Before the wedding, every girl experiences enormous stress, because large-scale preparations for the celebration often fall on her fragile shoulders. You need to take care of a hundred things: the wedding procession, the celebration hall, finding musical accompaniment, choosing a makeup artist, stylist, florist and much, much more. After troublesome weeks of preparation, the bride wants to relax and have a carefree wedding day, and the bridesmaid at the wedding helps her with this. For the holiday to be perfect, the chosen girl must clearly know her role and follow it to the end.
Who can be a witness at a wedding?
According to ancient customs, a witness at a wedding can be a young, unmarried friend of the bride who is not her relative. However, this is just an old tradition, based on beliefs and signs, and at a modern wedding it can be completely neglected.
The main qualities that a witness should have are sociability, originality and the ability to take an unconventional approach to any task, responsibility, and positivity. She organizes the bachelorette party and the wedding itself, so for this role the bride should choose her closest friend who knows her best.
Video: Competitions for witnesses
Witnesses are the main “ringleaders” of the wedding, along with the toastmaster; they should not feel embarrassed or embarrassed. Friends of the bride and groom are obliged to set an example for the guests by participating in all kinds of competitions, quizzes, coming up with toasts and unusual congratulations. Active, cheerful witnesses create a positive mood among those present and put everyone in the right frame of mind. Watch the video where a witness and a witness take part in a funny competition with various wishes to the heroes of the occasion:
A witness at a wedding is an important person who helps the hero of the occasion feel as relaxed as possible. Every girl who gets married worries about everything being perfect on her wedding day, and the assistant’s job is to take care of this. A kind, responsible, punctual and patient witness will be a real gift at a special event.
Who can be a witness at a wedding?
For the groom's best man at a wedding, according to customs, the same requirements apply as for the bridesmaid - he must be an unmarried young man. But in this case, traditions are also often violated; any friend or relative of the groom can play this role.
When choosing, you should focus on the same qualities as when choosing a witness.
The best man helps the groom in everything before the wedding and during the celebration, so he must be cheerful, but responsible.
Who to take as a friend and girlfriend?
Future newlyweds are racking their brains over this question. There are also traditions, customs and zabobony in this matter. In the West, next to the bride is a flock of girls in identical dresses who act as honorary witnesses. The same goes for the groom. In our country, it is generally accepted that it is better not to take married, divorced, or lovers for this role. They say they can bring misfortune and cause discord in family life. So say the signs of groomsmen and groomsmen at a wedding. In fact, if you think logically, what kind of married witness would leave his wife and walk around all day arm in arm with his bridesmaid. On the other hand, will a faithful wife set a bad example for the newlywed by spending time at the wedding next to another man? Sensible people will take as witnesses a free young guy and a girl, who will share the functions of honorary witnesses equally.
Can married or divorced people be witnesses at a wedding?
The condition that witnesses at a wedding must be unmarried (we are talking not only about family relationships between the bride’s friend and the groom’s friend, but also about marriage in general) is based on a sign. According to her, passion between witnesses on the night after the wedding is the key to a long and happy marriage for the newlyweds.
Another sign says that if the bride's friend and the groom's friend are husband and wife, the relationship between the heroes of the occasion will not be strong. The same thing supposedly awaits future spouses if one or both witnesses are divorced.
Wedding superstitions
Many wedding superstitions involve witnesses. For example, in ancient times, the groom's friend and bridesmaid were dressed in the same clothes as the newlyweds. This was done with the expectation that the witness would literally replace the newlyweds in the event of an unforeseen situation.
In Rus', witnesses were required to perform small rituals so that the life of future spouses would be happy:
- The friend makes sure that the bride is not jinxed. To do this, she pins a pin on the wedding dress and hems its hem.
- The best man takes with him white threads, which will come in handy if the bride or groom drops the wedding ring.
- At the end of the wedding ceremony, the groom's friend and the bride's friend kiss.
DESPITE THE MANY SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS, THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BEHAVIOR OF WITNESSES AND THE LIFE OF THE NEWLYWRIED AFTER THE WEDDING.
Traditions are not so important; the main guarantee of strong family relationships between spouses is love and mutual understanding.
Why are witnesses needed?
How the celebration will go depends largely on whether there are witnesses at the wedding. The groom's friend and the bride's friend are the main assistants of the newlyweds during the pre-holiday events (bachelor party, bachelorette party) and the wedding itself.
They do everything to make sure one of the most important days in their friends' lives goes perfectly. The newlywed's friend watches her dress and appearance in general. The best man controls the atmosphere at the wedding, smooths out conflicts between guests, makes toasts and congratulations.
Together with the toastmaster, they conduct competitions and quizzes, helping him with props and making sure that everyone present at the celebration is happy and cheerful.
Responsibilities of a witness
A huge list of to-dos falls on the girl’s shoulders. It all starts long before preparations for the wedding, and ends much later than the end of the celebration. In fact, for a woman this day is not a holiday when you can relax and get distracted. On the contrary, complete and every second combat training is needed.
What should a witness do before the wedding?
Before an important event, the assistant assists in choosing a dress and the image as a whole. This is not just everyday advice, but full participation.
Another important point is organizing a bachelorette party. Despite the fact that the assistant does everything:
- Choosing a location for a bachelorette party.
- Organization of competitions and gifts.
- Menu development.
- Choosing outfits for girlfriends.
