Weddings are intricate affairs that involve many different aspects that help to piece the day together perfectly. One such element that is both traditional and an important part of any wedding is the bridesmaid. Bridesmaids play vital roles both before, during and after the wedding day itself. Being a bridesmaid encompasses many responsibilities that we shall focus on below.

Bridesmaid responsibilities from a traditional viewpoint

Looking back at history to when bridesmaid first come into the picture, the story is in fact quite interesting. Bridesmaids were introduced into weddings to help drive evil-spirits away by looking similar to the bride. Nowadays being superstitious is not the forefront behind the role of a bridesmaid (although who knows) but rather carries out many other traditional roles as well as any added requests from the bride and groom. While bridesmaid duties can be a lot to handle it is also heaps of fun and a treasure to be part of a bride and groom journey into wedding bliss. Some of the more traditional duties will include the following;

• Be there for anything your bride needs. From dressing fits, accessorizing, bridesmaid dresses (even if these aren’t to your liking).
• Going to the wedding rehearsal and ensuring that everything that needs doing is done and ready.
• Traveling with the other bridesmaids, page boys, flower girls and mother of the bride to the wedding reception.
• At the wedding ceremony the bridesmaid is expected to walk down the aisle preceding the bride and afterwards following the bride and groom out of the ceremony venue.

Additional bridesmaid responsibilities

Alongside the above conventional bridesmaid duties, there are some modern-day additions that most bridesmaids will attend to. The first and foremost of these is the Hen night. This is the duty of the maid-of-honor rather then the junior bridesmaids. Any wedding details to be organized are generally overseen by the bridesmaid as well, especially in the beginning when suppliers, product service companies etc need to be hunted down and decided upon. The bridesmaid usually follows up on these requests to make sure the suppliers are doing what needs to be done. Helping to write and send of the wedding invitations is also a common duty. More importantly, the role of a bridesmaid is to keep the bride-to-be relaxed and calm leading up to her wedding day. The stress of organizing a wedding and being boggled by the volume of details can cause any bride to develop frazzled nerves. The bridesmaid needs to be able to shoulder this stress for the bride to ensure that the road to her wedding day becomes an exciting anticipation of what is to come. Also, after the wedding the bridesmaid helps to organize the collection of disposable cameras so that the photos can be developed by the time the couples return from their honeymoon.

Being a bridesmaid is an honor as you get to share in the couple’s journey towards celebrating their commitment to each other. So while your priority is to ensure the bride has a blissful wedding, so you too need to have fun and enjoy the experience!