Home :  Planning & Inspirations Home :  Wedding Home :  Wedding Ceremony Planning

Flower Girls and Page Boys

Ignore the old adage that you should “never work with animals or children.”  It’s so special to have little ones involved in your ceremony! Their own personalities shine and you will never be sure if they won’t do something funny that will steal the show!

So, how do avoid tears and tantrums and ensure those winning smiles on your wedding day?  Wedding blogger, Polkadot Bride provides her top tips for working with flower girls and pageboys.

Flower girl and pageboy planning

Flower girls and pageboys are best suited to the role when they are 4-7 years of age. After age 10 they tend to feel it’s a little ‘uncool’ and the term ‘junior bridesmaid’ and ‘junior groomsman’ is better suited.

Be sure to dress children in comfortable clothes. Check that necklines aren’t scratchy and whether they are warm or cool enough on the day. Make the child as comfortable as possible - do they hate things in their hair? Do they prefer their arms covered? Their clothing should be appropriate for the age of the child – and flat shoes are a must.

At the ceremony

Have plenty of talks and run throughs with nervous children beforehand so that they understand what is required of them.

Pageboys may carry a ring cushion, a flag announcing the arrival of the bride, bells, bubble blowers, or hold hands with the flower girl.  Flower girls might carry a posy, a basket of petals to scatter, bubble blowers, flower pomander or flower fairy wands.

If you are concerned about the disruption of a crying flower girl, assign a close adult to keep an eye on the children and take them out of the room for comforting.

At the reception

You may choose to have a childfree event. If you choose to do this, consider keeping your flower girl and pageboy close by and perhaps provide a separate room with an accredited babysitter to keep the little ones amused. Consider supplying pillows and blankets for naps.

If children are invited to the reception they will need some care and thought (if only to survive the long, tedious speeches), so provide gift bags which are especially kid friendly. Perhaps create your own colouring-in books with pages relating to your wedding and consider a kids’ only table staffed by a babysitter with colouring-in books, paper, crayons, toys, kid friendly food such as mini hamburgers and chicken nuggets (not your mushroom steak and garlic chicken!). Also consider the child - a mature nine year old might enjoy being with their parents, whereas a seven year old may not.

You may also choose to have music played during the reception familiar to children: ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ from Toy Story and ‘You’ll Be In My Heart’ from Tarzan are popular choices. Encourage them to have fun and get rid of excess energy by dancing.

If the wedding is in a garden, supervised play in the form of ball games, cricket, kite making (and flying) could be an ice breaker - and could even get some of the adults joining in!

Saying thank you

A small token of your gratitude may be presented to the child as a memento of the day. For little girls a flower girl jewellery set, a jewellery box with her monogrammed initials, wedding doll or teddy bear, or gorgeous flower girl tote and t-shirt sets are appropriate. For little boys an engraved money box, a personalised jersey, baseball bat or model airplane is just the ticket.

Main image on this page by A Lavish Affair.

Back to Wedding Ceremony Planning Ideas & Inspirations >>

Related Articles: