On Bouquets

For some reason, bouquets have been on my mind recently. We're not even looking at flowers yet, so I'm not sure why they keep popping up.

Here's the deal: I'm not sure that I want a bouquet. That probably seems really anti-bridal. The thing is, I don't really see the point. They seem like a pain - you carry it down the aisle, then hand it to the maid of honor - so she ends up double fisting bouquets. But then, she's also supposed to be helping me with my train. So, does that mean she hands both bouquets off? Does the next person in line end up holding 3 bouquets? That seems a bit much.

If I don't get a bouquet, that probably means I won't get bouquets for my bridesmaids either. I've read some posts that talk about having bouquets so that the bridesmaids have something to do with their hands. Then I started wondering if they should have purses or something that they could hold but wouldn't be as cumbersome and they could potentially reuse them. A purse seems odd, though, it may look like they're getting ready to leave! Plus, the groomsmen never have anything "to do" with their hands, they just stand there & they seem to survive.

So, if we don't have any bouquets at all, then do we need boutonnieres for the guys...or for the family? We found these cool boutonnieres here. I mean - WOW! How freakin' cool are they? I'm almost afraid to ask how much they are. If we do those for the guys, what do you do for the women?