What wedding tasks can you ask your bridal party to help with?

One of the most beautiful parts of any wedding is having your closest friends and family by your side throughout the entire process. Whether it’s a lifelong friend you’ve grown up with or someone that’s recently made a big impact in your life, sharing the magical moments of a wedding with these cherished people is one part of the day that you won’t ever forget.

But your bridal party is so much more than just a support network. Before, during and after your big day, it’s common to task your closest confidants with different roles and responsibilities to ensure the day goes smoothly and to help you focus on the most important things. Here are three common jobs bridesmaids can get involved in.

ORGANISING APPOINTMENTS

In the build-up to any wedding, there’s no escaping the fact that you’ll need to book yourself into plenty of appointments with different people. From dress fittings to florists to hair and makeup trials, you want to leave yourself with plenty of time to find all the ingredients to make up your perfect wedding day. However, organising and attending all these different appointments can feel overwhelming when doing it alone, so make sure you involve members of your bridal party.

Whether you just lean on them for support and advice when speaking to different people, or you ask for their help with scheduling and finding suppliers, this is an important part of the planning process that they should be a part of.

TIMEKEEPING

With so many things to think about once the big day arrives, it’s all too easy to lose track of time and push back on the schedule you’ve spent months perfecting. To keep everything running smoothly, from the ceremony to the wedding breakfast, it’s important to have someone in charge of timekeeping throughout the day, especially if you don't have a wedding planner on board doing that for you.

However, this will be especially important in the morning when you’re all getting ready. While your hair and makeup artists will be adept at sticking to a schedule, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and take a little too long perfecting everything. Ask one of the more organised members of your bridal party to keep one eye on the clock so you don’t have to.

CHATTING WITH GUESTS

As much as you’ll want to spend time with everyone in equal measure, it’s impossible to be everywhere at once. That’s why you’ll want your bridal party to be your extra eyes and ears, chatting with as many of your guests as possible (not just the ones they’re most familiar with).

These interactions are incredibly important to helping everyone feel comfortable. Especially in the evening time, chances are you’ll have a lot of people arriving from different parts of your life and it can be awkward for couples or friends who don’t know many other people there.

Your bridesmaids should help to break the ice and ensure everyone feels welcome. At the same time, you can ask all of your party to act as resident photographers, catching some of the more candid moments throughout the day with the guests you may not have been able to spend much time with.

YOU'RE THE BOSS

Your bridesmaids should be more than happy to support you in any way they can to help you enjoy the most magical day of your life. These are just a few of the most common jobs that the party is tasked with, but the list is really endless. Make sure to give them plenty of information in advance of the big day so everyone is clear on their roles and responsibilities to save on ambiguity on the day.