Wedding Party

It is totally up to you! Definitely not rude to skip having bridesmaids. Bridesmaids are not a requirement. If you want your closest friends to stand at the altar with you, then I would do a wedding party! Otherwise, it's absolutely fine to skip it. One thing to keep in mind with bridesmaids is that there are additional expenses: thank you gifts, paying for the rehearsal dinner, paying for their dresses/hair/makeup (if you choose to provide any of that), etc. But it's also a good way to honor your friends. Another thing you could do is to invite your closest friends to get ready with you the morning of the wedding, but not have any them be bridesmaids or participate in the ceremony.

A wedding party is absolutely not required for a wedding to function (barring any local requirement for witnesses, but even though, they can just be any two people). This is one of things that is completely up to the preference of the couple marrying. It's not rude not to have one and there are no rules about who is in them if you do have one.

For reference, neither my husband nor myself had attendants.

It’s not rude at all. With weddings during covid, many people are having smaller and intimate weddings which include bridal parties and guests. It’s your day so so as you wish

I’m skipping it because I don’t want to deal with the people-wrangling that’s required or the extra expense of dresses, hair, shoes, makeup, etc. My only challenge is figuring out who will help bustle my dress, since that’s what bridesmaids typically do, but I chose a dress with a fairly small train that will hopefully be easy.

I’m only having one bridesmaid and my maid of honor and my fiancé is having one groomsmen and best man. But you can totally have none if you don’t want to. It’s up to you!

Bridesmaids can be nice, but they are not needed, nor should you feel obligated to have them.
You shouldn't have stress and drama over "who is the better friend" or who to invite/not invite, especially because after getting into a committed relationship or marriage, your dynamic may change.

If you still wanted bridesmaids, and have a good relationship with your family and in-laws, you can include them. You can curb drama by limiting it to 1-3 such as a sibling, cousin, sister-in-law, or a grandparent.

If you wanted to be unconventional, or having a non-traditional wedding, or wanting to draw out laughs from your guests you could have a pet, cardboard cutout, or a hired actor (not even kidding- they might dress as a fairy godmother for you). If you wanted to be bold, you could even invite your favorite artist to your wedding just to see what they might say.

Wow, you all are absolutely amazing and so helpful! Thank you thank you 🤍

You do not need to have bridesmaids if you do not want them