Marriage

[Aquamonet]

My main character is helping her sister with her marriage. So far so good...got to the actual day of the marriage and I realised I had a myriad of questions that needed answering (having only ever been to one wedding which was a a distant relation of mine).

My questions:

What order does she do makeup, hair and dress...? Would she need to see the hairdresserbefore having her make up done for example?

What is the requirement for maids of honour?
-age
-marriage status
-relationship to bride

edit: who should give the bride away if she doesn't have any male relatives?

Plus any other things that have to be taken into consideration?

[vindemiatrix]

Bugger. I was gonna make a post about how you misused "myriad", but you didn't.

Anyway, a maid of honour traditionally has to be married, although they can be of any age, and is usually in my experience the head bridesmaid too. They're always bridesmaids, though. UK usage, btw, is a bit different to the US one. Relationship to bride can be anything, although y'know, I'd assume they're at least CLOSE. It's the kind of thing you'd save for your sister.

On the bride preparations, I have no idea.

[Aquamonet]

Bow down to my superior usage of the word myriad.

[Jenevieve]

Actually, I think you did use 'myriad' wrong.

I think it should be "I realised I had myriad questions", as opposed to including the words 'a' and 'of' before and after myriad.

[snooze]

I have to agree with Viv. It's a grammatical pet peeve handed down to me from my mother--myriad ought to be used in place of "many" or "several" or whatever within a sentance.

ETA: I thought that in olden days bridesmaids had to be, well, maids. (I realize that marital status has little to do with this, but let's allow the Victorians their delusions.) But I think nowadays they can be married. The only difference is with the Maid of Honour--if married, she becomes the Matron of Honour.

[Jenevieve]

Hm... I believe I agree with snooze on both counts. I wasn't going to say anything about maid/matron of honour as I have zilch experience with weddings, but it sounds familiar, and more importantly, it makes sense.

[Tundra]

the weddings i've seen/been involved in, she got her hair done first, then makeup, then dressed.

[Sulis]

That's certainly the order I had things done in for my wedding...

Maid/Matron of Honor is usually the bride's best friend, and age is really not important. And as snoozie said, whether the maid/matron of honor is married determines what title is used.

[snooze]

My cousin had her mother as her matron of honour. Fine, but a little odd. I'd thought the Mother of the Bride and Matron of Honour would have different duties, and somehow one woman managed to do both.

[vindemiatrix]

I have to agree with Viv. It's a grammatical pet peeve handed down to me from my mother--myriad ought to be used in place of "many" or "several" or whatever within a sentance.

Um. No. Myriad can be used as a noun AND an adjective. It's a common myth that it can't be used as a noun, and one that seems to be perpetuated by people whose grammar is usually immaculate. It's not a UK thing, too -- this also goes for the US and Canadian usages!

In fact, if you're using "myriad" as an adjective I THINK it doesn't take the place of "several" at all, just to be really anal about it. As an adjective I think the correct use is to mean "of numerous diverse elements or facets", but I'd need to check it.

Aaaaanyway. Sorry. It's just a poor misunderstood word and I always feel like I must defend it.

[snooze]

I have to agree with Viv. It's a grammatical pet peeve handed down to me from my mother--myriad ought to be used in place of "many" or "several" or whatever within a sentance.

Um. No. Myriad can be used as a noun AND an adjective. It's a common myth that it can't be used as a noun, and one that seems to be perpetuated by people whose grammar is usually immaculate. It's not a UK thing, too -- this also goes for the US and Canadian usages!

In fact, if you're using "myriad" as an adjective I THINK it doesn't take the place of "several" at all, just to be really anal about it. As an adjective I think the correct use is to mean "of numerous diverse elements or facets", but I'd need to check it.

Aaaaanyway. Sorry. It's just a poor misunderstood word and I always feel like I must defend it.

Oh my GOSH my mother has been lyyyying to meeeee! For years!
:lol:
Thanks Vindie.

[Jenevieve]

I have to agree with Viv. It's a grammatical pet peeve handed down to me from my mother--myriad ought to be used in place of "many" or "several" or whatever within a sentance.

Um. No. Myriad can be used as a noun AND an adjective. It's a common myth that it can't be used as a noun, and one that seems to be perpetuated by people whose grammar is usually immaculate. It's not a UK thing, too -- this also goes for the US and Canadian usages!

