Wedding Party vs. Wedding vip guests

My fiancé and I are asking everyone to travel to us and are still having a small wedding party. I bought my side their jewelry and am paying for hair and makeup but they are buying their outfits. Fiancés side is paying for their own suits. If they don’t want to pay for extra on top of traveling then they can simply decline. I think as long as you offer to pay for some stuff for their time and dedication to being in your party then that’s fine

There's no rule saying you have to have a wedding party. If you want to give some people those VIP perks, but don't want to burden them with buying matching outfits and all that, that's fine! That's basically what I'm doing. I didn't want to manage a dozen bridesmaids, so our official "wedding party" is just our siblings. They're the ones wearing the wedding colors and walking down the aisle. However, we have some other "VIPs" who are doing other things: reserved front row seats for the ceremony, sitting with our parents at the reception, or giving a toast.

You can have a wedding party and not require them to get specific outfits if you're really wanting one! We're having a small destination wedding in California and are having a "wedding party" that will process in before us, but be seated during the ceremony. To us, all our guests are the VIPs since the list is so small. We'll have a welcome dinner for all the guests instead of a rehearsal dinner, but my bridesmaids will be getting ready with me in the morning and the groomsmen are taking my FH out to lunch on the wedding day!


Originally I was just going to have all the girls get whatever light blue dress they liked, but we ended up deciding to do actual "bridesmaid" dresses so they had a little more guidance. The men are just wearing white button down and navy pants.

To be honest with you this is exactly what I’m doing I’m not having a bridal party but rather I’m having a VIP section of all of my most adored and cherish friends and I’m gifting them with Tiffany bracelets and corsages so that they can feel a part of the day and know that they are treasured as my best friends who have supported me through this journey.

Anyone who is invited to your wedding is acknowledged as someone special to the couple, so I don't think you need preferred seating to your vows. Also, unless your ceremony has an involved schedule, rehearsals may not be necessary. You can throw a welcome party for all out of town guests, instead of a VIP party.