Hey there! Have you been asked to be in the bridal party at your friends wedding? Not sure what you are supposed to do. Then this short blog post is for you.
You have likely been asked to be a part of the wedding party because you are super important to either the bride or groom or both. That’s awesome!
Let’s talk about your role.
Pre-wedding responsibilities
You are going to be asked early in the wedding planning process if you want to be a part of the wedding party. If this is the case here is all you really need to do:
- Be a listening ear. If you have already been where the bride currently is you know how stressful planning a wedding can be. If you haven’t been a bride yet, just know that planning a wedding is stressful.
- Help plan the bachelorette party. The mom and family will likely be in charge of the bridal shower. The Maid of Honor should take point on the planning of the bachelorette but defiantly offer a helping hand.
- Attend at least one of the pre-wedding events (if you can). Yes, a lot of events happen leading up to the wedding. The bride will understand if you can’t make it to every single one. The ones to make sure are on your radar though: Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner.
- Purchase your outfit well in advance. Please make sure you are ordering your outfit with enough time for alterations. You don’t want to be worrying about it last minute.
- Ask if the couple needs help with anything. The bride will likely not want to ask for much help and want to try to do most of it on her own. So make sure to ask if there is anything you can do.
Wedding day responsibilities
- Arrive on-time. A timeline should have been constructed in the weeks leading up to the wedding day. Weddings move very fast when they get started so please arrive on time for the getting ready period.
- Don’t jump into the hair and make-up timeline last minute if you are not already on the list. This goes into the timeline again. If you choose to do your hair and makeup yourself please do not decide last minute to have it done professionally by the team there. This will set the timeline back 1-2 hours if you do and can be seen as very inconsiderate.
- Take the day off of work. Yes, it happens that with an evening wedding people think they can work and then show up. Do not do this. Your job is to be there for the bride and groom on their wedding day.
- Have fun and be yourself. Yes, a camera will be around all day. Try to not be stiff and don’t look at the camera all day. Be in the moment and celebrate with your friend/bride.
- Maid of Honor specifically. Hold the bridal bouquet during the ceremony but don’t forget to give it back before they make their way back up the aisle. Don’t forget to fix the back of the dress as well!
- Speeches. Usually, the Maid of Honor and Best Man needs to give a toast/speech but feel free to give one as well. If you do give a speech though try to memorize parts of it so you don’t need to look at your phone or paper the entire time and keep it short and sweet, maybe funny too.
- Help load gifts into the car before the reception is over. Sometimes this is not a job that the coordinator will do due to liability reasons. Most will from what I am aware of. But in cases where they don’t this is a job for the bridal party
Elizabeth Kane Photography is a luxury wedding and lifestyle photographer. I am currently booking 2023-2024 weddings in Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Inland Empire Area, Temecula, San Diego, Orange County, and the surrounding areas. If you are currently planning your wedding connect with me through the Contact Page for more information on packages and pricing.
