Building a wedding party without the traditional bridesmaid and groomsman split

The traditional split, bridesmaids on one side, groomsmen on the other, was never a rule so much as a default, and plenty of couples now build their wedding party around who they're closest to rather than which side of the aisle tradition assigns them to.

Titles worth knowing

• "Groomsmaid" or "bridesman": a person standing on a side that doesn't match the traditional gender pairing
• "Person of honor" or "honor attendant": a gender-neutral alternative to maid or matron of honor and best man
• "Best woman": increasingly common when a groom's closest person is a woman

Outfit coordination

The simplest approach is choosing a shared color palette and letting each person wear a suit or a dress in that palette, whichever suits them, rather than forcing everyone into a matching outfit style. This has become common enough that most formalwear rental services and boutiques are used to the request.

Where people stand during the ceremony

There's no obligation to split the party by traditional side at all, standing arrangements can be based on who's standing up for which partner, in whatever order and grouping feels right, rather than defaulting to a gendered layout.