Bride Chooses 92-year-old grandmother as bridesmaid: 'She is my best friend' [photos]

24 years old Amanda Scott who chose her grandmother to be her bridesmaid last year, has said that when she was planning her wedding, she couldn't help feeling like something wasn't quite right.

Then it hit her: She'd forgotten to include her best friend.

"We were talking about the wedding party, and something about it didn't feel complete," Scott, 24, told TODAY. "It was like a light bulb in my head — I should ask Granny to be a bridesmaid!"

 

"Realistically, she is my best friend," Scott, who lives in Ontario, Canada, continued. "We're just very close. We go to all our family things together, I take her to all her doctor's appointments ... we line
dance together. I talk to her a lot on the phone. At the end of the day, I thought, why wouldn't I ask her?"

Scott's 92-year-old grandmother, Mary Smith, was "thrilled" to be involved, Scott said. And when it came to bridesmaid duties, she was eager to help.

"I was really impressed with her!" Scott said. "She got her outfit all on her own, she donated some stuff from her past wedding to help make my veil, she was just very good at being a part of the wedding."

Smith told TODAY she's been a bridesmaid three times before, but not in several decades.




"I thought it was an honor that she asked me to be a bridesmaid at my age," she said. "It was a lovely day."

Smith and the other bridesmaids all wore denim and cowboy boots for the big day, which took place in the couple's backyard in St. Catharines, Ontario, last July.

If you're thinking that Scott's story sounds familiar, you're correct: In 2015, Christine Quinn of Pennsylvania asked her 89-year-old grandmother, "Nana Betty," to be a bridesmaid. We've also seen grandmothers as flower girls in weddings. (Remember these adorable flower grannies?)




While we're not sure grandmothers-as-bridesmaids is a full-blown trend just yet, one expert said it makes sense, given how today's brides are less tied to tradition than they used to be.

"Alternative bridal parties have become somewhat of a norm these days," Kellee Khalil, founder and CEO of the virtual wedding planner Loverly, told TODAY. "It was just a matter of time before modern brides and grooms started tipping the scales with even more interesting entourages for their big day."

And it makes sense: many couples even involve pets in their weddings, "so of course adored family members — no matter how old — would be part of that equation," Khalil added.

Scott said she hopes the trend sticks.

"People don't think about it, but it meant so much to her," she said of Smith's role as a bridesmaid. "I couldn't have asked for anything more on my wedding day than to see her so happy. I know it sounds corny. I think a lot of grandmothers would love to be a part of their granddaughter's wedding party."