toddling flower girl

[redhookmom]

My DD has been asked to be the flower girl in my brother's wedding. Anybody go through this with their toddler? Any tips would be appreciated especially where to look for a dress. TIA

[Jeanmick]

My DD has never been asked to be a flower girl, but I remembered going shopping w/ my best friend to look for a dress for her DD around this time of year because this was the time all the Easter dresses were for sale. We got her DD's dress off the rack at our local Macy's Department store and for a good price too. So I guess now would be the time to start looking at any department store at those pretty frilly Easter dresses. I also remember looking through a catalog from "The Wooden Soldier" and found that they also had some pretty dresses. While they don't have a website, you can check out the catalog via Google:

www.catalogs.google.com

Just type in "The Wooden Soldier" and click on the picture and you'll be able to check out their latest offerings! I think the Flower Girl-like dresses start around page 20.

HTH and good luck.

[loewymartin]

My cousin just got married in January and her neice (who was 17 months at the wedding) was supposed to be the flower girl (her name is Julia). Julia's grandmother found a dress around Easter for her (thank goodness it fit many months later!) it was off-white with a netting overlay that had silk flowers in the netting over lay. It was really puffy and a little hard to hold her, but she looked adorable. You might want to check ebay too.

http://www.infashionkids.com/todeasdresan.html
http://www.boutique4kids.com/flower-girl.asp?src=google
(I typed in "Toddler Flower Girl Dresses" in google and got many hits - the two above looked good).

She was supposed to walk down the aisle by herself (yeah, right!) but ran over to her uncle and he carried her in. She kind of dropped some of the rose petals as they walked along, but ended up just putting the basket on her head as a hat during the ceremony :-) That was something to think about - both of her parents were in the wedding party, so her mom walked in and took Julia from her uncle, but then she was standing there holding Julia for the entire ceremony (Julia was supposed to sit with Great-Grandma and Grandpa but once she saw mommy she wanted her :-)).

You might want to have her walk in, then have someone take her to play during the ceremony if you are in the wedding.

Also, the parents lived about 15 minutes from the reception and brought Julia home for her nap. She was pretty tired after all the excitement.

I think I have some pics of Julia, I'll try to post them when I get home. She looked adorable!

Michelle - Mom to Alia born 5/16/02 and #2 due 8/12/04

[brubeck]

Another good place to look is Storybook Heirlooms. You might even find something in their sale section!

[redhookmom]

Thanks for the great ideas. I hadn't even thought about an Easter dress.

I would love to bring her home for a nap but we will be far from home. I live in NY and my brother lives in WY. I hope we are able to enjoy the reception with our 2 little ones.

[loewymartin]

I just emailed you some more info.

I'm not sure of your kids ages, but they might be pooped out! You may be able to have your brother find a baby sitter that can stay in the hotel room (or where ever) so you can enjoy the wedding once they get tired.

Michelle - Mom to Alia born 5/16/02 and #2 due 8/12/04

[AngelaS]

Adrienne was a flower girl when she was 17 months old. I found her dress at a local department store.

She had a basket of flowers to carry and held hands with the ring bearer and walked down the aisle with him. The pastor had a small toy that he gave her when she got to the front and she took it and then turned around and walked back to me to sit with for the rest of the service.

[khakismom]

Kathleen was a flower girl at my brother's wedding when she was 18 months old. Her dress was custom-made by the lady who owned the wedding shop where my SIL bought her wedding gown, and it matched my cousin's dress, who was 6, and the older flower girl.

She did wonderfully at the rehearsal but by the time the wedding rolled around--at 6:30 at nite--she was tired. She and ther other flower girl walked down with the maid of honor. She didn't throw flowers or anything but carried a little rose ball. Both DH and I were in the wedding, but she sat with my parents and did pretty well during the Mass. She perked up at the reception and ate dinner. We had a babysitter come to the club and pick her up and take her home right after dinner. Then we enjoyed the rest of the reception.

If you aked me to do this again, I would do it, but I would arrange for a sitter to take her straight from the wedding to home if the wedding was late in the day. For an afternoon wedding, I would bring her with me to the reception and then again, have her picked up in the middle of it.

Here's a pic of her in her dress (it's kind of grainy and hard to see), but she looked SO ADORABLE!!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/2962.jpg

[gour0]

I had my two neices be flower girls in my wedding. We got their dresses at David's Bridal. The older girl is a great showperson so she was completely into throwing the petals. The younger one at first wanted nothing to do with her basket but when she saw her cousin tossing petals, she came racing back to get it. Then, she follwed behind and PICKED UP all the petals that her cousin dropped. It was sooooo adorable! I just wish someone other than her daddy was around to entertain her. She was changed out of her dress even before the ceremony was over. Grrr!

[american_mama]

I had my two nieces, age about 16 months and 3 years, as flower girls. It did not go completely cas planned, but went well nevertheless. My nieces wore frilly spring dresses, and my sister actually borrowed one dress from some friends. My sister also practiced having the girls and their older brother walk down the aisle at their own church, so they knew the drill before even coming to the wedding. I would definetly recommend doing that, and giving a lot of happy verbal preparation beforehand. There were a lot of children at our wedding, so I hired babysitters for both the ceremony and reception, and then asked someone who knew my nieces, but wasn't in the wedding party, to meet them in the first row and escort them to the child care while the rest of the ceremony continued. And all the kids knew in advance what to expect.

It almost went according to plan, but my little niece started crying a few minutes before walking down the aisle because she wasn't getting something she wanted. My dad just whisked her away to the child care. Gee, Dad, couldn't someone else have done that while I am waiting for you to get back so we can walk down the aisle? But all was well. My niece is in the photos and in the program and had her own flowers, but was unfortunately absent for the actual moment. It was no big deal, and the girls looked totally sweet.