This guide might be your lifeline for those who have wedding jitters and are bad organizers. We’ve compiled the duties of a maid of honour to help smoothen out the plan and share the details of what needs to be done pre-wedding and during the wedding. There’s a lot to unpack, but it’s not an impossible task.
If you need extensive and transparent information on topics such as wedding duties, you don’t have to look further than this article. There are plenty of experts who can help shed light on almost any topic.
Table of Contents
Pre-Wedding
- Help The Bride With Her Vision
The Maid of Honor is the bride’s, right-hand woman. As the maid of honour, try to help the bride with trivial tasks to bigger ones. Here are some expected functions that you and the bride might go over together (among many other things):
- Wedding invites
- Wedding themes and colours
- Cake flavours
- Dress options
- Gift records
- Engagement Parties
- Bachelorette Parties and Bridal Showers
- Wedding locations
Figuring the critical elements to the wedding months before the wedding prevents any disasters from happening. So the bride and her maid of honour need to work out the bride’s vision early on to figure out the whole timeline slowly and surely. All pre-wedding preparations, events, and festivities take about six months.
- Offer Emotional Support
Weddings are a lot of responsibility. The bride can get overwhelmed by the sheer number of details and tasks setting up a wedding. So it’s essential to check up on her as the maid of honour and regularly talk to her. Check up on how she’s doing and if she’s feeling alright.
Emotional support might not be tangible, but it’s as valuable as the cake, decorations, dresses, and invites. So, be open to lending the bride your ear or offering her a hug when she needs one.
- Be The Bridal Party’s Guide
As a maid of honour, the bridesmaid typically looks up to you for any wedding-related questions. The bridesmaids will need a leader to keep the group intact. It’s the maid of honour’s duty to provide them with some much-needed guidance, but collaboration and teamwork always win, so be a team with the bridesmaids and help each other out.
Check up on the other bridesmaid on some of the following (main vital elements):
- Directing the bridesmaids;
- Checking up if all bridesmaids get their dresses and go to fittings;
- Informing bridesmaid about any pre-wedding celebrations;
- Planning bridal showers and bachelorette parties with the bridesmaids;
- Dividing tasks for the wedding, if possible;
- Typically, the maid of honour decides and chooses the dresses for the bridesmaids together with the lot.
Add additional points to your checklist if needed, but these are the basics.
- Look Over The Budget
Review the budget needed for any activities you, the bride, and the bridesmaids will be attending together to avoid nasty surprises. Think about how much each person will need to spend to attend festivities such as bridal showers. Then, think of how much everyone needs to pay to join in the fun at the bachelorette party.
- Accompany The Others For Shopping and Fitting
The bride may or may not ask the maid of honour to accompany her wedding dress shopping and dress fittings, but many brides like to have the maid of honour present for this outing.
Depending on what the bride wants, the maid of honour might be asked to go dress shopping with her. Brides usually want a trusted opinion on which wedding dress to pick. Shopping and fitting for bridesmaids will also involve the maid of honour.
- The Bridal Shower
A Bridal shower is a pre-wedding event involving just the bride’s closest friends and family members/relatives. It’s a gathering for her inner circle. Brides may ask the help of their maid of honour to organize and throw the bridal shower party. Typically, the maid of honour keeps a record of all the bridal shower gifts.
Depending on the size of the bridal shower, it can be a casual gathering or something more intricate. Be prepared to hustle.
- The Bachelorette Party
The maid of honour plans and surprises the bride with a bachelorette party along with the bridesmaids. You know the deal; it’s the fun and wild version of the bridal shower. The bachelorette party could be any party; it depends on the bride is like. Her wedding helpers need to know her well enough to know exactly what kind of bachelorette she might enjoy.
Aside from budgeting and planning, there’s not much to worry about in this case. Just be sure to get it over with before the wedding day, and not throw it too late. The bride needs her beauty, sleep, and recovery.
- Begin Writing Your Speech
Typically, the maid of honour needs to give a speech during the wedding’s reception. This might be a daunting task, especially for those who aren’t the best public speakers. However, preparing a speech written from the heart can never really fail.
