A wedding is a special day designed to celebrate your love with another person. The beautiful occasion is bound to be one of the best days of your entire life. While the wedding clearly revolves around the bride and groom, a lot of other people will be involved too. Your closest friends and family members will be tasked with performing important wedding roles to ensure everything goes as planned.
Bridesmaids
These are the closest friends of the bride. They provide support throughout the wedding process, including helping pick out the dress, planning the wedding, and putting out potential fires on the day of the event.
One friend will be named the maid of honor. This person has a more active role than the other bridesmaids. The maid of honor signs the marriage certificate provides a short toast at the reception and plans the bachelorette party shortly before the wedding.
Groomsmen
These are the groom’s closest friends and family members. Their roles are very similar to the bridesmaids, except that they provide support for the groom. One person in the group will be named the best man. The groom’s best friend is tasked with holding the rings before the ceremony, making honeymoon travel arrangements, and delivering a speech at the reception.
The best man also organizes the bachelor party. All groomsmen will escort the bridesmaids down the aisle at the start of the wedding ceremony. Both groups will stand next to their close friend until the ceremony ends.
Ushers and Processional Escorts
According to Wedgewood Weddings, “Ushers are often the first people a wedding guest will see when they reach the ceremony venue. This is often a role for the groomsmen who will direct guests to seats.” Processional escorts will walk elderly family members down the aisle to their seats. They will also help everyone exit formally and orderly after the ceremony finishes.
Flower Girl
The flower girl spreads flowers down the aisle shortly before the bride starts her walk. A small child in the family generally fills this important wedding role. It is key to make sure the flower girl is mature enough to follow important instructions. You may want to think about having a backup option just in case your flower girl gets scared and overwhelmed on the wedding day.
Officiant
Outside of the bride and groom, this is probably the most important person at the wedding. The officiant is the person in charge of running the wedding ceremony. They will make a short speech about love before directing the bride and groom to deliver their vows.
The officiant is often one of the leaders at your local church. If the bride and groom are not religious, then the officiant is usually a close friend. Shortly after the ceremony, they will have the bride, groom, best man, and maid of honor sign the marriage certificate. They will then submit this document to the proper authorities on the first business day after the wedding.
