The Flower Girl Needs A Job!
August 21st, 2007 @ 6:27 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
Last night I was paging through my latest Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, and couldn’t help but stare wistfully at the lovely flower girl baskets and cones. So many options for that bride who wants to maximize her flower girl’s adorability (did I just make that word up?)! Our church forbids use of flower petals or anything sprinkled on the ground, this means inside and out. 
Ever since I heard that, I thought, well, what the heck do we need a flower girl for, since she’s not dropping flowers? I LOVE our flower girl and I can’t wait to play with her, but I don’t want her having to get all fussed up and dressy if all she has to do is walk down an aisle. I may sound like, “The flower girl has no point in our wedding”, but honestly I just don’t want the parents of the flower girl to be angry because she has this supposed “role” in the wedding, but really has nothing to do. I want the FG to feel important, because she IS.
So, I want to give her something to do. At first I thought I’d give her a Build a Bear, something she can hold on to. She’s girly but also loves bugs, dinosaurs and reptiles. These two choices from Build a Bear intrigued me:
Or the turtle, with the cutest ever shell/backpack- it has a zipper inside!
A few weeks ago I picked up Flower Girl Kelly (they didn’t have Flower Girl Maggie 
) at Toys R Us. I’ve noticed I’ve become quite the sucker for wedding-themed items. Anyway, Flower Girl Kelly can become a bouquet, just by flipping her dress up. Lovely thought, no? She can also be removed from the bouquet and just used as a doll. So, if Maggie were to use this as a bouquet she’d also have a doll! Yes, I’m lame. In truth, the doll is adorable with curly red hair.
While I was bemoaning my forced lack of petals, I had an idea. What if we made Maggie a little basket, and attached ribbons to the basket. Attached to the ribbons would be flowers- fake, paper or real (most likely not real, since I’m sure they’d make a mess). Maggie could toss the flowers out of her basket, but since they were tied to the basket, they would just trail behind her, and not be left on the ground. We could use thin fishing line, or some pretty ribbons, all in alternating lengths. That way I’d get my flowers, Maggie would get her “job”, and she’d look cute with a bunch of flowers trailing behind her.
In another variation of that, Mrs. Bluebell had an idea: what about taking various colored ribbons, and some fake fabric leaves. I’d cut small slits in each leaf, and slip the ribbon through them, in increments of 4-6 inches between each leaf. At the end of the ribbon is a leaf with a small knot in the ribbon to keep the leafs from sliding off. There would be many ribbons, and she could toss them on either side of her as she walks down the 150ft aisle.
What do you think of our ideas? Can you see an obvious flaw that I’m overlooking in my greed for flowers in my wedding?
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27 Responses to “The Flower Girl Needs A Job!”
My only concern would be the tripping issue, If she is dragging ribbons or peices of strings behind her they are not going to stay neatly to one side or the other, they wilol want to move to the middle which I would think would be difficult to not step or trip on the trailing strings. Maybe try a test run and see what happens.
I think the toys are cute, although not weddingish. I’ve seen alot of really nice pictures lately with FGs carrying pomanders with ribbon handles down the aisle. Is that an option you can do?
OMG that Barbie is TOOO cute, any little girl would love that. And the turtle is adorable as well!
I thought of tripping, too. She could have extra long ribbon sash at the waist or ribbons from her hair so she has a decorative train behind her? Hm… Your FG could carry the rings? Or she could hand out long-stemmed flowers to the moms/grandmas at the front?
Our FG just carried a basket with a flower arrangement securely attached to the basket. No throwing of any kind. She still looked adorable “bearing” flowers.
Hey guys, I’ve thought about the tripping issue, too. I must not have written it, but it was in my mind! I swear, I’m not willing to sacrifice our flower girl’s happiness (and comfort) for the flowers, I promise!
I have 2 Flower girls. One of them will carry a bell anouncing “here comes the bride” I got that from one of wedding I went and I thought was so cute.
i also love the bell idea - the fg could announce, “the bride is coming! the bride is coming!”
