4 Tips for Planning a Wedding With a Mixed-Gender Wedding Party

Although having bridesmen and groomsmaids in your wedding party might be frowned upon by some of your most conservative family members, you have every right to invite whoever you want to join your wedding party. Your attendants are supposed to be your closest friends, so if your best friend is of the opposite sex and you want them to be your attendant, go ahead. However, going for a mixed-gender wedding party will influence on your wedding day logistics. So how to pull off a wedding with a mixed-gender wedding party?

#1. Choose the attire carefully. If each side of the wedding party includes members of both genders, you can't just put all women in dresses of the same color and have men wear identical ties/boutonnieres, it will be confusing.

We suggest that you choose a color to represent each side of the wedding party, for example, pink for the bride's side and navy blue for the groom's side. So bridesmaids will wear pink dresses and bridesmen will wear pink ties, while groomsmen will have navy ties and groomsmaids will be clad in navy dresses.

However, if you want to keep things simple, you can stick to one color and have all women wear the same dresses and all men wear the same tuxes. In this case you can use bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres to make each side of the wedding party stand out. For example, bridesmaids will have bouquets while groomsmaids will wear corsages.

#2. Don't forget about pre-wedding parties. Mixed-gender bachelor and bachelorette parties are becoming more common, and there are a lot of fun options fop a co-ed pre-wedding party, both traditional and non-traditional. There is only one important question you need to answer before you start planning the event: will you have two separate mixed-gender parties (one for the bride and one for the groom) or are you going to throw a joint party for everyone?

#3. Consider gender roles. Bridesmaids are typically expected to assist the bride whenever she needs it, for example, they can hold her bouquet or help her get dressed. Will it be okay for a male attendant to do so? You don't have to stick to traditional gender-specific wedding roles, but you need to think about such things beforehand and make sure your attendants know who does what. You also have to let the photographer know that they shouldn't try to reorganize your wedding party according to gender.

#4. Plan the ceremony. If you are going to get married in a church or temple, you need to check with the celebrant. Some denominations have a specific order for the wedding processional, and you will have to respect that. If you are planning a secular ceremony, things are much easier, but you still need to figure out the best way to incorporate your attendants in it.