When you are planning your wedding, you will get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people insisting that they know the best thing for you to do, wear, say, go on your wedding day. When it comes to your bridal party, the trend has consistently been to have a bridal party. But that trend is turning a bit. Many couples are choosing to forgo the bridal party for one reason or another. If it’s something you’ve been considering, here are just a few reasons why it’s okay to do without the traditional bridal party.

1. You want to have a small, intimate wedding. There’s no real explanation needed on this one, I don’t think.
2. You don’t want to hurt feelings. Maybe you have a large family or a ton of really close friends. If that’s the case and you don’t want to have to choose who to include, going without a bridal party might be a good idea. Everyone can come and feel equally involved.
3. You want to skip the rehearsal dinner. If there’s no bridal party to gather for rehearsal, you can skip the big rehearsal dinner.
4. You just want to get ready with one or two people, or even alone. If the thought of getting ready with a bunch of people on your big day stresses you out, this may be a good reason to skip the bridal party. Maybe you want to get ready alone, or just with your mom or one close friend, or maybe you want to throw traditional out altogether and get ready with your soon to be spouse.
5. You just want your friends to have fun. Perhaps you don’t want your friends to worry about all of the “duties” or expenses that come with being in the bridal party. Letting your friends and family come as guests eliminates some of the stress for them.
6. Your friends are all spread out. If you have friends and family spread out in various locations, you may decide that it’s too complicated to get everyone together for pre-wedding stuff, fittings, etc.
7. You want to save money. Skipping the bridal party eliminates a lot of costs for your friends, but it also saves the couple money that you would otherwise spend on gifts, gatherings, parties, etc.
8. You like simplicity. Adding a bridal party unarguably adds a layer of complexity to all of the planning, communicating, and execution of your wedding day.
9. You’re eloping. Elopements to beautiful places are becoming quite popular these days. If you are eloping, it just makes sense that you don’t have a bridal party.
10. You want more time on your wedding day to just focus on your spouse. Let’s face it, when you have the traditional wedding day you often don’t get to see your spouse until you are walking down the aisle. Then you have to go do wedding party pictures, family pictures and then the reception with lots of people. Skipping a bridal party will allow you to focus on just the two of you during portrait time, which gives you some space to just relax and enjoy an hour by yourselves, and maybe the photographer/videographer. 🙂

Hopefully, if you’ve been considering not having a bridal party and you’re getting negative feedback from people, this will help you decide if it’s really for you. Once you decide as a couple, go confidently forward. Encourage your friends and family that you are not only doing this for you, but you are doing this for them as well.

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