My mom is one of eight brothers and sisters. No, seriously... eight! (Ah, Irish Catholics!) And while she's towards the beginning of the birth order, her youngest sister was born while my mom was away at college - which is how I turned out to be a thirty-one year old bride with two eight year old cousins.
Not just any eight year old cousins, of course, but the cutest, smartest, funniest, awesome-est twin eight year olds ever! The girls are both great, and as soon as Mr. M and I started thinking about our bridal party, I knew that I wanted the twins to be a part of it. They were flower girls at my brother's wedding a few years back, and at another cousin's wedding a little while before that, so I figured they should be professionals by now! And since both of the ladies are so cute and smart and funny and awesome, I wanted to make sure I asked them to be my flower girls in a really special way. 
So I found these teeny little pale pink letterpress cards in a stationery store in Philadelphia and I Googled around for a cute little girly poem to write inside of them and I mailed them off, all proud of myself for being the totally cool older cousin who was clearly going to treat these girls like the little princesses they are!
Then we all got together for a family gathering a few weeks ago, and I was all, "Sooooo.... are you guys excited to be my flower girls?! You can wear fluffy pink dresses and cute little shoes and flower crowns just like a fairy princess!!!!" The twins, to their credit, managed to smile and nod politely. Then my mother walked into the room and said, "Flower girls?! Why not junior bridesmaids?"
"Would you guys rather be junior bridesmaids?" I asked. Their eyes lit up. "Yeah!"
"Oh... okay!" I said, "And would you rather wear pink poofy dresses, or more sophisticated ones like the bridesmaids?" They were definitely in agreement - "Sophisticated!"
"Okay!" I said, "Junior bridesmaids it is!"
Not having kids myself, I think I must have just been totally out of touch with the sensibilities of an eight year old girl - but now that I think back, I would have been happier as an eight year old junior bridesmaid myself. Plus, the girls will be pushing ten by the time our wedding rolls around - and clearly, one ages out of flower girl territory well before hitting double digits in age!
The twins' mother pulled me aside that afternoon and said, "Honestly, they'll be flower girls if you would rather they be flower girls. You get the be the boss on your wedding day!" But at the end of the day, I don't really care what we call them in the program and whether they wear sleek navy dresses or froofy pink ones - I'm just glad they're a part of the wedding party. And if making them junior bridesmaids makes them feel special and grownup and cool, then I am totally happy to have two junior bridesmaids!
Besides, all is not lost in the flower girl department... I've got the sweetest little baby niece who will be just perfect for the job!
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