Getting married is one of the most important days of your life as you say ‘I Do’ in front of some of your closest family and friends. Although tradition usually determines most wedding ceremonies, you can still adjust the big day to fit your needs. When deciding on the members of your wedding party especially, you may not be able to have an even number wedding party. The bride and groom often times have different amounts of friends or family that they consider close. While some couples add in extra friends or cut down their selections to even out their wedding party, there are plenty of ways to make an odd number wedding party work for you and your fiance. These ideas below will guide you on what to do with an odd number wedding party as you make plans for this special day.
Ideas for an Odd Number Wedding Party
There are a variety of ways to make your odd number wedding party work. Whether you have members double up or walk down the aisle solo, don’t hesitate to adjust your processional based on how many bridesmaids and groomsmen you have in your wedding party.
- Have the groomsmen take their place by the groom before the processional starts, instead of walking down the aisle. If you have more groomsmen than bridesmaids, you can have the groomsmen take their place at the start of the wedding and the bridesmaids can walk down the aisle one by one. This is a common solution to odd number wedding parties that eliminates the problem of having to pair your wedding party.
- Have a groomsmen walk down the aisle with two bridesmaids at once. If you have more bridesmaids than groomsmen, you can have a few of your groomsmen escort two bridesmaids at once down the aisle, on each arm. You can adjust how many groomsmen need to walk with two bridesmaids based on your number on your wedding party’s ratio.
- Have a bridesmaid walk down the aisle with two groomsmen at once. If you have more groomsmen than bridesmaids, you can have the extra groomsmen walk down the aisle with together with one bridesmaid.
- Have the maid of honor walk down the aisle by herself. If you have one more bridesmaid than groomsmen, you can have your maid of honor walk down the aisle alone to solve this problem. Since the maid of honor wears a different dress typically and is your right hand woman, it’s perfectly fine if she has a special solo moment down the aisle.
- Have the groomsmen escort each bridesmaid down the aisle, once each bridesmaid reaches the halfway mark. If you have more bridesmaids than groomsmen, you can have your groomsmen take their place by the groom before the processional. Each bridesmaid then proceeds to walk down the aisle one by one, where she’ll be greeted by a groomsmen halfway through her walk. All of the groomsmen will take turns leaving their spot to meet each bridesmaid until all of the bridesmaids have been escorted down the rest of the aisle.
How to Stand with an Odd Number Wedding Party
Although the bride and groom are the focus of wedding photos, we understand the need to make sure that photos of your wedding party from the ceremony come out flawless for your wedding photo book. Since you have an odd number wedding party, you can get creative with how you want your groomsmen and bridesmaids to stand or be seated once they finish walking down the aisle. The following ideas are for odd number wedding parties where there are 3 or more unpaired members in the wedding party.
- Mix and match the bridesmaids and groomsmen on each side of the altar until there’s only one extra person on one side. If you want both sides of the ceremony set-up to be as even as possible, you can have bridesmaids and groomsmen stand on both sides of the altar. For instance, if you have a wedding party of 13, you can have 7 wedding party members stand on the right and 6 wedding party members stand on the left.
- Have only the maid of honor and best man stand beside you during your wedding ceremony. Instead of the entire wedding party standing near each side of the altar during the wedding ceremony, you can arrange seats in the front row for groomsmen and bridesmaids to sit after walking down the aisle. If you’re concerned about any awkwardness appearing in your ceremony photos, this idea can help make your photos feel more fluid.
- Have the bridesmaids and groomsmen stand on one side together. If there’s a very noticeable difference between the number of bridesmaids and groomsmen in your wedding, you can have the bridesmaids and groomsmen stand on one side together during ceremony. This is a more modern take that works best for non-traditional wedding ceremonies. Your wedding photographer can then adjust his angle to one side during the ceremony.
Always remember that you can work out any extra or complicated details at your rehearsal dinner so your wedding ceremony goes according to plan. You can refer to our simple guide on wedding roles and responsibilities to see who hosts the rehearsal dinner so you know the point person for these types of details.
Your wedding checklist can seem never-ending but staying organized and thinking about wedding day details in advance can cut down some of the stress. Although an odd number wedding party may not seem ideal, the amount of people in your wedding party doesn’t have any true effect on how special your big day will be.
