The mother-of-the-bride to-do list may seem endless but in reality, the most important item on the list is providing loving support to your daughter. There is no right or wrong way to perform your mother-of-the-bride duties if you keep love front and center in everything you do. The duties of every mother-of-the-bride have variations and combinations, but there are traditional and contemporary duties you’ll want to perform to help make your daughter’s wedding special and memorable.

Mother-of-the-Bride Traditional Responsibilities

There may be nothing more important in the traditional responsibilities of a mother-of-the-bride than helping the bride find her perfect wedding dress. Helping your daughter find her perfect wedding dress has been a traditional responsibility of the mother-on-the-bride since weddings began. The wedding dress for women became the symbolic passage from the girl of springtime to the woman of married life.

Your daughter has a style, and just like the many engagement ring styles, her partner went through to find the perfect one, her wedding dress will be reflective of that style as well. The wedding dress your daughter wears represents her, her partner, and the love they share for each other. Another traditional duty for the mother-of-the-bride is serving as a communicator, facilitator, and the go-to person.

You’ll serve in one or all those capacities when backing up your daughter’s selection of caterers, florists, venues, entertainers, and planners. That means you also become the designated communicator between your daughter and her partner’s family, decorations, guests, and almost anything wedding related. Another traditional duty is working with your daughter to come up with a guest list that also meets the wedding budget.

Mother-of-the-Bride Contemporary Duties

Bridesmaids are the joy of every modern bride, but they can also be an unintentional stressful component when planning a wedding. That means most mother-of-the-brides now serve as the chief communicator to the bridesmaids while handling all last-minute hiccups like something happening to a bridesmaid’s dress. Every mother can ease these sometimes stressful bridesmaid’s issues with support, comfort, and solutions.

Almost every bride in today’s world has a bridal shower and sometimes an engagement party too. If your daughter plans on having one or both, it’s good to help plan or support her events. You can do this by helping her with the event duties and sometimes providing financial help if possible.

You also want to act as a warm and facilitating hostess for your daughter at these events. That way, all the guests are comfortable and can enjoy your daughter’s pre-wedding events.

The Mother-Daughter Gift

No matter how big or small the gift is that you give your daughter on her special day, it should be something personal. You have a lifetime of memories together, so finding something you know she’ll treasure as a keepsake is one of the most poignant, memorable, and loving things you’ll do for her on her wedding day. Most of the time, you’ll give your daughter her special gift during a private moment between the two of you that will be remembered forever.

A Wedding to Remember

Once you perform all your mother-of-the-bride duties, you can sit back and start to enjoy the party going on around you. You’ve already successfully supported and shown your daughter how much she means to you. Now is the time to make sure she knows that you listened to her when she called your name and whatever she needed you were there for her. 

There’s no greater gift a mother-of-the-bride can give her daughter than love.