When Lyndsey Grant Raby got married this fall, her four flower girls carried “Here Comes the Bride” baskets and wore sparkly blue lace dresses with matching jackets. They were also all over 70.
That’s because Raby had her two grandmothers, her great-grandmother and her husband’s paternal grandmother walk ahead of her down the aisle scattering white petals and acting as her non-traditional wedding party members.
“I do believe they were more excited than my bridesmaids,” Raby said to the Huffington Post of her grandmothers’ reactions to being asked to be her flower girls.
“I’ve seen a lot of cute flower girls in my day … but these four gals take the cake,” said Raby’s wedding photographer, Natalie Caho, in an Instagram post.
Pictured above with the bride are (left to right) the bride’s great-grandmother, Kathleen Brown, aged 90; the groom’s grandmother, Joyce Raby, aged 70; the bride’s grandmother, Wanda Grant, aged 76; and the bride’s grandmother, Betty Brown, aged 72. The groom’s maternal grandmother was unable to participate due to health reasons.
In another Instagram post with a photo of the bride and her great-grandmother Kathleen, photographer Caho recommended that “if you’re on the fence about having something outside the ordinary at your wedding just do it! Especially if it means something as sweet as this did to you and your family.”
The wedding took place Sept. 22 at Ocoee Crest in Benton, Tennessee.
“This is where I get to be a flower girl! Never been one before,” Wanda Grant, the bride’s paternal grandmother, commented on one of her granddaughter’s Facebook posts leading up to the wedding. “Thank you, Lyndsey, for thinking of your grandmas sic and letting us celebrate this exciting day!”
The groom’s grandmother, Joyce Raby, also chimed in on that post, saying that this was her first flower girl experience too.
“Yes thank you Lyndsey and Tanner I have never been a flower girl this is so exciting and love you all so much,” she gushed.
Here’s a picture from Raby’s Facebook page, of several of her lovely flower girls walking down the aisle:
The grandmother flower girls went viral after Huffington Post, Good Morning America, Today and other news outlets picked up on the story.
Raby said she came up with the grandmother flower girl idea after seeing something similar on Pinterest, the source of many a bride’s wedding inspirations. Other flower girl grandmas have livened up wedding ceremonies in the past, too.
If you’re looking for additional inspiring ideas on how to incorporate grandparents into your big day, we’ve also seen brides wearing their grandmother’s wedding dress or another special dress and taking special portraits just with their grandmothers. In one wedding, a groom asked his grandfather to be the ring bearer.
What a great idea, providing memories with multiple generations of family all together. The pictures are gorgeous, too!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for other great tips and ideas to make the most out of life.
