Your bestie is getting married and you’re over the moon for her, you’re pretty sure you’re going to be a bridesmaid so you’re just waiting for the proposal, when she hits you with Maid of Honour. Happy? Terrified? Stressed? We chatted to recent Maid of Honour survivor Rebecca, to see whether being Maid of Honour really is as touching as it sounds, or whether it’s actually a super stressful experience.
If organising an event makes your heart beat a little quicker and you start to feel your temperature rising at the thought, being Maid of Honour could be your worst nightmare, but if you’re an organiser like Rebecca, you could be the perfect MOH. Rebecca was really touched to have been asked; it was the perfect outlet for her organisational skills, and she loved getting the opportunity to help a great friend out with her wedding.
So, everyone knows that the real MOH task is the hen party - so let’s get down to business. The bride was very traditional and very English so Rebecca arranged a weekend in Cambridge complete with afternoon tea, punting and… a stripper. The hens didn’t know each other before the weekend which did add an element of stress: trying to organise a fun weekend for eight total strangers is no small feat.
So aside from the eight total strangers bit, let's get down to what else was stressful about the weekend: the stripper. He turned up an hour and a half late, messing up their taxi and restaurant reservations, but the bride thought the whole thing was hysterical so it was definitely worth it. The other weekend activities all went down without a hitch though, punting was the highlight - the hens took a few bottles of prosecco to break the ice and they headed back to solid ground the best of friends.
However, Rebecca’s responsibilities as MOH did not stop there. The bride was perhaps unique in the sense that she was super laid back and didn’t have concrete ideas that she wanted to stick to. This definitely made everything easier as there were no bridezilla style meltdowns because the right kind of tulip wasn’t in season, but on the other hand, it made it more stressful because there was very little to guide the wedding planning.
The bride took a complete back seat with choosing the bridesmaid dresses, leaving it totally up to them (never a good idea for quick decision-making). This actually turned into the most stressful part of the process for Rebecca, as each bridesmaid was, naturally, looking for something that suited them best. With three completely different body shapes, this became a very long and stressful process. With distance also being a factor, much of the bridesmaid dress shopping was done via WhatsApp and ASOS deliveries (21st century bridal party problems), resulting in months of trying on and disagreements. No outfit was firmly decided until a few days before the wedding and Rebecca didn’t even try on the chosen outfit until the morning of the wedding! Luckily it fitted, but she would have been walking down that aisle regardless.
So it all came together in the end, but it wasn’t without its stressful moments. Each of the bridesmaids left the experience with new friends, and it was even a little sad once the wedding was over and there was no need to message each other every day. And most importantly, the bride was thrilled with how everything turned out, the day was perfect.
Are you a Maid of Honour survivor? We’d love to know your thoughts! Tag @guidesforbrides with the hashtag #MOHsurvivor