Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Bridesmaids?

9 bridesmaids + 9 groomsmen = 1 fun wedding!

When my fiancé and I first got engaged in March of this year, three things immediately came to mind:

1. Finally! Finally! Finally!
2. This ring is absolutely beautiful!
3. I can't wait to celebrate with all of our family and friends!

Admittedly, I had been planning our wedding in my head for over a year, and I already knew who I wanted to ask to be my lefthand ladies, so to speak. But I had never really thought about how many girls that was until I wrote it down on paper.

...I was at nine. Yikes.

Would we look ridiculous? Would my fiancé need to have nine groomsmen to make it even? Would buying wedding party gifts require us to take out a second mortgage on the house? Needless to say, I started to second-guess my decision.

Still, as I looked at my list, I couldn't imagine any of those girls not being by my side on one of the biggest days of my life. Furthermore, it was going to be our wedding day, which meant one thing: We get to make the rules. Okay, so nine, it is! I thought with a grin. With that, I started thinking about how I could creatively ask my nine best girlfriends to share our wedding day with us.

I went online and started browsing ideas on Etsy--of course!--and eventually found some pretty peony necklaces that kind of had an antique-y vibe, which I wanted to go for. Guess what? The shop owner gave me a discount for ordering so many. Yay! (See? There are perks to having a large bridal party!) Then I found a website that offered free "Will you be my bridesmaid?" cards, printed them out, found an appropriate friendship quote I really liked--"If friends were flowers, I'd pick you!"--and then wrote personalized messages on the back of each card, telling each girl why she meant the world to me. I was beyond thrilled when all my girls happily agreed to take part in our wedding day.

Now that we're in the full swing of wedding planning--eight months to go!--I sometimes think about how large our wedding party is going to be. (PS: My fiancé decided to go with nine groomsmen as well.) It makes me get excited. We have our best friends (and brothers) who will be right there with us--literally--as we take this next step of our lives together. Honestly, I couldn't imagine it any other way.