Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Julie’s Essential Bridesmaid List

Waving hello from Julie, General Assistant at The Wedding Belles!

Being the plain one in a beautiful family, I thought I'd always a Bridesmaid. I’d been a bridesmaid three times for my sister and friends – so to escape the proverbial fate I fled from my Sydney home to Boston. Why not? If I couldn't find love, I could at least find adventure, right? And in those first three years, I found a great place to work, and the friends of a lifetime. I love Boston, but still, I'd found no romance...

Until I fell over at the feet of a kind man who helped me up. I looked into ice, ice blue eyes – and fell in love. Unbelievably to me, he fell in love, too - and now, finally, I’m going to be a bride!

But being a far more experienced bridesmaid than bride, I thought I'd post my Essential Bridesmaid List. To me, the job description entails:

1. Knowing the couple’s budget – therefore not encouraging your bride to buy that wonderful, adorable, won’t he just love me in this dress that happens to be at least $1000 over the budget (they do need a deposit on the house, remember)
2. Knowing to pick the shoes first and bring them dress hunting so the bride won’t trip over coming down the aisle
3. Not making fun of their list of romantic love songs for the waltz, even if they make you want to toss your cookies!
4. Let the bride (or her mother) yell when she’s stressed – she doesn’t mean what she says and will most likely forget it by the next day. If the bride’s father yells about the cost blowing out, call a male for sympathetic listening and beer swilling
5. Remembering the names of as many as you can – even the groom’s mother’s second cousin Aunt Pat who was invited because she came to his christening
6. Not taking seriously the declarations of love from the wild members of the groom’s high school football team who decide you’re their mascot (after a few beers, of course!) and toss you around like a caber (yep, that really happened!)
7. Not imagining a ‘connection’ to the best man, or imagine you have a connection…best men are inevitably taken or gay (sigh)
8. Reminding her who is allergic to what flower for bouquets and centerpieces (possibly best to do those twisted branches with glowing rocks and lights)
9. Reminding the bride of all the reasons why purple and canary yellow just don’t go together in a rainbow bridesmaid dress extravaganza
10. (The Biggie!) Reminding her of all the reasons she does love this man on the panicked night just before the wedding, when everything’s going crazy and she just wants to run (I hope my bridesmaid’s around when I start this!)

I’ll keep coming back with additions and addendums to the list as they come to me, and please feel free to add others for all you wonderful bridesmaids out there…but the biggest point: keep smiling, because one day you will be the bride and yes, you will drive your bridesmaids crazy too!

Julie (general assistant at The Wedding Belles)

Labels: Bridesmaids, Julie, Support Systems

posted by Melissa James @ 3:31 AM