When it comes to wedding attendants, the first people to consider would be your family and closest friends. They are the ones who know you the most and whom you can be the most comfortable around. It may be a bit hard to choose which friends to invite and even harder to explain to those who weren’t invited why they weren’t. However, once things are properly explained, everything should run very smoothly. Just because someone invited you to their wedding does not mean that you have to invite them to yours. The only thing that should matter on this day is the happiness and wishes of both the bride and the groom.

Usually, the bride and the groom will choose six attendants, as well as a ring bearer or flower girl. The overall amount of guests differs from one wedding to the next and depends hugely on the formality and size of the entire wedding. In most cases, there should be one groomsman and one bridesmaid for every fifty guests.

If the wedding is a formal one, the party is usually pretty large. Therefore, if you wish to have a more intimate gathering, having ten bridesmaids will prove to be too much. The more people there are, the more complications are sure to arise when it comes to schedule coordination and attire orders.

Your personal budget is of the utmost importance when it comes to deciding on your attendants. When it comes to expenses, it is a well-known custom to have one wedding gift for each attendant and one bouquet for each bridesmaid. You will also have to provide boutonnières for each groomsman and usher. The attendants themselves should pay for their own wedding attire and travel costs.

Before asking your top choices to attend, you should set realistic expectations. Will you need them to help in tying ribbons and making invitations or do you only want moral support on the wedding day itself? Will you need to go out of town to fit dresses? Remember to be realistic when it comes to your expectations, especially if your friends have busy schedules or live quite far away.

Communication is the key to successful wedding preparations. Brides should voice out their expectations, share their schedules, plan their attires, as well as any pre-wedding events and anything associated to the wedding day itself.

If the groom’s best friend happens to be a woman or the bride’s best friend happens to be a man, there is no reason why they can’t be next to you at your wedding. Simply give them the generic term of ‘attendant’ rather than ‘groomsman’ or ‘bridesmaid’.

Don't worry too much if you don’t have the same amount of groomsmen and bridesmaids in the wedding. There is no rule that states this should be equal. Other roles that good friends can play at your wedding are program distributors, greeters, candle lighters, gift table attendants, guest book attendants, poem readers, favour distributions, musicians or junior bridesmaids.