When a girl gets engaged, it is common for her mother, best friend, aunt, and others to offer their help and involvement in the wedding planning. While this can be a special time to share with loved ones, brides can feel pressure to balance their own decision-making with the influence of those closest to them.
It's common to worry about finding roles for all the special people in your life beyond your bridesmaids. To help, we've put together a list of different responsibilities that can involve loved ones in the planning and execution of your big day. Remember to be considerate of others' feelings and not assume that everyone wants a role, as some may feel honored simply to be invited to the wedding.
List of jobs for your nearest and dearest...
- Dress shopping
- Budget help
- Writing names on invitations
- Planning your seating layout
- Organising a bridal shower
- Planning the rehearsal dinner
- Invite a few special people to get ready with the bridal party
- Handing out programmes
- Having your parents walk into ceremony before the processional
- Lighting a remembrance candle
- Doing a reading at the ceremony
- Being a witness and signing the marriage certificate
- Ushering the guests at the reception
- Master of Ceremonies
- Have them do a speech
- Present bouquet to someone instead of throwing it
What jobs/tasks should you not give to your friends and family?
We all have talented friends and family and we may think it would be cost effective or nice to involve their talents in the wedding. Let me tell you I've seen this backfire many times but I've also seen it succeed tremendously. The trick here is to first choose those whose style you like and whose work you have seen. You don't want to be stuck with something less than you expected but then again you can't expect a professional result from someone who isn't a professional. You want to choose jobs that are going to be completed well in advance of the wedding so if need be you can still call on someone else. Some examples that can be done ahead of time are invitations or favours. You don't want to attempt any last minute jobs such as the wedding cake or flowers, if they gone wrong (and I've seen it happen) there is usually no plan b and you may find yourself completely without that element.
