Being asked to be a bridesmaid for a friend or family member is quite an honor, so naturally when my best friend from college asked me last February if I would be a co-maid of honor in her wedding on January 7th, I said yes. This was my first time being a bridesmaid, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. My helpful hint to any bridesmaid, experienced or a newbie, is to ask the bride what you can help her out with to make her job easier. Some brides may want her bridesmaids to go with her to check out venues, pick out her wedding dress, help create favors, etc. Other brides may by okay with planning their big day without any help from their wedding party. However, if you make it known that you are willing to help, it will help ease the bride’s mind, especially as her wedding day approaches.
My friend’s wedding was a little different than most. She currently lives out of state with her now husband, so she was not around to have a bridal shower or bachelorette party. She also did not really want to have a shower or a party. Since my friend did not have either one, that really lessened all of our duties for the wedding.
Typically, most brides will have at least one shower and a bachelorette party with their bridesmaids and their close family and friends. As you probably already know, it is usually the maid of honor’s job to plan the bachelorette party for the bride. The bridal party may also be asked to plan the wedding shower, but sometimes this is also put on by a family member. If the bachelorette party or bridal shower becomes your responsibility to plan, be sure to check with the bride to see what she ideally would like for each of these events. After all, both parties are to celebrate her, so her personality and interests should be taken into consideration when planning.
For my friend’s wedding, the wedding party got together the Friday before her big day to spend the evening together. We spent time catching up, going to dinner, decorating her ceremony/reception site, and having a sleepover in a hotel. The next morning we woke up and proceeded to get ready for the day. She had a family friend come to do all of our hair and makeup. Once that was done we headed out for the ceremony/reception site and ate lunch with the rest of the bridal party and family members. After we finished up with lunch, we got dressed and had our rehearsal for the ceremony (While this is not ideal, it worked in her situation). We then had pictures and prepared for the ceremony to begin. The ceremony flew by, and then all bridesmaids helped to get stuff in order for the reception. At this point our duties began to wane. The only things that I was asked to do from that point on was to take money for the dollar dance with the bride and make sure my friend had her toss bouquet at the right time. The dollar dance may have been my favorite part because the groomsman, who was taking the money for the groom, and I were competing against each other to see who could get the most money.
Overall, my experience being a bridesmaid was a great one! If you should get the opportunity to be a bridesmaid for one of your friends, I would highly recommend doing so.
Do you have any interesting experiences being a bridesmaid or have insight to share with me or any of my readers? Leave a comment below, and I will get back to you as soon as possible!
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