As wedding planners, we do almost everything – but we intentionally do NOT take on the role of the wedding witnesses. However, a good best man or maid of honor does more than just “hold hands” and sign. Here are a few tips for witnesses:
ID with you?
The classic task of the best man and maid of honor is to witness the marriage with their signature. Incidentally, this is where things sometimes go wrong, so here’s the first tip: As a witness, it is essential that you have your ID with you at the civil wedding ceremony in order to sign validly. Yes, this has been forgotten several times and yes, we have actually had to look for a new witness in an emergency. The IDs of the bride and groom should also be present if possible, even if they have already been checked by the registrar in advance. One of our brides had to go home again to get her ID.
Where are the rings?
Speaking of forgetting – where are the rings? As best man or maid of honor, it makes sense to keep the rings in your care until the wedding ceremony. You bring them to the ceremony yourself or make sure that they arrive safely with the ring girl or dog to the wedding speaker. Jokes like “oh no, I forgot the rings” need to be carefully considered.
Personal belongings
The bride and groom’s personal belongings are best kept by you as witnesses. Ideally, you should also take the bride and groom’s cell phones (additional tip – use them to take a few special photos on the wedding day as a surprise for the bride and groom). Your equipment should also include at least one tissue that you can grab quickly – with additional emergency gadgets, you can save or even prevent minor disasters.
Important tasks
As witnesses, you are the people closest to the bride and groom. You look after their personal well-being. This includes, for example, regularly offering the bride and groom drinks, especially water and food (most bridal couples realize after the wedding that they didn’t get much from the food). Nobody wants to experience a dehydrated or even “hangry” bride.
If group photos are planned, you can offer good support here. You probably know most of the guests and can therefore help to make the group photos as efficient as possible by sending the next guests to the photographer in good time.
Guest contributions are often registered with the witnesses before the wedding. You can best decide which contributions are desired by the bride and groom and suit them. Long Power Point presentations that start in 19xx, first from the bride and then from the groom, are boring for most guests, outdated and usually don’t really fit in at a wedding. It is important that there are only a few but exciting, suitable contributions. Of course, we are happy to help you embed the contributions in the schedule.
Even if many couples don’t want any physical gifts, guests often bring them along. You can relieve the bride and groom of a great deal of work by ensuring that the gifts are delivered safely to the hotel room or even home.
Many wedding couples worry about whether the party will really get going after the long wedding day. Help them with this and storm the dance floor with them or directly after their wedding dance!
Unexpected problems
Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that unexpected problems occur at a wedding (guests are stuck in a traffic jam, the technology doesn’t work, too few chairs have been delivered…) If you are the first to be informed, do not discuss these things with the bride and groom whenever possible. They should be able to enjoy their big day without any worries. The wedding planner will be happy to assist you with any unforeseen problems. You can read about the other tasks we take on in our blog “The tasks of a wedding planner”.
Witnesses or wedding planner?
Both! Witnesses and wedding planner do not have the same tasks, neither in the preparation nor on the day itself. Good cooperation is valuable. As wedding planners, we don’t want to take away any of your wonderful personal tasks, such as picking out the dress. In general, you have full flexibility with us and can decide which tasks we should take on and which the witnesses or the bridal couple should take on themselves. In a free initial consultation, we will be happy to explain the different areas of responsibility and how we work.
Dear witnesses, we wish you an unforgettable wedding for your dear friends! Hopefully you can also enjoy the preparations and the day itself as relaxed as possible. You can also contact us at any time if you would like support, for example in the form of coaching / workshops or last-minute checks.
