them (my son and my daughter). If your sisters are already included, I see no reason why you need to include cousins.

Sis, bff, and two girlfriends I've acquired in the last 5 yrs.

I have one SIL and she didn't even cross my mind, nor did my one age appropriate female cousin as I am not close with either and would rather have people I love in my wedding pics.

I had my sister as moh best friend as matron sil and a friend as bms and my step daughter as Jr bm

My sister is my MOH, and my bridesmaids are FSIL and two best friends. I have another sister who isn't even in the wedding. I don't feel you have to have family in your wedding party - it should be people you're closest to and want to spend the most special day of your life with

My best friend is my MOH and my BMs are my sister-in-law (Brother's wife), cousin and another friend.

FH's best man is his brother and his GM are 2 friends and my brother.

Ring bearer is my MOHs son and flower girl is FH's step-brother's daughter.

We have a pretty good mix of family and non.

I am not having any family in the bridal party. I have two bridesmaids a matron of honor and a junior bridesmaid. None are related. All of my sisters are older and in ill health, so I just want my family to take it easy on my big day and let my friends do whatever helping needs to be done.