Role Play: Involving Our Friends

I have mentioned before that we are not having a formal bridal party, but that we will be involving (many) of our friends in different ways throughout our wedding and engagement.

You've already seen how we're honoring our family and our many rabbis, as well as my friends who came to pick out my dress.

In April and May, we had bachelor and bachelorette parties so that we could celebrate with our friends (stay tuned - my New Orleans French Quarter Fest extravaganza is coming up soon!).

We will be having four of our friends (instead of the traditional two) sign our Ketubah as a way of honoring more people (the people who sign the ketubah must not be related to you in any way, and they must be Jewish and have a Hebrew name).

We will each have a friend run our Tisch before the ceremony - we will greet our guests separately as they arrive, set to music, food and general merriment! Our friends will act as MCs.

We will be having 16 of our friends participate during the ceremony by reading the Seven Blessings - 7 in Hebrew and 9 (two pairs) in English. Readings are a great way to honor friends and loved ones in your wedding that you might not have been able to otherwise. Jewish tradition comes complete with readings and prayers outlined in the ceremony, but there is always room to add your favorites.

We will be having three or four friends act as guards when we visit the yichud after the ceremony (or as I like to call it, "7 minutes in heaven" ;) - the bride and groom spend [traditionally] 7 minutes alone together immediately after the ceremony. As I understand it, they mostly wind up relaxing with each other and eat because they haven't eaten all day!)

There is a chance that people may want to make toasts. This is up to them and I will let you know how this goes!

Have you found any creative ways to involve your friends outside of the bridal party?