Petal problems

irishangieb

So...the church where my wedding ceremony is just decided that they are no longer allowing the use of flower petals to be thrown ANYWHERE on the church grounds, not down the aisle and not outside the entrance where we will be exiting from.  Bummer. The plan all along was to use them.
I'm having an issue with deciding what to do for a) the flower girls and b) our exit. I've seen really cute pictures where the flower girls are holding signs that say here comes the bride and I think I could be ok with that but I'm wondering if someone out there may have another suggestion.  I would still have flowers in the little girls hair just because, I mean, flower girl suggests there should be some flowers involved and its just so cute!
As far as our exit, I'm stuck.  I don't really like the idea of bubbles at all and the ceremony is at 2 and will end around 3 or else I'd use sparklers (like we will be doing at our exit from the reception). Any ideas? Oh, the wedding is in October if that matters but my FI and I are taking a 3 mth trip this summer, leaving in may and not returning until end of august, so I'm really trying to lock some stuff down before I go because I know when we get back it will be hectic.

Sorry for the long post!

TiffannieF

Did they restrict the use of REAL flowers or just petals in general?

FG options
1-the "Here comes the Bride" sign is super cute
2-pomander balls (I made my FGs pomanders, they did not throw anything, because they were fake they got to keep them.  The just walked down the aisle holding the little ball).
Pic:



Exit options
1-bubbles, ribbon wands, sparklers, or I've also heard of eco-friendly paper lanterns that you can release into the air.
2-don't have an exit.  We didn't and I don't regret it.  Keeping guests waiting while you take pictures is a huge inconvenience for them, especially if the weather is not favorable (hot, cold, windy, etc.)  Not to mention any guests that have issues with standing for over 45 minutes.

harpsdesire

My venue is also anti-petal. 

I'm being sneaky and pre-glueing a 'sprinking' of fake or freeze-dried (not sure yet) petals to my aisle runner so they can just be re-rolled after the ceremony with no mess.

acaponi87

I think pomanders for FGs are really cute.

naomikb

Anything that was thrown at my church we had to clean up.  So we didn't throw anything.

The FGs carried pomanders, which were cute and I could make in advance:



For our exit we had our musicians play "Happy Together" by The Turtles, we had the words printed in the program and the guests sang along to the song as we bopped our down the aisle.

ashbabe

I'm not quite sure how old your flower girl is, but when I was a little girl, I was the flower girl in my aunt's wedding.  I had a flower basket filled with single flowers and the aisle was decorated with bows on every other pew on alternating sides.  She had me hand out flowers to whoever happened to be standing at the end of the pews with bows on them.  It helped coach me up the aisle and several family members still talk about it when the topic of weddings come up.

irishangieb

Thanks everyone! I really like all those ideas.  I do love the pomanders and we actually have 4 flower girls ( I have two 6 yr old cousins and my FI has two 6 year old neices...can't really single out one and I couldnt not have any cause they are too cute).  I also really love the idea of the handing out of single flowers, and I think the girls will love it too!
I have some thinking to do but at least now its not just being bummed because we can't throw flowers and its proactive.

Thanks again!!