Find out what it means to be Maid of Honour to your friend or family member. Be prepared to fufill your duties and love every minute even more with our handy guide.

Traditionally, the bride and the maid of honor wore a similar apparel. As believed, this was done simply to not let the evil spirits know who the real bride was, as they would want to harm her. The bride's chosen friend would dress up exactly in the same manner as the bride and take the bride safely to where the wedding was to be held. Today, if you look at at the dresses of the bride and the maid of honor, they aren't as similar anymore. Both should have a look of their own and not copies of each other. They should still be similar and the bridesmaid's dress should have a coordinating color of the bridal theme.

Their Duties
A Maid of Honour is expected to be the right hand woman of the Bride. It requires being permanently available in the build up to the wedding and on the big day; it’s a real "access all areas" role. We have listed some duties below but this is not a complete list and a Maid of Honour may be expected to do more or less.

• Go wedding dress and bridesmaid dress shopping
• Organise bridesmaids for shopping and fittings.
• Help address invitations.
• Help wrap and tag guest favours
• Host a bridal shower if the mother of the bride isn’t
• Address and send shower invitations.
• Take RSVP’s for shower.
• Attend rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.
• Help decorate ceremony and reception locations if necessary.
• Help the bride get dressed on the wedding day.
• It’s your duty to make sure the bride’s veil and train looks nice before and during the ceremony. The photographer can’t stop taking pictures during this time and he/she can’t go up on the altar to straighten out the bride…only you can. Guests will expect you to do this.
• Holds the Bride’s bouquet during the ceremony.
• Keep the Groom’s wedding ring until the ring exchange, unless the Best Man or Ring Bearer are holding them.
• Will sit to the Bride’s right at the reception.
• Sign the marriage certificate as a witness.
• Bustles the Bride’s train before the reception begins.
• Dance with the Best Man.
• Help the Best Man bring the gifts to the bride and groom’s home
• Help with clean up after reception.

What they wear
After the bride and groom all eyes will be on the Maid of Honour, so it is important that you have a suitable outfit. It is important to blend with the theme of the wedding. Talk to the bride about what she has in mind for you.

Expectations
If you’ve been chosen as your friends Maid of Honour, you can feel very proud. To be a Maid of Honour means that your friend thinks very highly of you and trusts you with a lot of responsibilities. If you are feeling the pressure, just try to take the whole wedding in your stride. It is important to clarify with the bride what exactly she is expecting from you to avoid misunderstandings and later on disappointments.