Tennessee Bride and Groom Ask All Four Grandmothers to Be Flower Girls at Their Wedding

Illustration - Shutterstock

Four sassy grandmothers in matching sequined dresses garnered attention on the internet after a unique request had them attending a wedding as flower girls for a young bride.

Lyndsey Raby defied convention by inviting the four matriarchs—grandmothers to her and her husband—to participate in the special wedding ceremony.

“I thought it was such a sweet way to involve them,” Lyndsey told Good Morning America. “They mean the world to us, and we were so grateful lo have them here with us because a lot of people don’t even get one [grandmother] at their wedding.”

As Lyndsey and her betrothed, Tanner Raby, tied the knot on Sept. 22, 2019, at Ocoee Crest in Benton, Tennessee, Lyndsey’s 90-year-old maternal great-grandmother Kathleen Brown walked down the aisle before them. Grandma Kathleen threw petals from a white wooden box and wore a beaming smile of pride on her face.

Besides Grandma Kathleen, the remaining flower girls consisted of Tanner’s 70-year-old paternal grandmother Joyce Raby and the bride’s own grandparents: 76-year-old Wanda Grant, on her dad’s side, and 72-year-old grandmother Betty Brown, on her mom’s.

Lyndsey told HuffPost that the grandmothers were “ecstatic” to be asked to join the wedding party. “I do believe they were more excited than my bridesmaids,” Lyndsey said.

The grandmothers, it turned out, were thoroughly taken by surprise to receive Lyndsey’s invitation. “I said, ‘You surely don’t want grandmas to be flower girls,’” one of the happy foursome told Inside Edition. Lyndsey reassured them that yes, in fact, she did.

Allegedly, the grandmothers gave the wedding planner a run for their money, especially when it came to dress shopping for the big day. “It took us a while to find the right dress; they were divas about it!” Lyndsey admitted.

Lyndsey herself wore a white, full-skirted, tulle wedding gown. The grandmothers were also dressed to the nines in matching blue sequined dresses with cropped blue jackets. They were a little hesitant on the dance floor but regained their confidence in front of the camera.

The womens’ zest for life was evident to wedding photographer Natalie Caho, who captured many beautiful moments between the four elderly women and their grandchildren on the big day in September.

“My great-grandmother is the sassiest little thing in the world,” Lyndsey told Today. “She’s single and always looking for a man!”

“I was not expecting the level of sass that these girls brought,” Caho added. “Their energy all day was that of a little girl who was in the same position. It truly just goes to show that age is just a number.”

Caho’s pictures show the bride and four grandmothers laughing and smiling their way through the bright, sunny afternoon at Ocoee Crest.

The photographer shared one image of Lyndsey surrounded by the four beautiful elderly women on her business Instagram page, captioned:

“I’ve seen a lot of cute flower girls in my day, but these four gals take the cake.”

After footage of Lyndsey and Tanner’s wedding day was shared by Inside Edition, comments from the public came in thick and fast, attesting to the grandmothers’ amazing performances in their roles as flower girls.

“You know you’re epic when you’re at your grandchild’s wedding,” wrote one fan.

“I love this, what a thoughtful bride,” added another. “Decorating the walker with flowers was a sweet touch.”

“It’s gonna be a new trend! Believe me, 2020,” wrote another fan, while hundreds of people left positive affirmations for the joyful grandmothers, and the happy couple who gifted them such important roles on their special day.

Allegedly, Lyndsey saw a similar wedding party setup on Pinterest and decided it would be the perfect way to honor her and her husband Tanner’s grandmothers.

“We just loved it! Walking down the aisle, everybody looking at us, just laughing,” one of the four shared. “It was a good day.”

For Lyndsey, one of the most rewarding consequences of getting all four grandmothers together to form a flower-girl-troupe extraordinaire was watching Joyce Raby, Tanner’s grandmother, bond with the other women in the group.

“They’re all besties now and talking on Facebook,” the newlywed Lyndsey revealed, as per People. “Family is the most important thing to all of us.”

Lyndsey’s takeaway message, beside a plethora of happy memories and a wedding album to be proud of, is how important it is to treasure elderly relatives.

Anyone “lucky enough” to have their grandparents present at their nuptials might find an unexpected benefit to including them in the ceremony, she said. “It means so much to them,” Lyndsey explained, “and it will mean so much more to you.”