Don’t try too hard; be authentic about your feelings for the bride and the groom. Share your happiness through your words. The key is not to overthink since the speech doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be authentic and kind.
In speeches like this, the maid of honour can try to share memories she’s experienced with the bride – childhood memories, adventures, etc. Little details such as these can be touching and charming if delivered correctly. Then, by the end of the speech, she can acknowledge the union between the bride and groom and send them her wishes for a happy and thriving marriage.
During The Wedding
- Final Check On The Bridal Party
Days before the wedding, it’s time to check up on the bridesmaids to finalize things. First, the maid of honour needs to make sure that:
- After that, all bridesmaids get to rehearsal.
- All bridesmaids know how to get to the wedding. They can share transport and hotels if necessary.
- Outfits are looking good.
- Maintaining The Schedule
The bride and the maid of honour typically collaborate and share the details of the wedding schedule to make sure everything is going smoothly. Be sure that the bride has everything she needs and feels alright.
An excellent extra measure is to keep her stress-free before the aisle and the ceremony. Please make sure no one and nothing is stressing her out. The bridesmaids should adhere to the time of the schedule and not get too distracted from their respective duties.
- Help The Bride Maintain Elegance
The maid of honour should rearrange the bride’s dress if it ever tangles up into a mess. She can help the bride rearrange her train and her veil if needed. There will be many pictures taken, and those pictures should be excellent. After all, all the prep for the wedding wasn’t done for nothing.
Have makeup, tissues, and a mirror ready if the bride wants to check up on herself or reapply her powder. This can be a game-changer, even if it’s a minor detail.
- Aisle And Ceremony
The main tasks of the ceremony are pretty straightforward. Here’s a checklist:
- Arrange the bride’s train and veil if needed when she gets to the altar.
- Hold onto the bride’s bouquet during her exchange of vows with her very soon-to-be husband.
- Traditionally, the best man is the one who holds onto both the wedding rings before the exchange of rings. However, sometimes they assign the maid of honour the task of keeping the rings – this will be relative to the bride and groom’s decision.
- After the ceremony, the maid of honour and the best man usually sign a marriage license. They are witnesses to it happening.
- Reception Speech
Now is the time for the awaited reception speech. When everyone’s ready and seated, or whenever the time feels right, the maid of honour can call attention to herself and give out her address. Again, it’s vital to act naturally and let the heart lead. Don’t overthink. This is typically the final duty that needs to be carried out, but it’s important regardless.
Final Thoughts
There is a lot to go through when one is appointed as the bride’s right hand. From pre-wedding days to the reception, everything needs to be planned accordingly to maintain a smooth flow.
However, by following this simple guide, any future maid of honour can tackle the whole ordeal with more ease. Of course, fill in the gaps if needed, but the advice we organized should help plenty.
BIO: Margo Stauf is an experienced content writer and amateur blogger. She started her career working for an essay service, helping students achieve academic success. Later she changed her scope of expertise and started posting short articles with life advice and exciting tidbits.
FAQ – Maid of Honour
What is the role of the maid of honour?
Planning the bachelorette party, ensuring the bridesmaids’ dresses arrive on time, acting as the point person on the wedding day, giving a speech at the reception, and being a model wedding guest (RSVPing on time, reserving travel and hotel rooms with the room block early) are just a few of the responsibilities of the maid of honour. Don’t worry if you’ve never served as maid of honour before (or even if you have) and are unsure of the actual maid of honour obligations involved with the role, both before and during the wedding.
What is the difference between a bridesmaid and a maid of honour?
A maid of honour and a bridesmaid are both significant positions, although the maid of honour often has greater obligations. A bridesmaid’s role is limited to attending the wedding and assisting on the big day, but the maid of honour is involved in all aspects of the wedding planning and preparation.
Is it true that a maid of honour is a married woman?
A bride’s maid of honour is an honour attendant who is not married. A married woman is referred to as a Matron of Honor. Honour attendants are frequently a sibling or best friends. However, several brides have recently chosen their mother for this position.
Is it possible to have two maids of honour?
Yes, it is true! Not only is having two maids of honour acceptable in modern wedding etiquette, but it’s also a smart option in terms of planning your big day’s logistics.
