Wedding Help

Now typically, the maid of honor is in charge of planning and coming up with different bachelorette party ideas (see Duties of the Maid of Honor) to give the bride and her bridesmaids a good time before the wedding takes place, as well as a break from all the wedding planning that the bride has been doing. In some rare circumstances though, the bride is left to helping the maid of honor come up with bachelorette party ideas, or even plan it herself. Such was my case, for different reasons, my maid of honor was unable to help me with a lot of the duties that being the maid of honor entailed. Sometimes it can be hard coming up with different bridal shower ideas, and bachelorette party ideas. So if you are the maid of honor looking for different bachelorette party ideas, or a soon to be bride looking for ideas to help out your maid of honor, then you’re in luck. I’ve been to several bachelorette parties, and have seen what works and what doesn’t, and have some great ideas to help you get started planning your bachelorette party.

Make Your Bachelorette Party Creative

One really fun thing that I almost did for my bachelorette party was to have an art party. Let me explain. There is a place nearby that allows groups to rent a room and paint pottery. There is a sitting fee and price for the kind of pottery that you want to paint, and the group can decorate anything they want to, and stay for a number of hours. Have all of the bridesmaids paint something, like a plate for the bride to decorate her new house with, and it makes a great memory for the bride as well. Add a meal out with the girls, and you’ve got a great bachelorette party that can be a lot of fun.

Make Your Bachelorette Party Tropical

Depending on the time of year, and your location, you can have a “tropical” bachelorette party. Plan a beach or pool party, complete with Hawaiian leis, little plastic cups with the paper umbrellas, and have a great time. Different activities such as hula contest, pinata, and much more can help bring your tropical bachelorette party alive. Bring food out to the event, or have a bonfire so that everyone can participate.

Make Your Bachelorette Party a “Killer”

My sister’s bachelorette party was a lot of fun. A group of ladies took a trip out of town to Austin, where a Murder Mystery Dinner was held every night, care of a local theatrical group. The actors were extremely entertaining, interacting with the guests and they really were pretty funny. On top of that, at the end everyone could fill out a piece of paper to guess who the murderer was. The food was great, the actors were funny, and everybody had a really great time.

Just because you are having a bachelorette party does not mean that it has to include bar hopping and male strippers. A bachelorette party can just be a time and fun and relaxation, to spend some quality time with friends, and most importantly, to help the bride relax and not stress over the wedding planning details for a while. For more great bachelorette party ideas, check out the next article in this series, More Bachelorette Party Ideas.

Tags: bachelorette party, bachelorette party ideas

When I was choosing the bridesmaids for my bridal party, I didn’t have very much of a problem at all, not like some people have anyway. My husband has 3 sisters, I have one and I also had a very good friend from church that I wanted to be a part of the wedding as well. Luckily enough, my husband had a group of 5 men who were cousins and brothers that he wanted to be in the wedding and so our numbers matched perfectly. Not everyone is that lucky though when they are looking at their friends and family to be a part of their bridal party. One big problem that many brides face today is that they have a dozen or more good friends and/or sisters who would like to be a part of your bridal party. This could be a big problem, seeing as you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. So what do you do anyway? You may be asking yourself some of the following questions: How many bridesmaids is too many? How many bridesmaids should I have? Only you can answer that question, but here are some tips to help you decide.

Consider the Ceremony Location

A great way to determine how many bridesmaids you should have is to look at your ceremony location. Sit back and look at it carefully, and be honest with yourself about how many bridesmaids and groomsmen will even fit. For example, our church is very small, and I knew that anything over 5 bridesmaids would look cramped and someone would have to be standing next to the piano player to make it work. Not the best idea. Now, if you are getting married in a large church, or outside, then space really isn’t an issue and you can look at having more bridesmaids in your bridal party.

Consider the Groomsmen

Before you go and ask a dozen of your closest friends to be bridesmaids, talk to your fiance and make sure that he has enough men he wants to be groomsmen to match the number of bridesmaids that you have. While the numbers do not have to match exactly for it to work, it will definitely look odd if you have a dozen bridesmaids and your groom only has 5 groomsmen. For my sister’s wedding, she had one less groomsmen for the bridesmaids, and one of the groomsmen escorted two of the bridesmaids on the way out. It worked out fine, but it wasn’t the way she had planned it, one of the groomsmen just didn’t show up to the wedding.

Consider your Friends

Not all of your dozen friends need to be bridesmaids. Consider your friends carefully and choose the friends who will be there for you on your wedding day, who will help to make your day easier versus the friends who are a little more high maintenance. There are plenty of things your friends can do who are not bridesmaids, such as helping plan the wedding, planning bridal showers, taking care of the guest book, cutting the cake, and much more.

I know how hard it is to choose between your friends when it comes to choosing your bridesmaids, and how many that you will have. Just be honest with yourself and the character of your different friends. You may hurt some feelings, but if they are true friends then they will still stand by you in your wedding, and be happy for you. If you need any further help with this topic, or have any additional advice, please comment and let me know!

Tags: bridesmaids, choosing your bridesmaids, how many bridesmaids

Choosing your maid of honor should be one of the easiest decisions of your wedding. If you are told to think of the girl closest to you, who would be there for you in an instant, who has been with you through thick and thin, who would do anything for you, and vice versa, there is typically someone who always springs to mind. But, perhaps due to conflicting schedules, money issues, lack of real girlfriends, or just plain unwillingness on the part of your best girlfriend, you may be stuck having to ask yourself, “Who should be my maid of honor?” If you find yourself in this uncomfortable situation, and are wondering how to choose, here are some great ideas to help get you started.