A wedding I saw recently had the flower girls w/ tiny little bells to ring. Was very cute. But would invest in decent quality bells (or can borrow a nice bell from someone’s home), because some of the cheapy bells lost the clappers. (Ha ha, methinks the mean church coordinator took the clappers out…)
how about if your flower girl simply distributes flowers to your guests along the aisle? that’s what i’m planning to do with my flower girls. i’ve seen this done in a couple of other weddings and it’s very cute.
I think the ribbon idea is great! Why can’t the ribbons just come to knee length with the flower attached? She’ll be wearing a puffy dress, probably, and if the ribbons are short she won’t be able to trip on them!
I would just make sure to use the widest ribbons you can get to minimize tangling issues.
My girls carried pommanders and that was tough enough for them to deal with. I don’t think they necessarily have to have a “job”.
looking cute is the FG’s job! 
Haha, I think the trailing flowers idea is cute too. And that turtle? Precious. I wish it were alive so I could have it for myself!
The flower/ribbon idea is cute (if executed safely), but do you know if your FG will actually toss the flowers? Why not throw a dress on that dino and have her walk up with that? That’s more memorable than the traditional petal tossing anyway!
I know ours (3 and 5) would not hand out flowers or even toss the petals as they walked up the aisle, they are rather shy. However, the eldest has already been a FG 2x (so jaded!) and insists on carrying a basket as “that’s what FG’s do”! So, we’re putting a little bouquet in each baskets. They both love dinosaurs (the five year old can tell you their latin names) and would love to carry that cute dino - but the turtle is so adorable too!
I think that it would be hard to keep this from looking silly, and of course the issue of the flower girl tripping/getting tangled/etc. I agree, just have her walk.
ooh I think it would be so cute if the flower girl gave out flowers to the guests on the inside seats, next to the aisle. Or if she had little bouquets to give to mothers and grandmothers. I have heard of that before and it turned out well.
We’re not allowed to have petals sprinkled either. My flower girl is going to carry the stuffed dog that Ian brought for me on our second date eons ago. I just hope she doesn’t get too attached, cause Motley is part of my family! 
My first thought was similar to aoedorthee’s… why not have the FG hand a flower to the guests sitting next to the aisle? But then I wondered if (a) she’s shy, and (b) how many pews there are (that could take a looooong time). Also was wondering if you were having pew decorations? She could always place a flowers in something hanging from the pews. The idea to give a flower to the mothers, etc is also nice. Or, she could really just look adorable and carry flowers… Really, anything could work. Don’t worry if she doesn’t end up doing something traditional for flower girls to do… I’m sure she will be excited to be in the wedding regardless, and her parents will be so proud of their cute little princess!
I know you want her to ‘do’ something but theres lovely flower balls and fairy wands made from flowers around.
I do like the idea of her handing out flowers though
I feel like the ribbons would be a bit much, and there is a huge capacity for things going awry. Good luck coming up with something!
How about letting her carry a wand with lots of ribbons that she waves as if sprinkling fairy dust down the aisle. What girl doesn’t wish she was Tinker Belle?
I am seriously in love with the bell idea as well! Now i want a flower girl! haha
I was also thinking, although, your venue may xnay this right away, what if she blew bubbles. You could have her walk out right in front of you (instead of there being a pause where the flower girl does her job and then you come) and blow bubbles as you walk.
This is an idea i had to have my guests do, as we arent having a FG/RB for some interest. Just an idea.
I once saw in a magazine (I wish I could remember which!) that if you have more than one or two children you would want in your wedding that you could have a couple of the children carry a small banner stating “Here Comes the Bride.” In your case you could have your FG carry something similar to this.
You could make the banner using a dow rod and cavas or any other heavy material. Somebody who you trust with paint can create all of the lettering and anything else pretty.
[...] gifts: We bought the flower girl a butterfly t-shirt, and a flower girl barbie, my MOH a personalized bag from LL Bean (at the perfect time to get a sale!!), and the Best Man a [...]
Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
Obvious flaw: FG trips over series of fishing line/ribbons, gets entangled, and has to be rescued, crying, from the aisle.
Why not have her carry a basket of flowers or a little bouquet and just walk down the aisle? No one will notice that she’s not useful. Bridesmaids aren’t particularly useful, after all.
