If you are a nontraditional couple you might want to check out the up and coming trend of an I Do Crew. What is an I Do Crew? Read on to see if this bridal party alternative is for you.

What is the very first thing you do when you are planning a wedding? You bring your best friends along with you! Your thoughts will naturally turn to your wedding party and who you want to include in your big day. A bangin’ bridal party is half the fun of all the celebration leading up to the wedding. But, for the non-traditional couple, you might want to look into the idea of an I Do Crew.

While it’s increasingly common to have wedding party members of both sexes standing up for brides and grooms, what to call your brides-men (not sure how I feel about this) or grooms-women (definitely don’t like this) is all over the place. 

Something my fiance and I are opting out of for our wedding are bridesmaids and groomsmen, and instead combining them into an “I Do Crew.” This was the best decision for us for a few reasons.

How do you know if you should have an I Do Crew vs a Traditional Bridal Party

The truth of the matter is you don’t know! This is a completely personal decision. Some of our deciding factors included:

• We only wanted family at the alter
• We both only have male siblings
• Our friends all know one another and get along great
• All our friends would be standing up there for both of us anyways
• We have a lot of friends from different places of our lives that we want to be included on our special day
• You want to do joint activities leading up to the wedding

While it’s increasingly common to have wedding party members of both sexes standing up for brides and grooms, what to call your male brides-men (not sure how I feel about this) or grooms-women (definitely don’t like this) is all over the place. 

What is the difference between the two?

Honestly, in my experience, not a lot. This is a more comfortable and inclusive label to a bridal party for all our friends to celebrate both of us instead of being on the grooms side or the brides side. However, we are going to do a few things different at the wedding like:

• They will still walk down the aisle but instead of standing at the alter, our “crew” will have reserved seating in the first 2-3 rows.
• We will be encouraging a dress code for our guests that will allow the “crew” to stand out in the crowd.
• We are still asking for help on certain bridal functions (bachelorette/bachelor party, bridal party etc.) and are able to assign out those roles.
• They will still be in photos but the crew aspect makes it more inclusive for us to have their significant others, and maybe a few new, but fast friends to be involved in the photos.
• We can still participate in all the traditional bridal party features!

The truth is, there is not a lot of information on an I Do Crew. We are building this as we go, and thank goodness we have flexible friends who are willing to go with the flow of what we want for our wedding.

I’ll be sure to report back on how we’ve adapted this role and how we go about it on the BIG DAY! Tell me in the comments. What are you having your bridal party include on?