Someone please help me! I have my sister as my MOH, my fiance’s sister as a bridesmaid, and my fiance’s niece as my jr. bridesmaid. I have now asked my good friend to be a bridesmaid because I felt that my wedding would not be complete without her. Now I am catching a lot of grief from my fiance’s family and they are making him feel bad because he does not have someone to walk with her. Plus they think that since I have not seen my good friend on a regular basis, then she doesn’t deserve to be in the wedding. How do I handle a situation like this. We have someone to be the jr. groomsman but have not asked him yet. Would it be better to have 2 bridesmaids walk with 1 groomsman or leave out the jr. groomsman and have 2 girls with each of the 1 groomsmen? Please help me! My future mother-in-law and future sister-in-law (bridesmaid) are making me feel awful and are being hateful. What can I do? [;)]

Donna, Wedding Queen, President; Top Wedding Sites, Inc

Relax…take a deep breath!

OK…now…this issue is not the end of the world. If you skim through our other posts you will see that many brides face this dilemma every day.

Firstly, your mother-in-law and sister-in-law don’t get to have a say in who you invite to be part of your bridal party. If you want this friend then certainly invite her. This is not about even numbers but about relationships, friendship and love! You don’t have to actually SEE someone to have a close bond.

You really have answered this question yourself when you suggest that one groomsmen could escourt 2 bridesmaids. You could also have her walk alone…there are no rules that say she HAS to be escourted.

With regard to your problems with in-laws and the way they are acting…please speak to your groom and let him know, in a calm and respectful way, just why you want this woman to be a part of the bridal party. Hopefully, he will speak to his family, again in a loving respectful way. I think if he were to impress upon them that they are causing undue stress they may back off. This should be done in a calm, non-threatening way such as, “Gee Mom, I really respect your opinion but this is just too small of an issue for all of us to get upset over.” Maybe she doesn’t realize this is causing you grief.

Of course, if you don’t wish to deal with this head on or your groom doesn’t want to confront his mom then you could simply overlook her comments, do what you want and believe me, in 10 years no one will remember any of it.

Try focusing on what’s important…your love and your future married life.