When it comes to weddings, flower girls are an excellent way to include younger relatives or the children of friends. They’re also a crowd favorite as they walk down the aisle, typically in cutesy white dresses tossing flower petals along their path.
This precious precursor to the bride’s own arrival is not only one of the most cherished matrimonial customs, but it adds to the overall aesthetic of a wedding. The trail of flowers helps guide the bride as she travels down to the altar. Though many popular wedding traditions, such as the garter toss, gained popularity surprisingly recently, this isn’t the case for flower girls. They staked their claim in the wedding procession a long time ago—and below, we break down the real history behind their origins.
The Origins of Flower Girls
The earliest examples in history of flower girls were different from how we see them today. For starters, they didn’t actually carry flowers at all. Instead, young girls in ancient Rome would shower the bride’s path with herbs and grains like wheat and oats.
Strewing these foods during the wedding procession was seen as a way of ushering in prosperity for the newlywed couple. This was in especially relevant when it came to fertility.
Why? Because the Roman goddess Ceres (Demeter in Greek mythology) was associated with both agricultural abundance and motherhood, and grains were often considered a prominent symbol of fertility. As most Roman weddings were arranged for the ultimate purpose of producing children, this was the biggest blessing they could receive.
The Evolution of Modern-Day Flower Girls
Through the centuries, though, people have made the tradition their own. For instance, during the Renaissance, some flower girls swapped out their flowers and grains for garlic in order to protect the couple from evil spirits.
In the English Elizabethan era, when children started representing the ideals of hope and innocence, the flower girl took on a new meaning. The little girl, dressed all in white and walking down the aisle before the bride, represented the bride’s past self. As the girl completed her duties and faded away into the audience, the bride was to emerge, symbolizing her transformation from a girl into a woman.
Victorian-era flower girls were also known to carry floral hoops down the aisle, which were more than just beautiful trinkets. This was the first period in history during which romantic love was considered fundamental to marriage, rather than being a merely political or economic proposition. These hoops represented the couple’s wedding rings and, ultimately, the Victorian ideal of endless love based in matrimony.
Who Can Be a Flower Girl?
Does your flower girl have to be a young girl? Nope. Nowadays, the tradition is flexible enough to reflect the wishes of the marrying couple, and is not confined to a specific gender. Though flower girls are typically girls from 3 to 8 years old, there’s no hard-and-fast rule, so any person close to the couple can fill the role.
There’s also no limit to the number of flower girls one can have, either—so, thankfully, no need to pick a favorite relative. Especially for childfree weddings, having no flower girl at all is perfectly OK, too. But for those looking for more of a traditional wedding party or a way to make the little ones feel more included, the flower girl role is the definition of sweet and simple.
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