How to Be a Long Distance Maid of Honor

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Being selected as the maid of honor for a wedding is just as much a serious position of responsibility as it is an honor and privilege. It is your job to support the bride and her decisions as well as to help her prepare for major events, such as the bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and reception. While you may not be able to help out with small, everyday tasks from afar, you can still fulfill your duties as the bride's biggest supporter.

Communicate as much as possible with the bride. Early on, set up dates for the events that you can travel into town for and the ones that you can't. Mark your calendar and be clear with the bride about what she can expect out of you; saying that you can make an event when you know you can't will only cause problems later on. If you can't afford to come to the dress fitting and the bachelorette party and the bridal shower, speak with the bride about which are the most important to her and which your schedule, and check book, will allow.

Set up a way to communicate with the other bridesmaids in the bridal party. Email lists, phone circles or social networking sites provide opportunities for all of the bridal party to stay informed on their responsibilities and obligations to the bride. Remind the bridal party of their tasks and the pre-wedding event times and locations.

Stay organized. Since you are not dealing with the day-to-day hassles of preparing for the wedding, you can be your bride's alarm clock and calendar all rolled into one. Give your bride helpful notifications of when deadlines need to be met. For example, send her a quick text about her upcoming cake-tasting appointment or about the fitting she has scheduled.

Take on as many long distance-friendly tasks as you can. If you can help with ordering or preparing anything, then do so. In other words, you can try to be your bride's assistant, even from far away. Anything that doesn't need to be done in person, such as booking a limousine or designing place settings, could help out your bride.

Be the best maid of honor you can be when you're in town. Make up for being out of reach during your friend's preparations. The bride-to-be should be relieved that you're finally there with her. Help with organizing last minute details such as dress fittings, deliveries, decorations, catering and photography updates.