Maid of Honor Duties
Back in October, my sister got married and I had the pleasure of being her Maid of Honor. Today I'm sharing my experience with you and giving you a list of everything that a MOH is expected to do before and after the wedding festivities!
Before The Wedding
Help plan the proposal!! Before there's a wedding, there has to be a proposal! My (now) brother-in-law asked for my help choosing the ring and planning the proposal. Getting to be a part of that special moment was such a sweet blessing for me!
Help plan any details of the wedding that the bride wants your help with. This basically means providing an honest opinion whenever she asks what you think.
Attend wedding dress shopping and fittings. I found that this one was really fun, you get to see the bride be overwhelmingly happy when she finds her dress.
Help address invitations and keep track of RSVPs. The bride is probably extremely overwhelmed with details by the time RSVPs come rolling in, so take initiative to create a spreadsheet with a running list of all of the "Yes" and "No" responses. Pro Tip: Make that spreadsheet when she's compiling her guest list and put their addresses on it for thank-you's.
Help the bride search for vendors (cake, dinner, DJ). Planning a wedding is stressful, so do your best to relieve as much stress as possible from the bride by offering to go with her to food tastings or offer to find the DJ or table rental vendor.
Be in the know about as much as possible so that if anyone else has questions, they can go to you instead of the bride.
Host or co-host a bridal shower. This is a great time to bring the other bridesmaids in. Personally, I was living out of town during my sister's wedding events and ended up asking the other bridesmaids to help a lot with the bridal shower. It was a team effort and ended up great!
Keep a record of bridal shower gifts for thank-you cards. If you have a spreadsheet from sending the invitations that includes addresses, send that over to the bride to make things easier on her!
Plan and host a bachelorette party! This can be a lot of fun! Don't get wrapped up in the tiny details. You know the bride and you know what she will like or not like, so go with your gut and plan a night that she will love!
Keep bridesmaids at peace with each other. We all know how girls are, and putting that many together for the extent of wedding festivities almost always ends up in DRAMA!! Do your best to keep the peace with the bridesmaids, and whatever you do, do not get involved or take sides in any drama.
During The Wedding
Bring an emergency kit for the bride (check out our checklist HERE).
Know the wedding timeline and details. Do your best to keep everyone on schedule, but remember that it is okay if the wedding starts a few minutes late. This day should be a lot of fun, so do not get too wrapped up in keeping a strict schedule.
Act as a go-between for the bride and groom. Tradition says that the bride and groom should not see each other before the wedding on the day of, so offer to check in on the groom every once and a while to see about his nerves. Also, make sure that both the groom and bride drink some water and eat something before the ceremony.
Contact any vendors and provide directions to vendors and guests. You may need to take the bride's phone to take care of any guests or vendors that need directions to the venue.
Get ready with bride and bridesmaids.
Keep the bride calm. Emotions will be high on the day of the wedding, so do your best to keep the excitement up and the nerves down. You can also enlist the other bridesmaids to help with this.
Arrange veil and train during the ceremony. The pictures taken during this special time will last a lifetime, so make sure that the bride looks perfect!
Hold the groom’s ring (wear it on your thumb if no other place to put it) and bride’s bouquet.
Sign the marriage license as a witness. After the ceremony, make sure to sign the marriage license (along with the best man) before the reception fun begins!
Help bustle the train of the wedding gown before the reception.
Give a toast. Okay, honesty time, I stayed up until about 2 AM the night before my sister's wedding watching youtube videos on MOH speeches and stole bits and pieces from those. I read a lot of google articles about how to write the speeches and went from there!
Make sure that the bride eats and stays hydrated. Chances are that the happy couple is going to be bombarded with guests for the majority of the reception, but make sure that they sit down for a moment and eat something.
Help clean up after the reception. If the bride's family needs help, offer to stay after the reception or come back the next morning to clean up.
Help the bride in the restroom with her dress.
Be on the dance floor and encourage others to do the same. Guests will follow your lead, so make sure to be the life of the party!
Get gifts from reception venue to the bride’s home. Either you take the gifts, or help the bride's family get them to their final destination.