Choosing bridesmaids and flower girls

In the UK, the main role of flower girls is simply to look cute. Very few venues or churches will allow your flower girls to actually scatter petals in front of you as you walk down the aisle. Your maid of honour and adult bridesmaids meanwhile have far more important tasks, most importantly keeping you calm and organised before the wedding and throughout the ceremony.

Having chosen your bridesmaids, maid of honour and flower girls, hopefully without offending too many friends and relatives in the process, your next dilemma is the bridesmaids dresses.

The flower girls will want something pretty, if you have an older Maid of Honour she will be concerned about looking like mutton dressed as lamb, and younger bridesmaids and teens will just want to look good.

For the bride who has just patting herself on the back after successfully navigated the tricky issue of bridesmaids dresses, it is time to start on the next dilemma; your bridesmaids shoes, and more specifically, heels or not.

While flower girls are usually delighted with strappy flat sandals or ballet pumps, older bridesmaids may feel uncomfortable in flat shoes, regardless of whether their heels will mean that they tower over you.