The Bridal party includes family members and friends: the people in your life that have your best interests at heart. They are:
- The Bride’s parents and The Groom’s Parents
- The Maid of Honour or Chief Bridesmaid
- Bridesmaids
- Best man
- Groomsmen
The roles of the various party members can be broken down as follows:
- Traditionally the bride’s parents had the privilege of paying for all or some of the wedding. Nowadays couples often handle the costs themselves, with some help from both sets of parents. It varies from family to family.
- The bride’s father, or mother, escorts their daughter down the aisle during the ceremony and “gives her away”. This is a very special time between a parent and their child.
- The bride relies heavily on her Maid of Honour, or Chief Bridesmaid. The Maid of Honour will organize the hen party and attend dress fittings. On the day of the wedding the Maid of Honour will help the bride to get dressed, sign the marriage license, partake in the photo shoots, dance with the Best Man and help the bride in any way she can.
- The Bridesmaids help the bride and the Maid of Honour with the wedding planning. They help with the hen party and attend dress fittings. On the day of the wedding they also partake in the photos, dance with the groomsmen and are on hand to assist with anything to make the bride and groom’s day more pleasurable.
- The Best Man is the Groom’s biggest support when it comes to the wedding. Generally, the best man is the groom’s brother or best friend. The best man’s main role before the wedding is to organize the stag party. He also attends fittings for their suits, prepares his speech and is present at the rehearsal. The Best Man’s most important role on the day of the wedding is to make sure the groom gets to the ceremony on time. Often the Best Man looks after gifts and cards for the couple. He signs the marriage license as the groom’s witness. He partakes in the photos and dances with the Maid of Honour.
- The groomsmen help the best man plan the stag party. On the day of the wedding the groomsmen greet guests as they arrive, are present for photographs and of course, dance with the bridesmaids.
Karen Buchanan is a regular blogger for us. We love working with her and we reckon you will too. Connect with her today for all your wedding planning questions. She is known to take the stress out of the big day. Connect with her on Facebook or via the contact details on her website.
{Bridesmaids dress image by Amour sans Anguish on Etsy}
