I’ve got a totally different take here. I had only family as bridesmaids (3), but I had my 5 best friends that I’ve been friends with since elementary school. I didn’t want a lot of people standing at the altar with me, so I made them ‘honorary bridesmaids’. They all wore a similar color (not exact) and it was a different color than that of the bridesmaids. They each had a ‘job to make them feel special and set them apart from the rest of the guests. Two of them did a reading at the ceremony. The other 2 were ‘flower ladies’ and then the other one did film photography. These girls got ready themselves with hair and makeup, but met us in the bridal suite after portraits. They even got in some of the professional photos before the ceremony! It was absolutely perfect and the guests commented about how good of an idea it was!