Keep it in the Family

If you are lucky enough to have a sister, consider asking her. Choosing my maid of honor was simple, as I am a twin, and my sister and I are pretty close. If you have a sister you are close to then it should be a simple choice. Now, if they are too young, like 7 or 8 years old, you may be out of luck, but consider making them a junior bridesmaid or flower girl instead. But be sure to look at other possibilities such as a cousin or even a sister-in-law.

Your Best Friend from School

Another possibility is to turn to the best friend you had in either high school or college. You’ve both got memories of each other that go way back, perhaps of the first time you met your future husband, or just giggling about dreams of getting married. Your best friend from either high school or college is usually a great choice, and the ones that most brides turn to when planning their big day.

Untraditional Choices

You may find yourself with the position of having no sister, and no best girlfriends, but a great guy friend who has been there for you through it all. In this case, it may be advisable to have him stand in that place as your man of honor or some other title you wish to bestow. Some brides also choose their mother, if they are very close. If you have a good friend from work or church that you don’t know from school, but who is very supportive of you and will be there for you, then you may want to consider asking her as well.

When your maid of honor accepts the position, she is taking on a host of responsibilities. The duties of the maid of honor are extensive, and you need to make sure that the lady accepting the title is aware of these duties and ready to take them on. But choosing your maid of honor should be a relatively easy decision. If you need more advise, then please comment back and let me know.

Tags: choosing your maid of honor, maid of honor, who should be my maid of honor

Your maid of honor is typically a sister or best friend from ages past. She is there to help you throughout your wedding planning process, throwing bridal showers, bachelorette parties, writing a maid of honor speech, along with a host of other responsibilities she will be put through during the time before, during, and even after the wedding takes place. Check out the full detail of the duties of the maid of honor. It is only fitting, that with all you will be putting your maid of honor through, that she should stand out a bit from the rest of your wedding party. There are several ways to accomplish this, and you can use any one of them to help set your maid of honor out from the pack.

 Change Up the Dress

If you’ve read my article about All Different Bridesmaid Dresses, then you already know that while many brides today are choosing to let their bridesmaids choose their own style of dress, many brides are still opting to have all of their bridesmaids look the same. If you are choosing to have your bridesmaids all the same, then add something to the maid of honor’s dress to help set her apart from the others. For example, if your colors are pink and brown, and you want to have brown bridesmaid dresses (a beautiful choice by the way), then add a pink sash to the maid of honor’s dress. Giving her a completely different style of dress when all the other bridesmaids have the same dress will be distracting, your guests will wonder why she is the only different one there.

Add to the Bouquet

When I was a maid of honor for my best friend in college, she gave me a larger bouquet than the other bridesmaids. It’s a great way to set apart your maid of honor. Either give her a slightly larger bouquet, or add some different types of flowers than what the rest of the girls have in theirs. Be careful with this one though, to make sure that all of the bouquets will still match in the end.

Other Ideas

One thing my sister did for her maid of honor was to let her wear flowers in her hair. It wasn’t something done for the rest of the bridesmaids, and it really helped set her apart. You could also give her something different to hold her bouquet with. For example, if you have ribbons tying off the bouquets for your bridesmaids, then design one especially for her that is perhaps a little longer, or done with a different type of ribbon.

 Whatever you do, treat your maid of honor well. She is taking extra time away from her own busy life to be with you and help you out, typically much more time than your other bridesmaids will be. Be sure to give her the honor due, not only as a thank you for all the hard work that she has helped you with in planning your wedding, but also to make sure that you will be as close of friends as you were before the wedding once all your wedding stuff is complete.

Tags: bridesmaids, maid of honor, maid of honor speech

I had this problem when I was choosing my wedding colors. I had two blond bridesmaids, two brunettes, and a redhead. Now, I’m pretty picky about colors in general, but I also wanted to pick something that would look nice on every one of my bridesmaids to compliment their hair and skin tones. I wanted something that would make each of my bridesmaids look lovely, and not hate what they were wearing. So, I set out in search for colors to compliment all of them. Here’s what I found. I’ve put them in order by season and colors that correspond to that season.

Autumn Colors

If you are choosing your colors based off of the season, then this will really help you out. Most redheads look great in browns (which is a very popular color right now), golden yellows, burnt oranges, brick reds, olive greens. If you are going to go with one of these colors, then make sure before you make the final decision that it won’t do funky things to her skin. If she has a light skin tone, yellows and greens could wash her out or make her look sick.

Winter Colors

If you are having a Christmas wedding, then redheads look great in darker greens as well. Just beware of the skin tone just in case it makes her look sick. Another great popular color for winter is black. Most everyone looks great in black, though if your bridesmaid has very pale skin, it could make her a little washed out, but rule of thumb, everybody looks great in black. Dark blue is another color really looks great on redheads.

Spring and Summer Colors

Cream colors, such as peach (this is what I used), some pale pinks, aqua and turquoises. Be careful with pinks, a dusty rose color typically works well, but stay away from hot pink or some red tinted pinks which can do horrors to her hair and skin tone if you’re not careful.

Be sure to speak with your bridesmaid prior to choosing colors, to find out what colors she can or can’t wear, and what she feels the most comfortable wearing. Your redheaded bridesmaid will know what colors work for her, and what doesn’t. Whatever color you choose, be sure to keep all of your bridesmaids in mind. If you need more help choosing your wedding colors, then check out my other article, Choosing Your Wedding Colors.

Tags: bridesmaid dress, choosing wedding colors, redhead bridesmaids