Weddingbee Blog

When choosing who would be in our bridal party, Mr. Ticket and I ultimately made the decision to have mismatched numbers. We chose those close to us who we love and wanted to stand beside us and, well, I had four girls and he had three guys. The little OCD monster inside of me struggled with this for a little while. I wanted things to be equal and balanced, but in the end I realized it was far more important for me to have my girls standing beside me than for things to be “balanced.” And we didn’t really want to find a random stand-in for Mr. Ticket just to make the sides even. Thus, UNBALANCED it is! And we like it that way. =)

Image via El Borak’s Myopia

That being said, we had a few other minor mishaps when first asking loved ones to join in our exciting festivities. As I blogged about yesterday, we will be having a flower baby in our wedding, but originally we also wanted a flower girl: Mr. Ticket’s ADORABLE little Cousin M. However, she happens to live across the country. So we knew from the get-go there was a good chance she wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding, let alone walk down the aisle with us. So though it did sadden us a bit when her parents informed us they would not be bringing her to the wedding (though they might still be coming—yay!), we weren’t exactly shocked.

There was, however, one decline that did take me by surprise! Mr. Ticket decided to let me pick the ushers, as most of his friends and family would be unable to attend the wedding (long distances suck), and he already had the really important ones as groomsmen. And so I decided to start asking cousins (that’s what they are good for, right?!) if they would mind being ushers. We decided we really only needed two since our wedding will be relatively modest in size and people should be able to seat themselves rather easily. So I set out on my quest for ushers. My first choice was obvious: Cousin H (who just so happens to be Bridesmaid CJ’s 13-year-old little sister); she’s awesome. She’s super sweet and helpful and very outgoing, so I knew she would have no problem with the job. When I called her up to ask her, she excitedly squealed “yes,” and it felt great to know 50% of this task was accomplished.

Usher H: No those are not her real eyebrows. (Personal photo)

For our second usher, my first choice was sadly taken away from me. In fact, I might have even wanted this person as another groomsman had he been available. Cousin A: he’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, and I love him to death. I’m seven years older than him, so I feel like I’ve watched him grow up more than I grew up with him, though he is still the closest to my age of all my cousins on my mom’s side. However…Cousin A is in the Air Force (couldn’t possibly be more proud of him) and currently serving in South Korea, where he will be on our wedding day. And thus option one is out. Option two was Cousin J (Cousin A’s younger brother), another fine option—great kid, and he would know most of the people at the wedding, so it should have been an easy task for him. But when I called him up to ask him, he nervously stumbled over his words and asked if I could possibly find anyone else to do it. He said he would do it if I REALLY needed him, but he would rather not.

I was floored! He was in no way being rude; he was simply nervous about the task, which I can understand. But, all the same, I had not expected this response! I quickly told him not to worry about it at all and I would find someone else. And thus option THREE came to the table. Cousin B wouldn’t have been so far down on the list of options were it not for the fact that he lives in Reno, Nevada. That’s an eight-hour drive, and I wasn’t really sure if he was even planning on coming to the wedding. (The poor economy has affected all of us.) But when I called him up and asked him if he was coming and if he would mind being an usher, he graciously accepted and said no problem at all. Hooray!!!! We have our ushers! One more task to check off the list.

Usher B: Just to clarify, he’s the one on the right. (Personal photo)

Did you have any surprise declines along your bridal-party journey? Were you extremely disappointed, or did you bounce back with options four, five, and six?