How to include a large number of children in ceremony?!?!

Lol!!! Ok, my first thought before I read the ages was: Choir

I don't know though in all seriousness. I would be worried about it looking like a school play, but maybe with some creative ideas it could turn out.

What Erin said ... that's too many people in general. The teens could be bridesmaids if you want them to be, but just skip the others.

Yikes - you run the risk of your wedding ceremony turning into a zoo. That's way to many children to include. I mean have a couple flower girls, a couple ring bearers and call it a day. There is no real reason why you need to include them.

That's a long list. I have a lot of children in my bridal party so I can kind of give you an idea but I don't know if it will help much.

5 month old son - sitting with my mom

20 month old son - jr ring bearer on a wagon

18 month old God daughter. - jr flower girl in the wagon

3 year old niece - flower girl

4 year old niece - flower girl

3 year old nephew - ring bearer

4 year old son - honorary ring bearer (passed away)

7 year old daughter - jr bride

7 year old God Son - jr groom

The teenagers can be bridesmaids.

Oh and my 8 year old nephew will pull the wagon.

We talked about that, but i can't bear the thought of them not actually being a part of the wedding. My family as well as his are super super close. And especially to me i can't not have them have a special place in my wedding, and i can't choose one over the others to be flower girls/ ring bearers. As far as the 2 and 4 year old that are his nephews, that is not debatable, they have to have a place in the wedding, no questions asked. I am looking for things that are maybe a little less traditional. One of my ideas was to have the older girls be honorary bridesmaids andwalk with the flower girls and ringbearers to make sure everything goes smoothly, and then to watch the two girls that their parents are in the wedding. But that still doesnt get all of the kids involved and like i said before, I cant bring myself to not include every single one of them.

Mrs.ChanelNewNew, that is an awesome idea, to have jr flower girls and ring bearers! Are they just sitting in the wagon or are they going to carry something/throw flowers? And what are they going to do during the ceremony itself?

They're going to sit in the wagon then go to my mom. There might be a sign or something on the wagon but they're under two so I'm not trusting them to hold anything.

Do you want them in the ceremony specifically or can they have other tasks? Aside from holding signs like "here she comes" or being flower girls, ring bearers, and jr. bridesmaids/groomsmen I've got nothin'. Maybe some of them can hand out programs (if you're having them). Or instead of having your MOH hold your bouquet ask a younger one (sitting in the front row) to come take your bouquet. Would you be willing to involve them in special ways throughout the wedding and not just for the ceremony??

Oh- and I would be considerate of your niece with aspergers and nephew with autism. I would talk to their parents about what they might feel comfortable with. If your niece doesn't like crowds she might not like having that "all eyes on me" moment of being up next to you during the ceremony or having to walk down the aisle. Same with your nephew. Sometimes those new and different environments are difficult for them and adding a responsibility on top of that might not go well.

Erin- you have to know my family to know where I am coming from on this. My families identity centers around the children. 1) i feel it would be horribly bad luck to have no children in my wedding, as having a large family is one of my life goals, and i dont want to start out my marriage by not including children when that is one of the things i want most out of this marriage. 2) We are traditional in the fact that we want at least a flower girl and ring bearer, that is not negotiable. 3) It is important to my FH to have someone in his family be a part of the ceremony, since he only has the 2 nephews, they HAVE to be in it, also not negotiable. which bring me to 3) My family is the most important thing in my life, next to FH. The thought of not having the children that have brightened my life since my mother died when I was 14 be in the most important day of my life is unbearable to me. 4) I would rather have the memories of sharing the moment with those childrenand the laughs that they will undoubtably bring with their particiaption, then have the knowledge that everyone was focused on me for 30 minutes of my life. I appreciate your concern for my wedding (and probably my sanity), but what everyone else thinks about my wedding, couldn't mean less to me. The smiles that those kids will have and the bond that it will form between us are so much more meaningful to me than the vanity of having a day where all the attention is on me. I don't like attention very much anyway. Trust me, we have thought this out and thought of every possible way to make it easier than including them all, and there simply is no other way but to include every last one of them. This is what we want. I simply would like suggestions on how to do it in a fun, creative and least-stressful way possible for everyone.

Future Mrs. Pichon - they don't necissarily have to be "in" the ceremony, but i want them all to have a super special role. those are some good ideas, thank you! As for my cousin, the one with asperbers, it would have to be something that she is not solely responsible for, so that if she decides that day that she can't handle it (and she wont be able to make that call until the day of) it does not disrupt anything. Same for my nephew, but crowds dont bother him, he just would need someone walking/ standing with him to keep him from wanting to visit everyone. He's very friendly and absolutely loves people!

Yikes. I would just give them all a bout or corsage and call it a day.

Don't!

Are you trolling us or something?

You want a 7 month in your bridal party?

*rolls eyes*

As others have said, half those kids simply don't belong in your "bridal party" or "ceremony" Have 2 for the flower girl, 2 for the ring bearer and make the older ones bridesmaids. That's it.

My FH and I had a hard time deciding on what kids would be in the wedding and no way we could have had them all. We decided to have the MOH and best man's daughter as a flower girl, FH's youngest sister a flower girl, FH's other sister is a bridesmaid, FH cousin is a bridesmaid, my brother is a groomsmen and FH little brother is the ring bearer. If we had let all the kids in the wedding that would have been almost 15 kids no way we could have that many or ask their parents to spend that much money on outfits since most have 3+ kids that would be a ton of money for them to spend.

My thought is to not include them in any formal way in the ceremony. It is just so many. The teenagers could be bridesmaids. If you want them to feel special ask them all to wear all white and you can take a nice pic with them. This bride tried it and it looks a bit hectic.

The older ones can be escorts and ushers.

You can have more than one flower girl.

You can have Jr. bridesmaids and groomsmen

The baby can be walked down the aisle with the flower girls.

As much as you love kids, I feel like all them kids are going to have your wedding looking like Peewee's Playhouse...

Why not just let them attend as guests?

Seriously, i want ideas, not people to tell me not to do it. We've already made up our minds that this is what we want. So stop please if you have nothing to say but telling me not to do it, or saying that it's going to my wedding "bad", then don't say anything at all. Golden rule, people. If you don't agree with something someone wants to do then just shut your mouth, don't insult and talk down to them... geez...

Ms. Pratt, are you having bell ringers? I was at a wedding and they had a group of children in this role. It was quiet and all of a suddenly a group of them came skipping down the aisle, ringing their bell, yelling "THE BRIDE IS COMING, THE BRIDE IS COMING!" It was adorable. The big ones can pull the younger ones in a wagon, give them all a bell and call it a day. Hope that helps and good luck rounding all those kiddos together :-)