It is also necessary to choose a wedding theme, toastmaster and develop a detailed script. All these troubles begin long before the appointed date of the celebration. The girl becomes a real right hand.
Duties of a witness at a wedding
On the wedding day, the assistant provides all possible assistance in decorating the hall and cars. The first person the bride sees early in the morning should be her friend. All the hassle of dressing the bride and providing moral support falls on the shoulders of the witness.
She must be inseparable from the bride throughout the wedding. It is necessary to help accept gifts, correct the young woman’s makeup, and accompany her to the ladies’ room. The witness is even required to ensure that the plate is full of food and the glass is full of drinks.
Responsibilities of witnesses during a wedding
What do witnesses do at a wedding? As during preparation, they make sure that the future spouses worry about organizational issues as little as possible and enjoy their celebration.
During the wedding, a witness from the groom's side:
- helps a friend buy his bride. The best man should take a few small bills with him, as the groom will probably forget about it;
- before the wedding ceremony, the registry office checks that passports and rings are in place;
- during a banquet in a restaurant, monitors the behavior of guests and waiters, avoiding conflicts and other unpleasant situations;
- doesn't drink too much alcohol.
At a wedding, the bride's friend acts as a maid of honor. Responsibilities of a witness:
- carry out a ransom;
- carefully monitor the bride’s appearance and inform her if her makeup has rubbed off, her tights are torn, or her hairstyle has deteriorated;
- help guests find their seats in the banquet hall;
- help the bride accept bouquets and gifts.
Both the best man and the bridesmaid should come up with several toasts and parting words to the future spouses. The witness's toast at a wedding should be original and memorable.
Signs about witnesses
The choice of dress color is of great importance not only for the bride, but also for the friend, because the color of the dress determines what the life of the newlyweds will be like. It is believed that under no circumstances should a friend wear a black or dark-colored dress to a wedding, as this prophesies misfortune and a quick break in the relationship between the newlyweds.
Signs about witnesses:
- It’s a good sign if your girlfriend chooses a golden or pink dress. It is not recommended to wear dresses in white or light colors, as they can blend in with the bride’s dress.
- It is believed that if witnesses pin pins to the wedding clothes of the newlyweds, it will bring them good luck and success. Immediately after leaving the house before the wedding, you need to put on a pin, this will help protect the young family from the evil eye and negative energy.
- After the wedding ceremony, the bridesmaid takes the towels and glasses, and the best man takes with him the box of wedding rings.
- The bride and groom should not touch these boxes after the wedding ceremony. It is necessary for witnesses to pick up the case first. If, after painting, the boyar and his friend take these boxes in their hands, they will soon also become family boxes. Witnesses must take a white thread with them to the wedding. After all, if the rings fall during the wedding ceremony, they must be strung on a white thread.
- In this way, negative energy will be removed and everything will end well for the newlyweds. It is believed that if a white thread passes through the rings, it will absorb all negativity and negative energy.
Best man
Mutual functions of witnesses
The duties of the groomsmen and groomsmen at a wedding are to free the newlyweds from hassle and trifles by taking on the organizational aspects. The bride and groom did everything in their power to prepare for the wedding, and now their faithful assistants - witnesses - can replace them.
- Help with decorating cars for wedding escorts. All attributes: ribbons, bows, balloons have been purchased. All that remains is to organize this process by involving guests and friends who arrived at the celebration while driving.
- Place guests in cars to accompany the newlyweds to the registry office and travel after registration.
- Take charge of organizing refreshments for guests at the registry office and during the walk after registration, and for this, try not to forget to take champagne, drinks and snacks. The main thing is that there is enough for everyone.
- Seat guests at the banquet table.
- Take photos with the newlyweds.
- The most interesting thing is to be a participant in numerous competitions and drawings during the feast. The toastmaster will not allow his friend and groomsman to sit on the sidelines.
The groomsmen and groomsmen have a lot to do, but their main task is to try to create an atmosphere that reigns only at a wedding: joke, have fun, toast and shout: “Bitter!”
Who can be taken as witnesses?
Who is better to take as witnesses? Usually at a wedding there is a witness from the bride (her close person) and a witness from the groom. There are no rules or laws on this issue. These can be absolutely any people - relatives, friends, acquaintances, colleagues.
There are different guidelines on how to choose witnesses. But all of them do not have any significant basis and are nothing more than legends, repeatedly paraphrased.
For example, you cannot take a married couple as witnesses, because they will divorce soon after the wedding (they will give their happiness to the young). One of the witnesses cannot be married, because... this also leads to divorce. You can't be divorced, because... this will provoke divorce among young people. All this is not supported by anything and belongs to the same category of signs, such as: a black cat, empty buckets, etc. There is an opinion that the omen about married witnesses dates back to the times of Rus', when they were responsible for the newlyweds and were punished with a ruble when they divorced. And then comes the embellishment.
If we proceed from more practical advice, then it is better to choose either unmarried people (possibly lovers) or a happy married couple as witnesses. But this is more so that due to various competitions (often at weddings they are quite frank) conflicts do not arise later. And so that the witnesses themselves are not distracted by their other halves sitting at a party, but are focused specifically on the wedding and the newlyweds. It is necessary to understand that these should also be sociable and cheerful people who love to be the center of attention, because... Often they are the ones who set the tone for the wedding celebration itself.
In general, whether you should believe in omens (and follow them just in case) or invite exactly the person you want to see as your witness, or maybe do without him altogether, is up to you to decide.
