Is it ok to have two maids of honour?

For many brides, deciding who should be their maid of honour is a difficult decision. Having two maids of honour is becoming more and more common as brides simply can’t choose between two close friends, or a childhood best friend and a sister. Grooms often have two best men so there’s no issue with brides doing the same. If you do decide to have two maids of honour though, there are some things you will need to consider, which we’ll be exploring in this article.

Should you have two maids of honour?

It’s perfectly acceptable to have two maids of honour and you shouldn’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Always keep in mind that it’s your wedding day, so you make the rules and can plan the special occasion however you want. If you’re especially close with two people and you want them both to maids of honour, then there’s nothing stopping you from doing so.

Once you’ve made that decision, you’ll just need to tell them both that they’ll be sharing the role with someone else. If you’re having a bigger bridal party, it can actually be very beneficial to have two maids of honour to help with the wedding planning.

Can you make one a matron of honour?

Wedding tradition can come into play here, if one of your maids of honour is married, you can make the distinction by referring to the married one as your matron of honour. This has been commonly used terminology by many brides for decades.

If neither lady is married, then they’ll both share the title of maid of honour. Additionally, if they’re both married, then you’ll technically have two matrons of honour. When you ask them to be part of your wedding party, let them know that they can share all the normal maid of honour responsibilities between them. They could even give a speech together at the wedding reception if they feel comfortable doing so.

Make sure they’re acquainted

Do your maids of honour already know each other? If so, great, that’ll make things a lot easier for you. However, if they’re not already friends and they’ve never met before (or don’t know each other well), it’s up to you to get them acquainted months before your wedding day.

For example, if one is your sister and the other is a best friend from school, you will know them both very well. So, you can think about things they have in common and help them bond over those interests or similarities. It’ll help the overall wedding planning process go smoothly if they can get on well with each other.

Let them both be involved in pre-wedding day plans

The maid of honour is often responsible for planning the hen party and is a key part of supporting the bride when it comes to choosing the wedding dress etc. Since you’ll have two, you can let them decide amongst themselves who will do what in the planning.

It would be better to encourage them to work together and plan things as a team but if they’re completely different people, it may be best to have each one plan a different event. On the big day itself, there could be a number of maid of honour duties. Therefore, having two special girls there to help you can ensure everything runs smoothly and on time.

Make them both stand out

As we’ve seen in a previous article, it’s very common nowadays for brides to choose a different dress for her maid of honour to her bridesmaids. This can still apply with two maids of honour. As well as having different, maid of honour dresses, compared to the bridesmaids, they could also wear different dresses from each other.

This can help both girls feel special in their own way and show your appreciation to them individually. Also, with three different dress styles or colours in your bridal party, you can achieve a nice mix and match look. If you’d prefer all your girls to wear the same dress, there are other way to make your maids of honour stand out.

Some examples include having different colour flowers in their bouquets or wearing different accessories to the bridesmaids. Even the smallest of details can make all the difference in showing off your maids of honour.

Let them walk down the aisle together

The maid of honour is usually the last person to walk down the aisle before the bride. If you have two, you can let them walk down together, so neither feels like they are less important if one walks behind the other. Another good way to make both maids feel equal on the big day is to give them different duties during the ceremony. For example, one could be charged with looking after the groom’s ring and the other could hold your bouquet.

Summary

Deciding who will be involved in your bridal party is an important decision, but it’s a fun one to make. If you can’t choose one maid of honour and it works better for you to have two, then that’s what you should do. It could even work in your favour when it comes to making other decisions such as the maid of honour dresses UK.

Explore our gorgeous range of bridesmaid dresses UK today to find the perfect dress or dresses for the special ladies in your life.