Friday, September 17, 2010

A Junior What?

There are a lot of "junior things." For instance, there's Junior Mints . (image source)

There's junior/senior prom, of which bridesmaid Mang and I attended. Here's our senior year (our dates not pictured because I've repressed all memories of them):
There's this Junior, of course. (photo via imdb):
And what about Face from Nick Jr? Anybody remember him? (image source)

But a junior bridesmaid? Does that just men a very small bridesmaid? I mean, Bridesmaid Mang is very short . . .

According to Love to Know, a junior bridesmaid is,
"The role of a junior bridesmaid is perfect for a girl who isn't quite old enough to be a bridesmaid, but she is too old to be a flower girl. A junior bridesmaid's role offers those in-betweens the opportunity to participate in the wedding and be an important part of the bridal party."
Okay, that's helpful. Love to Know also goes on to list the responsibilities of the junior girl (visit the website for a longer explanation.)

  • Purchase a Dress - aka have mom and dad buy it
  • Attending the Rehearsal
  • Participate in the Processional - will go down the aisle, doesn't need an escort
  • During the Ceremony - stand up with Team Wedding
  • Receiving Line- not part of the line if not part of the family
  • During the Reception - hand out things
  • Attending a Shower- doesn't plan, but welcome to attend
  • Attending a Bachelorette Party - um, if appropriate
So what does this have to do with us? Well, we're having a Junior in Team Wedding. After asking 4 of 5 of Mr. G's siblings to be in our wedding, it didn't seem right to leave out FSIL LB just because she wasn't quite old enough to be on the Team. This way all of the Mr. Giraffe sibs get to be part of our day.

FSIL LB, me, & TB circa 2007

Even thought I'm not quite sure about BM dresses yet, I'm all ready thinking about our JBM dress. It's really important to me that LB is dressed 'age appropriate.' I mean, sure, she'll be standing with a group of 20 somethings, but she'll just turn 13 before W day. Mr. G and I don't want anything too short or low cut. I also read online (and everything the internet says is true) that its not appropriate for a JBM to wear a strapless dress.

On the other hand, LB will be a teenager and I don't want her looking 'too young.' I don't think she'd feel special if she didn't get to look 'fancy' like her older sister and FSIL. (Sidebar: she all ready calls me her sister. How sweet, right? . . or at least she has me down as sister on her Facebook page. Same difference).

Believe it or not, it's been really hard to find a dress that's not too young or old.
Uhhhh, sorry House of Brides, but even though you're telling me that that's a JBM dress, I don't quite think it is.

This dress, on the other hand, was also marked a JBM dress, but its too young.
So where does that leave us? I had no clue. Once I find some dresses that are worth considering, I'll share them with you guys for sure.

You want to know the real trouble though?
Differentiating LB from the rest of the Team. I want her to look like a JBM, not a BM (which is why she's not wearing a dress for a 25 year old). The problem is that I asked LB to be in the wedding when she was 11. She's 12 now and has recently hit her growth spurt and is shooting up like a weed. She's now taller than 2 BMs, the same height as 1, and only 2" shorter than me. Oh man! It's so hilarious, it seriously cracks me up.

Anyone else figure out how to dress a junior bridesmaid? Or is it really just kind of impossible?

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