Choosing Your Wedding Entourage

Who will you choose to be a part of your wedding entourage?

Finally, you got engaged to the man whom you want to grow old and spend the rest of your life with. Now, if you have made a promise to every best friend or close friends you had since grade school, high school, and college who will play a role in your wedding entourage, then the decision to choose could sometimes be stressful and confusing because you don't want any of them to feel bad if you don't choose them to have a special part on your wedding day. If you are having any trouble in choosing the members of your wedding entourage because you had a large social group, try to narrow down your list of options and weigh the situation if who among your friends and family are willing to work with you and help you make your wedding day a perfect one.

FAMILY

I think the first thing that you have to consider is the member of your family. We, Filipinos have a very strong family bond and it is expected for a bride-to-be to at least select a few family members who will be a part of your wedding entourage. Although, there is no fixed rule about this, but some family members might feel insulted if you don't include them to play a role as part of your wedding ceremony. The best thing to do is to assign your siblings (if you have one), like in my case, I have three brothers. Since, my older brother is the closest to the my husband-to-be and the age gap didn't make any difference, so we decided to have him as our Best Man. I have two other brothers, so it is a given that they will be our Groomsmen. What's important is don't forget to include your groom's relatives to the lineup, but my groom's relatives couldn't make it to our wedding here in the Philippines (except for his parents), so most of our wedding entourage comes from my side of the family. Every couple needs to know that having your family;s blessing in your decision to marry is very important especially in a Filipino culture. Also, including your family in your wedding entourage will work to your advantage because it is easier for you to give them certain tasks and to strengthen your support team. Plus, you can assign other roles in the mass, like readers or ushers to your family.

FRIENDS

If that person is a true friend, then they would understand. Now, if you have a lot of close girl friends and you need to weed out some of them, the trick is to choose who among them have been there for you and your partner. You are not obliged to look for your best friend in grade school even if you promise them to include her in your wedding entourage. Choose your friends very well and who are supportive of your relationship, most of all, whom can help you with going through the wedding plans. Those friends who were cut out from the lineup should understand why you didn't included all of them in your wedding entourage.

RESPONSIBILITY

Being responsible is always a key especially in choosing your wedding entourage. Be more practical. If you're want to reminisce every single moment you had with all the people you want to have in your wedding entourage, then it will take you forever to make up your mind. Instead, choose those who will be completely committed to the given tasks and responsibility of being a member of the wedding entourage. 

What happens when the members of the wedding entourage you choose are not not 100% into helping you out with the preparation? I would say it that would be a total mess and the bride-to-be would be all freaking out because everything is not well-organized. There will be a lot of wedding preparation that your entourage should you out with. Plus, they need to attend rehearsals and group meetings to any last minute confirmations to be made, so it is best to select people who really have the time for all of these pre-wedding events because this is the most important part of a bride's journey to their dream wedding a reality.