I think it would be great to have some friends get there early to help me get ready, enjoy mimosas, etc. Wedding is at a botanical garden and we'll probably do couples pics before the wedding, so anyone who gets there early could just kill time/enjoy themselves at the gardens between the "getting ready" time and the "ceremony" time--the venue fee comes with free admission to the garden for everyone.
I'm not opposed to the notion of people standing up there with me during the ceremony in the more traditional "wedding party" sense, but I just don't really feel like I have a strong need for that, and it's certainly not something I ever dreamed of, per se. Plus, a whole wedding party suddenly feels like I'm making things more complicated than they need to be for what will be a pretty casual wedding. (my partner and I have been together for 9 years and I'm in my mid-30s so honestly I'm kinda just "wedding'd out" at this point, if that makes sense)
But I'm also not sure if I'm missing something that would indicate a reason to not take this approach. Like, obviously I could invite 10 people to come hang early, but without the "wedding party" impetus/obligation, many may choose not to come early. And that's totally fine, I'm not trying to set any sort of attendance obligation here. Just thought it would be a way to make the getting ready part a bit more fun without establishing formal "roles." If you've taken this approach, has it worked? How did you communicate this to folks you'd like to ask to arrive early? Is this idea just generally ass?
Note: My partner has also expressed that it would be fun to have people to get ready with, but also that "that's kinda just the whole point of the wedding party, right?" So we're both on the same page regarding thinking that sounds fun. idk if we're both mutually off our rockers, though.