Being The Best Maid of Honor: Making the Big Day Fun

If you were asked to be the Maid of Honor that means you filled the job description for being an organized, emotional lifeboat, with vision, and energy to carry the bride, and the bridesmaids troops, through. This is an exciting time for you and your girls.

So how can you live up to the honor, and truly be the best MOH a bride could ask for? Make the days leading up to the main event as stress-free as possible. If you’re able to make the pre-wedding process smooth, the bride will already have full confidence in your MOH abilities by the time the wedding day comes. In turn she’ll be relaxed and lean on you to lead the way. Here are a few tips to start you off in the right direction.

Cater to the vision

Even if weddings are not your forte, you were asked to be the maid of honor for a reason. The bride trusts you, and is looking to you for support and honesty. Some brides will want to make everything themselves, and expect you to dive in the DIY deep end with her. Others will hire a wedding planner and need your input deciding colors, invitations, and gown styles.

Whatever the case, keep an open mind. If you feel unsure about what role you’re expected to play, offer to take the bride out for lunch to discuss the details and responsibilities she expects of you. This will allow you to know how to help, and even go above and beyond her expectations.

Stay Organized

Your bride’s wedding to-do list is most likely a mile long. This means your to-do list is probably TWO miles long. Delegation sounds like a great idea, but can sometimes end up messy with much confusion. How do you keep all your MOH duties in order? Is it okay to make the bridesmaids step-up?

Create a clear and open line of communication. Whether it’s through group chat, or wedding planning apps like WedHappy. Address the tasks at hand and see who is open to help out. There are wedding apps to help manage vendors, and assign tasks to bridesmaids or friends who volunteered to help.

Have everyone sync their schedules to Google Calendar to know who’s available at what times without having a thread of messages a mile long. Maybe even go the extra mile and keep a separate planner to make lists and reminders for backup.

When sending emails make sure you send a new email for each topic with the subject line clearly stating the purpose of the conversation. This avoids misunderstandings, and simplifies everyone’s inbox.

Offer to Pay

One of the biggest responsibilities of being a matron is being to throw down some hard earned cash. According to costofwedding.com, the average cost of a wedding in 2017 was $25,764. Couples, on average, were spending between $19,323 and $32,305. Bottom line? The bride should not foot the bill on certain events or favors, and the maid of honor should start to budget the cost of her role as soon as she accepts the position.

As the maid of honor, it’s a given that you’re responsible for the bridal shower and bachelorette party. Some brides may ask for help paying for bridesmaids gowns, and guests’ lodging expenses. Not to mention the countless dinners, luncheons, and parties to host leading up to the nuptials.

If the bridesmaids are willing to partake in splitting expenses, keep the financial talk far from the bride’s radar. She has enough to worry about. There’s no need to add on the guilt of her best friends wrangling the costs of her wedding expenses.

The goal is to lighten the financial burden without inconveniencing anyone who may not be in the position to extend their budget. Be open and honest with everyone from the start. There are plenty of ways to save money.

Get resourceful and look into utilizing different financial tools that will give you a discount on the different expenses. Assuming your fiscally responsible, with a history of using credit with discipline, look into cash back credit cards. These cards offer usually between a one to six percent discount on most purchases, which will compliment your budget, allow your bridesmaids more time to pay you back, and provide easy tracking of your spending. Plus you’ll earn money back on all your wedding expenses.

Be a Fun Maid of Honor

The most important thing to remember is to make time for fun. When you’re in the moment it’s easy to get caught up with deadlines and details. Take time to remind the bride that everyone involved is there to celebrate this milestone in her life. Together you all are making memories that will last a lifetime. Make it your priority to keep your bride in the moment and always be ready to keep things light and the energy fun!