{"id":114817,"date":"2025-02-26T11:27:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T04:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/?p=114817"},"modified":"2025-02-26T11:27:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T04:27:33","slug":"my-grandmothers-are-the-flower-girls-at-my-wedding-and-not-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/my-grandmothers-are-the-flower-girls-at-my-wedding-and-not-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"My Grandmothers Are The Flower Girls At My Wedding and Not Everyone&hellip;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>My Grandmothers Are The Flower Girls At My Wedding and Not Everyone Is Happy About It&hellip;\n<p>Weddings, I rapidly discovered, elicit opinions from people you didn\u2019t even realize had opinions. When my fianc\u00e9, Evan, and I began planning our wedding, I was determined to make it seem personalized rather than a generic ceremony. One thing was immediately clear: neither of our families had any small children. No nieces, nephews, or infant cousins.\n</p><p>Instead of attempting to borrow someone else\u2019s child to be our flower girl, why not ask my two grandmothers?\n</p><p>Grandma Helen and Grandma Marlene were both in their seventies and still full of life\u2014more fun than most people my age, if I\u2019m being honest. They were the kind of ladies who danced at family gatherings, gossiped like teens over coffee, and continued to send handwritten birthday cards.\n</p><p>When I called them up to ask, there was a long pause. Then Helen burst out laughing.\n</p><p>\u201cYou\u2019re serious?\u201d she asked between giggles. \u201cYou want two old ladies throwing petals down the aisle?\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cExactly,\u201d I said.\n</p><p>To my astonishment, she consented immediately. Marlene needed a little more convincing, but once Helen had her on board, they went all in. They even went dress shopping together, emailing me continuous updates.\n</p><p><img fetchpriority='\"high\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-114827 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/justmetalking.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/grandma-flower-firrl.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"1080\"' height='\"1350\"' srcset='\"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/grandma-flower-firrl.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n</p><p>\u201cHelen wants a lavender dress, but I think I should wear pink\u2014what do you think?\u201d Marlene asked me one afternoon.\n</p><p>I loved how excited they were. It was perfect.\n</p><p>Until my future mother-in-law found out.\n</p><p>She drew me aside at dinner one night, her demeanor taut as if she was about to bring bad news.\n</p><p>\u201cSweetheart,\u201d she said carefully, \u201care you sure this is the right choice? It\u2019s\u2026 well, a little unconventional.\u201d\n</p><p>I knew exactly what she meant. She thought it was weird. Embarrassing, even.<br>\n\u201cI think it\u2019s perfect,\u201d I told her. \u201cAnd they\u2019re excited.\u201d\n</p><p>She pressed her lips together, clearly holding back an argument. Evan, to his credit, just shrugged and said, \u201cI think it\u2019s great.\u201d\n</p><p>But the tension stayed. His side of the family was very traditional. I could already imagine the raised eyebrows throughout the ceremony. And then, a few days before the wedding, my mother-in-law did the unthinkable.\n</p><p>She called my grandma and attempted to get them to stand down.\n</p><p>Helen called me, and her voice was particularly harsh.\n</p><p>\u201cThat woman,\u201d she started, \u201cthinks we\u2019re going to embarrass you.\u201d\n</p><p>I felt my stomach drop. \u201cWhat?\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cShe called me and Marlene and told us she was worried we\u2019d \u2018draw attention away from the bride and groom.\u2019\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cShe actually said that?\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cOh, yes,\u201d Helen huffed. \u201cLike two old ladies tossing petals is going to ruin your wedding.\u201d\n</p><p>I was fuming. Not only did she go behind my back, but she also implied that my grandmothers were unworthy of meaningful inclusion.\n</p><p>\u201cShe didn\u2019t talk you out of it, did she?\u201d I asked cautiously.\n</p><p>\u201cOh, hell no,\u201d Helen scoffed. \u201cIf anything, I\u2019m throwing those petals with even more enthusiasm now.\u201d\n</p><p>Marlene, however, had doubts.<br>\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to cause problems, sweetheart,\u201d she admitted when I called her. \u201cI\u2019d step down if it makes things easier for you.\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cNo,\u201d I said firmly. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about making things easier. It\u2019s about celebrating people who matter to me. And you and Grandma Helen matter.\u201d\n</p><p>That seemed to reassure her, but I could tell she was still concerned about the tension.\n</p><p>On the day of the wedding, I could feel my mother-in-law\u2019s disdain. She was courteous yet frigid. Some of Evan\u2019s family mumbled as they spotted my grandmothers in their flower girl dresses\u2014Helen in lavender and Marlene in pink, both grinning.\n</p><p><strong>And then the ceremony began.\n<p>The music played, and they walked down the aisle, scattering petals with glee. The entire room erupted in laughter and applause. Even the wary relatives couldn\u2019t help but smile as Helen sprinkled flowers over a visitor\u2019s head like confetti. Marlene, being the graceful one, moved a little slower and waved gently as if she were royalty.\n</p><p>By the time they got to the altar, even my mother-in-law was smiling. She still seemed stiff, but there was no doubting the warmth in the room.\n</p><p>Later, at the reception, no one could stop talking about them.\n</p><p>\u201cThat was the best thing I\u2019ve ever seen at a wedding,\u201d one of Evan\u2019s aunts told me.\n</p><p>\u201cYour grandmothers are iconic,\u201d a friend said.\n</p><p>Even my mother-in-law, though begrudgingly, admitted, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t what I expected, but\u2026 they certainly made an impression.\u201d\n</p><p>And the best part? Helen and Marlene had the time of their lives.\n</p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re thinking of making this a business,\u201d Helen joked as she sipped champagne. \u201cProfessional flower girls for hire. What do you think?\u201d\n</p><p>I laughed. \u201cI think you\u2019d be booked for years.\u201d\n</p><p>Marlene patted my hand. \u201cThank you for including us, sweetheart. It meant the world.\u201d\n</p><p>And in that instant, I knew I had made the proper decision.\n</p><p>Because weddings aren\u2019t about traditions. They are about love. And my grandmothers? They deserved to be celebrated just like everyone else.\n</p><p>So, if you ever wonder whether you should break a wedding \u2018law\u2019 to make it more special, do it.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"</p><p>My Grandmothers Are The Flower Girls At My Wedding and Not Everyone Is Happy About It&hellip; Weddings, I rapidly discovered, elicit opinions from people you didn\u2019t even realize had opinions. When my fianc\u00e9, Evan, and I began planning our wedding, I was determined to make it seem personalized rather than a generic ceremony. One thing\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[818],"class_list":{"0":"post-114817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moral-story","8":"tag-moral-touching-stories"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/grandma-flower-firrl.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114828,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114817\/revisions\/114828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></strong></p></strong></p>