Operation Flower Girl

We are having three flower girls: Rob’s nieces Grace and Julia (who are eight and six years old, respectively) and my (nearly!) two-year-old niece Savannah. We figured that having three flower girls wouldn’t be an issue. Savannah will still be two years old when we get married, making her too young to perform flower girl duties on her own. Grace and/or Julia can help Savannah while ensuring the petals are properly scattered.


I knew Julia had never been a flower girl before, so I wanted to find a fun way to ask Rob's nieces to be flower girls in the wedding. At first, I thought about giving them real flowers, or a basket with actual flowers. After some thought, I decided on giving them cookies decorated like flowers in a basket. Real flowers die and aren’t edible. Cookies taste delicious.

My mother was a big help. In her younger days, her hobby was cake decorating. She had old decorating books that had instructions on making icing flowers. The book had us making icing flowers on a nail, which was difficult. My efforts turned out looking nothing like the pansy I was trying to create. (My mom was luckier.) Sticking with the simple daisy proved to be the best for me. In hindsight, making the icing flowers and then putting them on the cookies wasn’t the best way to go. Creating the flower on the cookie would have been easier.

As an aside — The books we used were from the 1970's, and the pictures portrayed the wife spending all day decorating the cake for her husband’s birthday. The cake was served at a table with two well dressed smiling children (boy and a girl) who had tall glasses of milk in front of them. Mom wore a pearl necklace, a dress, apron, and a smile. Dad had on a tie and was surprised by the beauty of his cake…Oh, those must have been the days.

The final product turned out pretty and tasted yummy. We placed the cookies in two baskets, one for Grace and one for Julia, with a flower shaped note asking if they would be a flower girl. The girls seemed to like them. When we asked them to be our flower girls, they said yes.

Grace's basket

Julia's basket

Savannah did not get a basket of cookies. She did get a flower cookie (and asked for a second one, which she didn’t get). I then asked her if she wanted to be a flower girl for Aunt Mel and Rob. I showed her a picture in a magazine of a flower girl.

Flower girl practice

From her perspective, a flower girl wears a pretty dress, dances around, and carries a basket of flowers. Beyond that, she doesn’t comprehend. She did say "Yes," though.

Also, Savannah has been practicing being a flower girl. She thinks it’s a game, and carries a basket down the hall saying “Step, step.” She encourages Grandma and Grandpa Slick to be a flower girl, and they frequently indulge her.

With such beautiful and excited flower girls, our wedding party is off to a good start!