Wedding day checklist: Who does what

The old days of wedding traditions has mostly disappeared these days with the bride and the groom taking over most of the responsibilities of planning the wedding and some even paying a big part of the cost themselves.

However you shouldn’t lose all sight of tradition and your family will feel honoured if they are asked to take care of particular duties before and during the wedding. For those who wish to remain with tradition or at least to some part of it here are the various roles associated:

The Bride

Traditionally the bride will

* Choose the date of the wedding

* Her bridesmaids and their outfits

* Advise and co-ordinate other members of the bridal party

* Throws her bouquet over her shoulder for the unmarried girls

* Writes the thank you notes for gifts

* Buys the groom a wedding gift

The Groom

Traditionally the groom will

* Work out the budget for the wedding

* Buys the wedding rings

* Arranges and co-ordinates the male members of the wedding party including their outfits

* Arranges the honey moon and accommodation for the wedding night

* Buys the gifts for the wedding party, for example the bridesmaids, pageboy and best man

* Delivers a speech at the reception

The Best man

Traditionally the best man will

* Help the groom choose the outfits for themselves and those of the other male members of the wedding party

* Arranges the time honoured tradition of the stag party

* Collects any hire wear for himself and the groom

* Helps the groom to prepare on the wedding day and gets him to the church on time

* Produces the wedding rings when requested

* Escorts the chief bridesmaid to the signing of the register

* Makes a speech and reads out any wedding cards

The chief bridesmaid

Traditionally the chief bridesmaid will

* Helps the bride to choose her dress and those of the bridesmaids

* Organises the hen party

* Attends dress rehearsals with the bride

* Checks the brides dress and veil before walking down the aisle

* Signs the register

Ushers

Traditionally the ushers will

* Work out duties with the best man before the wedding

* Collect order of service sheets

* Organise parking at the wedding

* Greet guests and hand out button holes

* Provide a guard of honour

* Help the photographer organise people for group shots

* Help organise transport for the guests to get them to the reception

The Brides mother

Traditionally the bride’s mother will

* announce the wedding in the newspaper

* help to compile the guest list

* send out the wedding invitations

* attends the signing of the register

* act as hostess on the wedding day

* is first in the receiving line

The Brides Father

Traditionally the bride’s father will

* attend the wedding rehearsal

* Travel with his daughter to the wedding

* Escort the bride down the aisle

* Give his daughter away

* Attend the signing of the register

* Stand by his wife’s side in the receiving line