So you've been asked to be the Maid of Honor, now what? As you know, being the maid of honor is an honor indeed! The bride has chosen you most likely because you are her closest and most trustworthy friend. She is putting her faith in you to help through the planning and celebrating stages of one of the most important days of her life.

As the maid of honor, you are now her right hand man. Well woman, for the next few months! Even though the responsibilities of the maid of honor are great, the most important one is to be there for the bride when she needs you. Be her shoulder to lean on, her advisor when she asks and best friend through the emotional stress that she will go through!

Here is a list of what is expected from the Maid of Honor:

To be the leader: Of the bridesmaids, assigning duties, planning dress fittings, planning the pre-wedding parties and arranging all bridesmaid's activities.

To help the Bride when choosing invitations, wedding colors, flowers and of course the cake!

To attend ALL pre-wedding parties

To host or co-host bridal shower

To plan the Bachelorette party

To keep track of gifts received at all pre-wedding parties

To coordinate bridesmaids attendance to the rehearsal; arranging for transportation and lodging

To make sure that the bridesmaids are ready for the ceremony with their flowers, dresses, hair, makeup and accessories

To hold the groom's ring during the ceremony

To hold the bride's bouquet during the vows

To sign the marriage license

To play hostess at the reception

To collect and secure gift envelopes at reception

To stand in the receiving Line

To make sure that the bride eats during the reception

And finally, to make a toast to the bride and groom

Although the list of responsibilities may seem overwhelming, you are allowed to delegate to the other bridesmaids if help is needed. Be sure to remember that this is the bride's day, you are there to aid her in making this day as carefree as possible! And don't forget to have fun!

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When choosing your wedding party, it can be a difficult thing. You feel as though you have obligations to old friends, new friends and family members. I say, forget all that. It's your wedding day and so you may hurt a couple people's feelings along the way, but never lose sight that it's your day. So either add them all or choose who YOU want to be in your wedding party. Always remember, it's your day.

We LOVE Our Wedding Party!

With that in mind, I chose my wedding party. I did have some difficulties with who I wanted or had to put in the wedding. My philosophy was suck it up, I'll put everyone in it. So that wasn't a big deal, I'm quite happy and thrilled with my wedding party.

The major problem was Bart only had 4 groomsmen, while I had 5 bridesmaids and 2 maid of honors. Totaling 7 altogether. He did not want to add anymore guys as much as I asked him to just come up with 3 more guys. However, it didn't happen.

My solution was pairing up our maid of honor and best man together and pairing 2 girls to one guy.I'm over how it may look because I'm 100% happy with our wedding party and am confident all of them will be there while planning my wedding.

The Interesting Part

The part that I couldn't wait to share with everyone is how I asked my bridesmaids to be in my wedding. Searching high and low through different wedding websites and blogs, I kept seeing cute ideas on how to ask bridesmaids to be in your wedding. My idea was to create a bridesmaid newsletter along with a greeting card that asked them to be in my wedding. From the very get go, I wanted to do something special for my bridesmaids. I love my friends dearly and wanted to make my whole wedding process  fun for them.

My newsletter contained my wedding colors, location, time, wedding dress, their wedding attire, flowers and ALL the details. I even contained information down to what favors I had picked out. Also, I included pictures to give them an idea of everything. Most importantly, it had all the bridesmaids and groomsmen. This wedding newsletter seriously had ALL my wedding details.

The main feature of my wedding party, is they live all over. Wyoming to Nashville and everywhere in between. So the main thing I wanted to include, was all their contact information for planning sake. Living all over the place and not knowing each other very well will be hard at planning my sure to be amazing showers. Why not make it a little easier and provide all their contact information for each other.

The wedding card included a cute "Will you be my bridesmaid" poem and a hand-written message from me. Some I had to mail and some got theirs in person, but everyone loved it. I'd like to say the same for Bart, but he's a boy so he asked them through text messaging or just whenever he saw them, I think? I told him I could make them a newsletter too, but he laughed. I'll take that as a no.

Show your bridesmaids that you appreciate them for being in your wedding, throwing you a shower and buying whatever bridesmaid dress I pick out. I loved doing it and my bridesmaids loved receiving it!  It's just a fun and unique way to keep your bridesmaids in the know and show them how much you appreciate them.

Keeping up with who-does-what at a wedding can be very tedious. Instead of worrying about what your bridesmaid duties are and threatening your enjoyment of the wedding, use this checklist instead! This wedding checklist of bridesmaids duties is the fastest and easiest way to recognize your part in helping things run smoothly. Wedding planning has never been so simple!

Pre-Wedding Bridesmaids Duties:

• May assist in shopping for dress
• Attend at least one bridesmaid dress shopping event (unless an out-of-town attendant)
• Get fittings and alterations as needed
• Help with wedding planning errands
• Help plan wedding shower and/or bachelorette party
• Attend the parties!

Bridesmaids Duties At The Ceremony:

• Walk in the processional (might be with groomsman)
• Stand at the altar or stage throughout the ceremony
• Walk with a groomsman in the recessional
• Help bride dress and prepare for the wedding

Bridesmaids Duties At The Reception:

• Might be announced at the reception
• Sit at head table (if reserved)
• Take part in first dance (if wedding party is asked to participate)

Now you're just a few short steps away from being the best bridesmaid in history! Simply help your friend shine on her wedding day and you're both off to a good start!