Weddingbee Blog

I have mentioned before that we will not be having a formal wedding party. Mr. Hermit Crab and I both have big groups of close friends from many different periods in our lives, and we felt that choosing some friends and excluding others in this way was simply out of the question for us. We will be including many of friends in other ways, however, so stay tuned for more information on that!

However, we will not be alone under the chuppah. In addition to our Rabbi, of course, we will have our siblings and parents stand up with us. Our siblings will be holding the chuppah, and our parents will be standing by our sides. (My little sister will actually be acting as flower girl, which is as close to a wedding party as we came, but hey, she’s 5!)

Ready for a gander at the gorgeous group that will be standing up with us? Ready or not, here you go! (All pictures are personal photos.)

My beautiful sisters

Mr. Hermit Crab and his sibs

Mr. Hermit Crab’s parents

My Dad and step-mom Hermit Crab

Mama Hermit Crab

And of course, these two wild and crazy kids!

What will all these beautiful people be wearing?

Being that we are not considering them a formal bridal party, I decided not to choose dresses. Plus, all the women are so different, I couldn’t possibly imagine finding a dress, or even a color that would work for all of our sisters!

However, I LOVE the look of many Indian weddings - all the beautifully colored saris, and oh! all the color! Have I mentioned yet that I love color, and a lot of it?

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I gave my family (well, the women really) these guidelines: “Please no black, white, or beige, and I would love if everyone chose a jewel tone. Other than that, long or short, sleeves or strapless, that is up to you! (Although please keep in mind that you will need to cover your shoulders for the ceremony).”

I thought that I was being so nice and laid back - choose a dress you love, in a color you love and feel comfortable, gorgeous and like yourself. Well, wouldn’t you know it - I think, at least in the beginning, they would have had me choose a dress for them! I had no idea that they would find choosing a dress so stressful.

There was some concern about how it would look all together, so I hopped over to the David’s Bridal website and used their “Dress Your Wedding” application to see for myself. This is a great tool - although none of our outfits are actually going to be from David’s Bridal, this gave me the opportunity to see how we would look all together. There were not enough spaces for everyone, so I just inputted Mr. Hermit Crab, myself and the women. The men’s looks are going to be much more simple (and I will talk about that soon), so I figured we could revisit them another time.

Here you go:

From left: Mama Hermit Crab, FMIL Hermit Crab, FSIL Hermit Crab, Older Sister Hermit Crab, Miss Hermit Crab, Mr. Hermit Crab, Little Sister Hermit Crab and Step-mom Hermit Crab (click to enlarge, if you wish).(source)

The dresses I chose are based loosely on the colors and styles that I think they might choose, but since none of them will be getting their dresses from David’s Bridal, this is just an estimate. (And DB has a dress that is eerily similar to my own, so this is actually pretty accurate to what I’ll be wearing.) I’ll tell you something - I LOVE how it looks! If we are half as colorful, I’m sure it is going to look wonderful.   I’ll keep you posted as everyone chooses their outfits and sends me pictures!

I am excited to see what everyone winds up with; I think everyone is going to look amazing in vivid colors and styles that suit their own personalities!

Have you used any tools that have helped you envision the look for the people in your wedding? Did you have any naysayers at first? How did you decide what everyone will wear?