Bridesmaid Duties

Mrs_Doyle

Hi,

My cousin, Greg, has asked me to be a bridesmaid at his wedding.
I am absolutely delighted to be asked, I have never been a bridesmaid before and I am really excited about it.

They set the date for 6 months time, which is kinda crazy, but hey, as long as their happy, I'm happy.

Now, so far I have chatted with Fran, his future wife, about the bridesmaid dresses, the hens weekend, etc.

Today I put together a big folder full of wedding info, it includes:

Wedding Planning Advice
Check List
List of Venue's and Venue reviews
Sample Dress Designs
Sample Hairstyles


I am just wondering, I am not the chief bridesmaid, but is there anything else I should be doing?

babaduck

Congratulations!

My advice is to tread carefully with the info you give the bride to be - she may have her own definite ideas & might not want your input.

However, I would buy a copy of The Irish Bride's Survival Guide, have a look at the chapters about bridesmaids etc & then give it to her. It's a great book covering absolutely everything to do with getting married

Chinafoot

I was bridesmaid for my sister in June. Great day.

Sounds like you're going above and beyond the call of duty there so I wouldn't worry too much about what else you should be doing.

Just try to be there for the bride if she wants to talk about wedding stuff and try to make yourself as available as possible for dress fittings etc. The venue I would leave to the bride and groom unless they expressly ask for your input, but the pack sounds good.

babaduck wrote:

My advice is to tread carefully with the info you give the bride to be - she may have her own definite ideas & might not want your input.

I'd second this. Just remember that it's her day and your job is to help her in any way you can if she needs you.

Mrs_Doyle

Amazingly, they don't have the Internet!
So they have to do the whole venue search thing the hard way, by actually making calls and driving out to see each one individually!
So I just printed of a list of all the venues in Dublin and meath, with a little info on each one, and I also printed some forum chats, where people discussed their own choice of venue, etc.

Just thought it might make things easier for them.

Chinafoot

Ah no, it's definitely a lovely gesture, particularly if they haven't got the internet.

Just be there to help when you can. There's nothing specific that you are supposed to do. Oh and she may turn into bridezilla so try and keep things fun when you're discussing dresses and stuff

GAA widow

TBH like other posters said you're not obliged to help plan the big day - a bridesmaid's role is more in a "supportive" capacity in the lead up to and on the big day.
In the lead up you can help out by helping to plan the hen, reassuring her about her choices on dress/flowers/venue etc. and being enthusiastic and interested.
On the hen itself, being the bridesmaid, it's your role to mingle with everyone invited and to make sure everyone's included and enjoying themselves, especially if she's mixing a couple of groups of friends who don't know each other that well.

On the wedding day you'll have to help looking after the veil/bouquet etc (that duty generally falls to the chief bridesmaid though). It's worth having a couple of hairclips, tissues, tube of lipstick on hand if she needs anything fixed for photos. Again after the church and at the reception it's important to mingle and to go out dancing - especially if numbers on the dancefloor are looking a bit sparse!

Enjoy it