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Forget Diamonds! The Maid of Honor is a Bride’s Best Friend

The maid/matron of honor is a very important position reserved for the bride’s closest friend or family member. If you have recently been asked to be a maid or matron of honor, you are probably on Cloud Nine, but at the same time you may be completely unaware of your duties and some extra things you could be doing to help out your over-stressed bride, because as a maid or matron of honor, your number one concern is the bride, and you should make yourself available to her by following these key steps.
1.) Whatever tasks your bride may assign to you, whether it’s one or one hundred, be sure to complete them in a timely manner and make sure they meet your bride’s expectations. Your friend is already stressed, and the last thing she needs is for you not to complete or halfway do something she asked of you.
2.) The bride will want your involvement in every aspect of her special day, including shopping for “the dress”. The bride’s gown is, to most brides, the most important part of the wedding. It is important, as her friend that you accompany her and assist her in picking out a dress that is not only beautiful, but also flattering.
3.) You should be prepared to purchase all of your wedding attire including dress, shoes, and jewelry. Most brides will expect you to pay for one or all of these items as your “gift” to them. A way to make this as cost friendly for you as possible, is to not only be honest with your bride about a price range, but also to accompany the bride to look at bridesmaids dresses. This way you can help the bride decide on the most affordable and beautiful dress that will not only compliment you, but also the other bridesmaids.
4.) It is your responsibility to host, organize, and pay for the bachelorette party, even if the other bridesmaids choose not to help. You should also offer to throw the bridal shower, if no one else has offered to host one. If someone else has offered to host the bridal shower, you should make plans to attend and help any way that you can.
5.) The day of the wedding, you should make sure that the bride’s overnight bag or suitcases for their honeymoon get placed in their “wedding day escape vehicle”. By taking over this responsibility, you are helping your bride with one last thing she won’t to remember.
6.) As the maid of honor, it is always a good idea to have a “wedding day survival kit” prepared. This “survival kit” could include items like: bobby pins and a travel size can of hairspray, for bridal hair mishaps or touch-ups. As well as, safety pins and self adhesive Velcro, for possible dress disasters.
7.) FIX THE BRIDE’S TRAIN ON HER DRESS. The number one mistake I see many maid of honors making is the lack of concern to the bride’s dress during the ceremony. You have to remember that the wedding is not about you, and your number one goal is to help make this the best day of your bride’s life. The best way you can do that is to pay attention to the little things, like her train.
8.) Not only will you be assisting her with the train on her dress, but you will also be holding her bouquet during the vows, and any other part of the ceremony where she will need her hands free. You will also be in charge of the groom’s ring. Whether you get his ring from her the day before or moments before, its important that you get it from her so that she won’t have to worry about where it is or who has it.
9.) You should plan on helping the bride in changing or making adjustments to her gown before going to the reception, whether that is bustling her gown or helping her change into a different one, its important that you help her get that done as quickly as possible. You should also make sure you have her make-up bag handy to help her with any make-up or hair touch-ups before the reception.
10.) You will also need to prepare a speech for the reception. This speech should be just a few heartfelt words about what the bride has meant to you and what well wishes you may have for the new couples future together. It should be no more than three minutes long and it often helps to compose it before hand, instead of moments before the speech.

While these are not all the responsibilities you will have as a maid/matron of honor these are some of the important ones. You should keep in mind that your job is to help the bride, no matter how dull or tedious a job she gives you may be; you should still aspire to do it to the best of your ability.