Moving (and maids of honour)
We are in the middle of moving offices at iVillage. There are big boxes everywhere and every time I look at my desk, currently cluttered with books, papers, magazines, hand cream, tubs of honey (!) etc etc, I inwardly groan at the imminent clear out. Although we are desperate for some more space – currently I share a telephone AND a waste paper basket with our super sub editor Gavin. His daily waste is minimal compared to mine; a constant stream of sweet wrappers, empty cans of coke, devoured copies of Heat, press releases, tissues, soggy tea bags… to his one banana skin. Poor bloke.
However it is also a great opportunity for me to take a look at some of the books I have been sent recently. Its definitely wedding season, this week alone I received ‘The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage’ by Dr Laura Schlessinger, and ‘The Brides Survival Guide’ by Jaclyn Hirshhaut and Kate Taylor. There is a wedding imminent at iVillage Towers as one of our editors prepares to walk up the aisle, so I keep passing everything over to her.
In the Brides Survival Guide it talks amongst other things about the role of your head bridesmaid, and how you should pick her, a task, it seems, fraught with politics. My friend Sophie recently got engaged and revealed to me the nightmare she had choosing her maid of honour. Apparently, over the years, Sophie had willy nilly handed out the “maid of honour promise” to a variety of her friends, invariably over a girlie - bonding bottle of wine or two - notably not to me however, I try not to be offended.
It was not until she agreed to make her boyfriend John her fiancé (on top of Ben Nevis!), and she sent a text to her nearest and dearest girlfriends - I did get this, I’m clearly not THAT peripheral – that she received a barrage of replies from about 5 or 6 girlfriends along the lines of ‘CONGRATS! As your numero uno, when she I start kicking off hen night proceedings?’
Ouch.
But, assuming that you are not railroaded into a decision based on a drunk promise made in an All Bar One three years ago, how do you choose? For me its easy, it would be my sister. A Maid or Matron of Honour should be one that you trust implicitly to make sure your day goes smoothly, wont break the zip of your dress as you get into it, calms your nerves without alcohol, keeps warring family factions under control and wont get slaughtered and insist on making a really embarrassing speech in front of your dad – which is probably why I have yet to be asked.
Are you about to get married?? Check out our wedding planner by going here for some great advice on planning the big day. In the meantime, I’m off to start packing some boxes – wish me luck!
Lots of love
Clare xx
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