Flower girls first began walking
down wedding isles in the Middle Ages. Back then it was grain, not
flower petals, that the girls spread before the bride. But whether
they carried seeds or flowers, the girls symbolized the bride’s own
beginnings as well as the new marriage’s promise of fruitfulness and
joy.
Today’s flower girls precede the
bride, scattering petals or simply holding a bouquet. Although this
procedure sounds easy enough to adults, however, all must remember
that children are . . . well, children, and they need plenty of
rehearsals and patience. Etiquette stipulates that while flower
girls must be included in wedding rehearsals, they need not be
invited to the rehearsal dinner. If they are invited to the dinner,
their parents must also be invited. The parents, however, should pay
for their (and the girls’) transportation to all wedding functions.
The bride provides the flower
basket, flower petals (or other items to strew across the isle, and
any hair decorations for the flower girls. Flower girls may walk arm
in arm, tossing petals from a shared basket, or they may each carry
their own basket, walking single-file down the wedding isle.