In fact, if you're using "myriad" as an adjective I THINK it doesn't take the place of "several" at all, just to be really anal about it. As an adjective I think the correct use is to mean "of numerous diverse elements or facets", but I'd need to check it.

Aaaaanyway. Sorry. It's just a poor misunderstood word and I always feel like I must defend it.
Huh. You learn something new every day, I guess.

I have an excuse, anyways. :D My ability to be grammatically correct is nearly entirely based on whether it looks/sounds right to me, and while that's normally very accurate for me, I guess things that are really unusually or almost universally misunderstood never made it into my amassed knowledge of how a sentence ought to go.

[vindemiatrix]

Hahahaha more converts!

*coughs*

Not quite sure where that came from.

[AXJ]

edit: who should give the bride away if she doesn't have any male relatives?

I've seen this part skipped, and I've also seen close male friends give the bride away. I don't think I've ever seen a woman do it, but I don't see why that wouldn't also work, if the bride wants it. But then, I'm not a wedding etquitte expert. :?

[Daisy]

Does one have to have her father give her away, even if he is still alive and at the wedding and capable? Or is that something that is pretty much non-negotiable?

[Tundra]

^ not nowadays.
I think if I ever get married, i'm going to have my *family* give me away. So, when they say 'who gives this woman to be married' or whatever the phrasing is now, i know they changed it from 'who gives this woman away' my family will say 'we do'. And i'd prefer it if the same question was asked of my fiancee's family! Pfft women aren't possessions...
anyway, i'm pretty sure that it's negotiable now. Many people skip that bit entirely.

[Sulis]

No one gave me away at my wedding. Of course, it was rather a strange one, with all four of my parents and in-laws actually performing the wedding, so Dad was already busy...

[Aquamonet]

I have seen a woman give someone away but it was on a soap so I guess it might be true.

[LadyAbby]

At my uncle's wedding his sister was his best 'man' (woman). So a woman can give another woman away.

[not_your_pixie]

Weddings are awful, horrible, pain in the rear end. But I will offer up my knowledge as a one time bride:

1)What order does she do makeup, hair and dress...? Would she need to see the hairdresserbefore having her make up done for example?

Hair is pulled up into the style's primary position, and then set with curlers (if being used) then while the curls are being set her make up is done, after her make up is done the curlers are removed, hairsprayed and finished. Once that is done the bride is carefully helped into her dress to avoid getting make up on her dress. The viel is added last and adjusted endlessly by a mother, or sister becuase they are just so darn happy ~^_^~

2) What is the requirement for maids of honour?
-age: Usually 12-13 is the youngest people will go for a brides maid, though that youn is never the Maid of Honor
-marriage status: Doesnt matter. If they are unwed they are called Brides Maids/Maid of Honor, and if they are married they are Matrons/ Matron of Honor
-relationship to bride: Eldest Sisters have priority in being the Maid/Matron of honor, and from there down littler sisters, then depending on how traditional you are close cousins and then friends

3) edit: who should give the bride away if she doesn't have any male relatives? Mother, Grandmother, Aunt, Sister not involved in the wedding party, etc.

Plus any other things that have to be taken into consideration? Religon, Formality, Traditions, Wedding size, etc

Here is a great resource that can answer most of these questions:
http://www.theknot.com/keywords/ch_525.shtml

[Aquamonet]

Thanks so much not_your_pixie. I now have everything I need to go on to get this right.

[pineappleviolet]

Pretty much what everyone's said is what I would have. Hair, make-up, possibly finish hair, dress, some pre-wedding pictures of the bride, then wedding.

Maid(s) of Honor = not married
Matron(s) of Honor = married

Also, although the eldest sister being the Maid/Matron of Honor is pretty traditional (if there is a sister), I've seen the groom's sister as the Maid of Honor, and I was in a wedding where the bride's best friend was the Maid of Honor, and her two sisters were bridesmaids.

Age isn't too huge; if the people are close to you, they can be in the wedding (of course, I've never seen a mother be a matron of honor, but I wouldn't doubt that it's happened). In the latter wedding I mentioned, the bride's 12-year-old sister was a bridesmaid, as was the groom's 12-year-old sister.