One hand in my pocket, and the other one's holdin a bridesmaid bouquet??

Alrighty -- I've been trolling around the internet looking at some of the wierd, wacky, and downright unique things Brides are making their bridesmaids carry during the wedding. I've yet to see Ventriloquist dummies, but hey, who knows? maybe somebody's into that kind of thing XD.
However it seems the most popular item would be a bouquet of flowers.

My bridesmaids are a bit off their rockers like me, and have no problems carrying flowers, dolls, kittens, pretty much anything my lil' ol heart desires. Although overflowing kitten baskets are tempting, I think i'll pass this time. too many allergies in one day, haha. So i've rounded up my girls and come up with a few non-flowery substitutes in case you're like me, and want something a little unorthodox.

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Parasols! -- One of the MANY many many ideas we had for the wedding was to give it an Asian theme. (Jim and I are fascinated by the "mysteries of the Orient"). Well, we may not have everybody dress in Kimonos and Geisha face-paint (although that would be awesome -- and expensive...) we could simply pull off the feat by substituting certain items and traditions, with Asian ones. Instead of holding bouquets, we'd have the girls hold Parasols. Whether or not they're all alike or not we hadn't decided, but it was a neat idea.

There are SOOOOO many kinds of designs out there! You can get them in rice-paper, Vynle, all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, textures, the possibilities are truly endless! I'm rather fond of these lovelies here. They've got scalloped edges which reminds me of six-petaled flowers. Really awesome! (and not that expensive either if you're giving them to your bridesmaids afterwards ;-) )


Another idea (one I'm seriously considering...) Is Copper/Brass/Iron lanterns, lit from the inside by Tealight candles. Since we're hoping to have the ceremony closer in the evening, the candles will give everything a mystical romantic glow. You could totally embellish these with ivy, flowers, ribbon, organza, all kinds of things to make them personalized. Heck for all i care you could bedazzle your name on it. But i love the idea nonetheless. (I have NOT however, found any that were small enough, or affordable enough... if anybody knows of any i would appreciate the links!)

Baskets filled with a variety of apples, or pumpkins would give a Harvest theme to any wedding. Because we're incorporating a handfasting into our wedding, i think it would look really unique to have the girls bearing bounty in their arms. Almost like a gift to the gods. Of course all it really makes me think of is "SHIBALBA!" from Disney's "El Dorado" movie... which of course would still be cool. I wonder if we could have our wedding near a gigantic dropoff leading into a neverending whirlpool to the netherworld?


Of course if you MUST have something Flower-y for your girls, you can still make it unique! Try trolling around your local thrift stores for old, broken, or vintage jewelry --

with a little bit of superglue or a soldering gun, you could easily transform old Brooches and Hatpins into some really gorgeous handfuls! Apparently there's a woman who will make you a gorgeous bouquet such as this for a little over $300 (depending on what kind of brooches and etc. you provide her with.) this webbie has some adorable examples of Bouquets made of jewelry. --but not only recycled jewelry can be used!
--Buttons! of all things i never thought i'd see buttons used for, but a handful of button flowers! I could totally see a friend or two of mine who are REALLY into the sewing and quilting, doing this for their weddings. These lovely people here, did a wonderful job of making them elegant, yet still incorporating buttons of all shapes and design into their wedding. Kudos for the idea!
Wheat has become one of my new favorite accent pieces. Pictured above, is a simply stunning bouquet of golden wheat held by the bride. This website has an unbelievable amount of wheat used in it's design, all used stunningly! I applaud the person bold enough to go this route!

Again, don't limit yourself to just carrying Flower-store bouquets for your wedding--be it bridesmaids or bride! Get creative! To get your creative juices flowing, here's another site with some amazing inspiration pictures! Everything from a Dr. Seuss looking tree of pearls and wire, to buttons and beads and even a pinwheel or two!

Had a creative way of torturing your bridesmaids? Feel free to share it!

-Cake42