Bridesmaids/Best Men- A Necessity??

AmandaMc

Curious if anyone ever had a wedding without bridesmaids/groomsmen (obviously a witness is a requirement). But if you are having a smaller (50-70ish people max), more intimate wedding (no top table, only a thank you speech by the groom etc), rather than the typical Irish bells and whistles wedding and you do not want the stress of picking between close friends could this be an option? Just curious if anyone has ever done this or been to a wedding where the couple chose to do this?

Bookkeeper09

My sister in law is getting married in May of this year and they are not having any bridesmaids/bestmen. They're having a civil ceremony with about 40 people and then there will be a total of approx 100 later in the day.

LillyVanilli

Im getting married soon and not having a bestman or bridesmaid. However we are having two witnesses. We're having a civil ceremony but even if youre planning a church wedding I really think they are not necessary unless you want them.

BC

They aren't necessary but you do need to choose 2 witnesses.

tatli_lokma

we didn't have bridesmaids /bestman. We had a small wedding of 40 guests plus family. It was a civil ceremony. We had two close friends act as witnesses, and we had two other close friends do readings - one a poem, one a reading. We had another friend help with the music.
It was very intimate and everyone commented on how personal and moving it was (but maybe they were just being polite! )

We didn't feel our day lacked anything because there was no bridesmaids or best man. There are no young children in our family so no flowergirls either - that might have been the only thing I went for had I had a young enough relative.

At the reception we did have a 'top' table, but at it were us, and immediate family. It did not seem strange or odd.

Times are changing and more couples are choosing more modern weddings, smaller weddings, more personal weddings than the traditional 'Irish' wedding. I think once you have the right atmosphere that is all that matters - and that is not something guaranteed by more guests/booze/fancy hotels - that is only guaranteed by the couple and their attitude to the day.

Congrats and have a great day when it comes around!

Hrududu

The best wedding I've been to sounds like the one you are planning. No best man or maid of honour, the bride and groom just had a witness each. No top table at the wedding either. It's not the only one i've heard of.

How Strange

We're having the kind of wedding you just described later this month.