Can Your Best Friend That Is Male Be Your Maid of Honor or Even a Bridesmale?

I had 2 bridesmaids, and 2 bridesmen in my wedding. Those men were two of my best friends, more like brothers to me. They wore tuxes like the groomsmen, just with different colored vests that coordinated with the 2 bridesmaids. It wasn't weird to me, and I was the only person I cared to consult on the matter.

I stood up on the groom's side in a good friend's wedding. I guess it is a little weird, but his bride was ok with it, and it was what he wanted. I wore a long black dress. They did their processional so that it wasn't weird with 2 girls walking together. I think you should do what you want, and not worry about what people think.

I had a guy friend of mine as one of my "bridesmaids"...he just wore a tux like the other guys, but he was on my side at the service and in all the pics. Since he was a long time friend (for about 15 yrs) noone thought anything of it.

How would you feel if your fiance wanted to have his best friend--female, of course--stand up next to him when he was getting married to you? If you would be okay with it, truly, then I suppose it's fine. However it does seem to me that the most loving thing to do is to let your fiance be the only man you care about be up there with you during the ceremony where you are promising to love him forever and all that. Why not ask your special friend to give a reading right before you exchange vows? You could ask your friend to choose the reading and it could be ANYTHING. It would be a wonderful way for your friend to show his devotion to your friendship and it would be such a nice wedding present from him, don't you think? I think this would be even more special than having him be a bridesmaid (or whatever you call it)...just my opinion. I think that's a pretty classy way of highlighting a very important person to you at your wedding, and you know everyone would be comfortable with it.

Its your wedding... your memories... your pictures... you and your husband-to-be's special day.

Do whatever the two of you want and ignore everyone else's wishes.

Congratulations and have fun!

it is just great that you want to ask him to be part of your day. Just this last Aug i stood up in a great "male" friends wedding on his side. We also dated 11 years ago for a short few months and just worked out better to be good friends. I enjoyed being part of his day. and i wasn't the only girl on his side either, he had his sister and then a friend from school also. we all wore black dresses and the guys of corse wore their tuxes!

congrats on your upcoming wedding! enjoy the planning!

Hurray for you K.! I say - go a head and do it! My best friend was also a male at the time of my wedding 9 1/2 yrs ago. I'm in my 50's by the way. I was going to have my son give me away and my best friend stand up with me. Unfortunately, we decided to get married out of state and neither were able to afford the trip so that took those plans out of play.

Anyway - to make a long story short - I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn't have him stand with you as your best friend. This is yours and your future husband's wedding and celebration - do with it what makes you happy.

CONGRATS!
D.

Hi K.,
Absolutely!You can tailor your wedding as you like as long as both you and your fiance are ok with it. Has he met your male bf? Is he ok with your short dating history? If so, then I think it would be perfectly fine.

My husband is good friends with a former female co-worker and like you they have known each other for some ten years or so, they never dated, but I had met her several times long before we married, so it just seemed natural for her to be his best "person". She was honored to do it and it just gave our wedding that much more personal meaning to have the friends and family that are important to us be part of our special day. In fact, a good friend of mine and former co-worker is also an ordained minister so I asked her if she would conduct the ceremony. Both of my parents walked me down the aisle too!
We didn't have a traditional wedding, but we did have a lot of traditional elements in our ceremony. I definitely felt like God was with us on that day and we were able to add our own personal touch to it. So I say you definitely can have your guy friend stand up for you, if he is comfortable with it as well!

HTH,
A.

At my own wedding, my brother was my "man of honor". I have also been to two other weddings where the bride had a "bridesman".

Yes....I have heard of this. If he is your best friend, and your husband to be knows this, it is totally okay.
I actually was at a wedding where the bride had her brother/best friend stand up for her.
It was very nice.
congratulations.

YES! My bestfriend from high school (Kevin) was my maid-of-honor. Although we all had to put up with a few raised eye brows and we ourselves made a few jokes -- it was very wonderful.

If you guy friend is a real "guys-guy" though don't expect him to plan the shower and bach. party. Kevin didn't even attend my shower (my high school English teacher did mine) and he only attended the dinner of the Bachlorette night -- then jumped ship to attend the Bachlor party.

The day of he just walked down side by side with the best man -- no problems.

Good luck and congrats!

If you are really that worried about it you could just have him be a groomsmen. I know that the groom is normally supposed to pick those but for my wedding my brother was a groomsmen even though he and my husband don't always get along. But on the other side of that if you really want it to be known that he is there to support you then i dont' see why your best friend could serve the maid of honor role. If people are there for your wedding most of them should know you enough to know that he is your best friend. I would just make sure your future husband is in agreement so there aren't any hurt feelings on his part.

HI K.:
Congratulations!! It's your wedding you can do what ever you and your husband to be agree on.

When we were married 9 years ago we had my brother and a male friend of mine stand up with me and my husband's sisters stood with him. We each also had attendants that were of our same sex. The women all had the same dress and the men all had suits. We just listed them all together as "attendants" in the program to avoid the bridesman term or whatever. I was recently at a wedding of a family friend who had a Man of Honor. He wore the same tux as the groomsmen but had a tie and cummerbund that coordinated with the bridesmaid dresses.
I think if you and your fiance and your friend are all happy with the arrangement then everyone else will go along.

I say go for it. Certainly it will be a little different from the traditional wedding, but it's your special day, so celebrate it the way you want.
As for the comment that your husband should be the only man at the altar that you care about... That kind of left me speechless. You fiance knows that you love him and want to spend the rest of your life with him. Assuming you have a good relationship and he's aware of your friendship with a man, he shouldn't feel threatened by having your best friend standing up there with you.
My best friend of nearly 19 years is a man, and I dearly wanted him involved in my wedding. He was able to get ordained online, and was the officiant at my wedding. My husband has known from day one how much I love Collin and he was more than happy to have him involved in our wedding in whatever way I wanted.

