by State Library of Queensland, Australia

The most important people outside the bride and groom in a wedding is the bridal party. Both the groomsmen and bridesmaids play important roles in helping get the bride and groom ready for the big day providing emotional support and help organizing key events and helping with the other details of planning a wedding.

If you are reading this you are most likely a bridesmaid given this honor and are looking for ideas to help you if this is your first time in this role. Well I am here to help. The following are just some ideas to get you started and thinking. In the end it is all on you to interpret your duties in interesting and fun ways that will make the wedding a success.

One thing you need to know is that you are in charge of key events like the bridal shower and the bachelorette party. These will be your biggest duties in terms of planning and execution. The best part about this is that you can rely on the help of your fellow bridesmaids for assistance. Here are some tips to help you execute the planning for these events.

Get together with your fellow bridesmaids and come up with a budget for these events. The decorations, food, entertainment, and even favors will cost money. So you need to know how much everything will cost theoretically and plan accordingly. Planning your expenditures will also help give you a map of where to start when looking for all the previously mentioned items and do it in good time.

When you are done split the duties between yourselves and get started. The good news is that traditionally a bridal shower is about 4 weeks before the actual wedding and the bachelorette party is the night before so this gives you breathing room to plan for both and not feel as overwhelmed.

Now to actually find items to use as decorations think about what will be the party’s theme.

A good place to start is to use information you’ve gathered from helping the bride plan her wedding. If she has picked a particular theme or color scheme use that as a guide.

If not use any specific design element that echoes something she wants in the wedding. Otherwise it is up to you to pick the theme. Make sure that it is something interesting and gets guests thinking about weddings. You can also keep a lookout for decorations online. The internet and modern manufacturing have made it possible to find items and decorations to fit almost any occasion.

Also look into the type of favors that you can give to guests. Some great gifts ideas are bath sets or soaps. Also you can go with scented candles. These are gifts that are useful and yet are popular and will be great mementos.