Choosing bridesmaids can be a challenge if your girl squad is larger than Taylor Swift’s circa 2016, so one bride decided to make matters easier by having 34.
Casme Carter, from New Orleans, has six sisters, but the remaining 28 bridesmaids at her wedding were childhood friends, pals from university and colleagues she’s become close to over the years.
“I have so many women in my life who mean so much to me and I wanted them to share this day with me,” she told Inside Edition.
To keep matters simple, Carter let each of her bridesmaids choose their own dress, but asked them to opt for neutral “earth tones”. Still, it must have taken some organising, so how many bridesmaids is too many?
Jo Young, from London, had eight bridesmaids – “aka my bridesquad” – when she got married and says it was “so incredible for a ton of reasons”.
“I would tell anyone worrying about having too many to not bother, the whole thing was so easy for me and them,” she says. “Less put on them to organise and I worried less – best decision I made!”
But a large bridal party isn’t for everyone. One bride, also based in London, says she regrets having seven bridesmaids, adding: “I wish I hadn’t had so many out of obligation.”
Having been a bridesmaid for other cousins, the bride felt obligated to return the gesture and worried about causing a family feud if she didn’t.
“My decision to have them as bridesmaids was really due to the fact that I hate any form of confrontation and I felt it was much easier to ask them then face the consequences of not doing so,” says the bride, who wishes to remain anonymous.
“These girls had also outright stated ‘they were going to be my bridesmaids’ weeks after I got engaged and honestly it was easier to just spend the money on the dress for them then risk a wider feud.”
Leila Harris-Ryberg, who’s Canadian but based in London, found organising a wedding with five bridesmaids in different countries a challenge.
Three of her bridesmaids flew over from Canada, one was based in London and the other was living in Sweden, where the wedding took place in 2008.
“They all had different body shapes so I suggested they choose their own dress by a brand that’s available everywhere. I just stipulated the colour,” she explains. “The only low point for me was that because they were geographically dispersed no one organised a hen do and I didn’t have anyone to help with the wedding plans.”
But, she maintains she wouldn’t change a thing. “They were my nearest and dearest and the important thing was that they were there with me on the biggest day of my life,” she says.
If you’re considering having a large girl squad on your wedding, take a moment to think about your other half.
One groom, who wishes to remain anonymous, is getting married in two weeks time in Surrey and jokes that he’s not sure how he’ll cope with his fiancée’s six bridesmaids staying in their two bedroom flat for three days.
“The highs are that my fiancée is extremely happy that her best friends in the whole world will be experiencing this important moment in our lives together, despite everyone living abroad,” he says. “The lows are the chaos that will ensue in my flat, and the money I’ll be spending to book a room in a local hotel for a couple of days to escape it. I can see in my dog’s eyes he wants to leave with me, but every war has casualties.”
The groom is having just one groomsman himself, who’s waiting for the big day with trepidation. “I’m not sure how tradition works regarding dancing arrangements, but I’ve told him that he needs to dance with all six of them separately – which his wife is genuinely finding hilarious.”