Congratulations, and enjoy your wedding!!

I do not think it is weird at all. A brdiemaid is a person that is dear to the bride, that has been there for better and for worst, and that will help her during the planning. There is no law that states that it has to be a female.
My brother and I are very close and he was my "maid of honor" at my wedding. I am myself a event planner and I have worked in CA and in FL and have seen plenty of weddings where the bride had a best man or some guy friedns as her bridal party as well as the groom had girls on his side... As long as it is what you (as the bride) wants, who cares about etiquette....

i say it's your wedding...and you can do what you want!!....your wedding should include the people whom you love and who love you....regardless if they're male or female.....if other people don't like it or understand it then that's just too bad for them.....this is your day...and you get to do whatever you want....

(i'm assuming that your husband to be understands and will support you in this)

My 19 yr old daughter has a best friend since they were 3 years old, and when she marries her boyfriend sometime in the next 3 or 4 years, she plans on asking her male friend to stand up with her. She is having her older sister as her Maid of Honor, but her friend will be standing behind her sister and he will walk alone when he comes down and back up the aisle. She doesn't care if its not typical, she just can't imagine getting married without this friend being right there with her.

When we got married, I had my brother and sister stand up with me. They're the people I'm closest to, and I wanted them on "my" side, so we did it that way. My sister was the only woman up there, so we just chose a dress for her (it was a very informal wedding, outdoors). And my brother had a suit that matched the groomsmen. It was just fine for everyone, and I think there's actually a term: man of honor. Congratulations!

Yes, definitely! I was my brother's best "honor attendant" and his wife's brother was her best "honor attendant". Was great!

My brother had a female best man. She wore a dress similar to the lady's but in black. It's fine in this day and age to cross the genders for people standing up for you.

I don't think it's weird, but do you know how your friend would feel about being you Maid of Honor? If he would be fine with it then definitely ask him, but is there any chance it would make him feel uncomfortable? Don't forget that the Maid of Honor has resposibilities like the bridal shower & the bachlorette party (if you choose to have these), as well as holding your bouquette while you are getting married, and depending on the size of the train of your dress, the Maid of Honor is the one to adjust your train during the ceremony every time you turn around so that it doesn't wrap around you. I suppose you could always have another bridesmaid take over in those situations though. I just know that when I was getting married, it was nice having a female perspective, other than my mom's, when picking out the flowers and my dress and such. Just some things to think about...Good Luck!

I new a woman who has a male "maid of honor" and her husband had a female "best man." It can be done.

My sister was my maid of honor, but one of my bridesmaids was a really good guy friend. As long as he's okay with a little teasing, it's probably fine:) But there probably will be some teasing, even if it's good natured:)

Have you seen the movie "Made of Honor"? I just watched it - very cute. There's a bit of poking fun at the guy who's asked to be the maid of honor (like how he'll look in the dress, how good he'll be at performing maid of honor duties, etc.), but very cute movie. I'd ask him for sure, but if he feels uncomfortable doing it, find another role for him to play in the wedding. If he's interested, great!
My brother had a female "best man" in his wedding and I don't remember it being a big deal at all.

I have seen it both ways. My cousin had his sister stand up for him at his wedding as his "best woman" and one of my ex's stood up for his sister. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens a lot these days.

American traditions have always been to have your best friends and closest relatives be in your bridal party. There are many different kinds of love and I'm sure the love you feel for your fiance is very different than the love you feel for your friend. So, I don't see why his gender should have anything to do with it.

Several weddings have featured people of opposite gender in the "Best Man" or "Maid of Honor" positions. If you or your fiance don't feel comfortable with that (because, perhaps, you two actually dated in the past), then you can always have him be a groomsman and allow the groom to put some important women in his life in the Bride's Maids position.

We were just at a wedding where the brides brother was the "Man of Honor". He wore the exact same thing as the other groomsmen. And he walked down the aisle with the Best Man. It was kind of weird at first but I thought it was very unique and a great way to show how important their relationship is. Go for it! It's not like he has to put a dress on... a best friend is a best friend... no matter the sex.
Good luck!

K.,
This is not a weird request at all. This day and age women who are getting married are doing it their way. The age of our mothers or grandmothers wedding is now changed with the world.
I think it would be great if your friend would stand up for you. He could walk down with another bridesmade if you make it an odd number on your side, it might look a bit silly if he carries flowers (haha). I was in my cousins wedding and she had two maids of honor, her husband now had a woman stand up with him she was in a tux but we all were. The women wore skirts. It was great so we didn't have the dress expense.
congrats on the wedding hope this works.
B.- always the bridesmaid but now the bride myself.

Hi K.,
It's been done before. We were at a wedding where the groomsmen was a women. The best friend of the groom was the bestman and a women so why not. It worked fine.
Blessings,
S.
homeschool mom and business owner

Absolutely! My husband and I knew we wanted our siblings to stand up with us and we debated for a while about who would stand up with whom. But I finally said that I wanted my brother to stand with me. He could have his sister or she could stand with me too. She stood on his side. My brother wore a tux with a vest and pocket square that coordinated with my ladies' dresses, and his sister wore a black dress and got a boutonniere pinned on, just like the other men. It was fantastic. I felt it was the right choice because of the symbology of having my 'peeps' stand with me as I made a major shift in life. Do what you want for your wedding, decide what is most important to you, and let the rest go... Don't forget to slow down and really enjoy the day, it will go so quickly!