I have no friends to put in my bridal party!!?

[BeatriceBatten]

You don't need a bridal party.

The point of a bridal party is to honor your closest friends, not to fill a bunch of empty slots or have a popularity contest.

Nobody will think you're a "loser" if you don't have bridesmaids. Most people won't even notice. A few may think, "What a smart person ... she's avoiding all the drama that comes with wedding parties!"

If you were really a "loser," then why would someone have asked you to marry him? Why would a bunch of people be coming to your wedding to wish you well? If you were really a "loser" then you'd have absolutely nobody.

If your fiance is asking people to be groomsmen, then that's fine. You don't have to ask an equal amount of bridesmaids, or ANY bridesmaids ... he can have those groomsmen, and they can stand for BOTH of you. Because they ARE there to support both of you! If they didn't support *you* then they would've told your fiance NO. At the rehearsal, you can arrange them so that half are on your side and half on his, and the photographer can arrange everyone nicely for the photos.

Alternatively, if you're really close to your brothers or any male friends, it's OK to have them as your attendants. You aren't limited to just women.

But, really, don't choose a bunch of random women (or men) simply for the sake of having warm bodies up there with you. Again, the point of a bridal party is to honor your closest friends, not to look popular.

I can tell you DOZENS of stories about friends who asked the wrong people to be bridesmaids (fiance's sisters that they barely knew, childhood friends they weren't close to anymore but made a promise to 10 years ago to be bridesmaids, random coworkers/cousins to "even out the sides") ... I've heard tons of people say, "I wish I'd had fewer bridesmaids" or "I wish I hadn't had bridesmaids at all." But I promise you ... I've never, EVER heard anyone say, "I wish I'd had more bridesmaids" or "I wish we'd had an equal number of bridesmaids and groomsmen," or "I had no bridal party and I really regret it."

Just leave it how it is. If you already asked a Maid of Honor and she can't make it, then just don't have a bridal party. End of story. I promise you that you won't look like a loser, nobody will think you're a loser, and you won't spend the rest of your life upset about it.