Replacing Groomsman

This would be considered poor etiquette. Your bridal party should consist of your closest friends, which means they shouldn't be replaceable. It's not only hurtful to the friend that is being replaced, but also the runner up groomsman who wasn't good enough to make the first cut.

You will probably get the response here that it is a little shady to replace an attendant. Something along the vibe of "they will be offended because they weren't good enough to include in the first place, so why bother now" and stuff. And for many, that may be true! But I really think it depends on the personal situation.

We had this happen - one of our groomsmen dropped out for really ridiculous reasons (husband really no longer speaks to him now, but that's not the point) and we initially weren't going to replace/sub for him. But my husband reconnected with an old friend right around the time all of this was happening. He ended up inviting him to be a groomsman and step in for this other guy, and it worked out really well. He wasn't offended - in fact he was honored. So I think it really is a personal decision, but in general it's not necessary, and uneven bridal parties are not all that uncommon anymore.

Good luck!

I feel like this is a "know your crowd" situation. Does FH think there is any way his buddy he has in mind to be the replacement would feel offended in anyway? I think since these are guys and not bridesmaids that you have a little less to worry about. Generally guys don't think into things the way we do, so the replacement he has in mind might be totally cool with it.

Sorry but I’m all about replacing if u can’t or won’t I understand but show must go on. I do believe everyone in wedding should be in it for a good reason but I also want it to be even I knew that some people I asked in beginning might not be able to go and pay to be in my wedding but I still asked but had another just in case.

I was in a wedding where a bridesmaid completely ghosted the bride with no explanation. She asked another friend to join the party and she was thrilled. No issues with not being asked first. I agree, you just have to “know your crowd”

Definitely "know your crowd" type thing. I think it's still an honor to be asked and your FH's friend he would have in mind might feel this way. I think it's a completely legitimate reason to want to ask someone else and he could even say that so and so bowed down because he needs to be there for fiance and baby.

We just found out this weekend that we are in the exact same position. A groomsman's wife is due 6 days before our wedding... and they live out of state. When he told FH, he made a comment about trying to be there if he can, but we know realistically there's no way that he can travel out of state at that time. Either she will have JUST had the baby or she could easily be a few days late and have the baby the weekend of the wedding.

I will tell you we started with 6 groomsmen and 5 bridesmaids because we don't care at all about even numbers, and this does bring us to 5 and 5, but regardless we wouldn't replace him. I think he would be hurt and all of our close friends already know we chose the bridal party a few months back so they would be aware they're second choice. I would just leave it be and have the last two bridesmaids walk down the aisle with the last groomsman, if you're worried about how they'll walk down the aisle.

I lost 2 bridesmaids, one dropped out and the other one I had to remove because she was “crazy”. I am not friends with either one of them, mutually. Around the time the one was dropping out I had started building a really great friendship with another girl and started considering asking her to be a bm (not in place of anyone just added). I had bought all my bridesmaids their dresses so when the one dropped out I had an extra dress and it ended up being the perfect size for new bm. So I proposed to new bm with said dress and she was soooo excited to be included! Fast forward a month later ex-bm asks if she can be back in wedding😳 I freaked out a bit and asked the WW community what to do and the comments literally were so mean I almost deleted the whole app. Well I realized I didn’t want ex-bm in my wedding cause she was a sucky friend so that was that. I suggest do what feels right to to and your FH and prepare yourself for rude comments about you being “extremely rude”.🙄

I would think so, especially if the person knew they were a B list person and all the other groomsmen were asked way earlier. I don't see why uneven numbers is a problem.