The cars neatly parked in front were many. The entourage formed for the processional at the church's entrance doors looked like they're ready to march at a moment's notice. I found it odd and I had to double-take looking at my watch. For an instant, I felt very nervous because I thought I was late.
Duty of the Maid of Honor in Church
There are a few duties that are tasked to the Maid of Honor, like assisting the bride with her gown, helping prepare the dresses/gown of the bridesmaids and so forth. But I won't discuss all that. Rather, I'll point to one particular task I always give to the Maid of Honor during the wedding mass.
That task is to assist the bride in the communion by lifting the bride's veil. Because other than that, she does nothing else inside the wedding mass other than seat herself in front, before the first pews. By veil, I'm referring to the part of the dress/gown that covers the bride's face.
The matrimonial veil that covers the couple is generally pinned just on top of the bride's head. It is the responsibility of the Veil sponsor or bridesmaid to put on the veil and then remove it later.
The reason I reserve this task to the Maid of Honor is because she's the closest to the wedding couple. Her exclusive seat and kneeling bench also allows her to move in quickly to assist. I already have the script to announce when I call out the Maid of Honor. I call her out just when the priest is about to leave the altar and administer Holy Communion to the wedding couple.
Mix-up during Holy Communion
Well, today, the officiating priest sort of beat me to it (as he usually does). Before leaving the altar, he announced, "BRIDESMAIDS, please assist the bride." Generally, however, what is termed as "bridesmaids" would also refer to the secondary sponsors like the Candle, Veil and the Cord sponsors.
The problem is, all the bridesmaids, including the Maid of Honor stood up, not exactly sure what to do. So I just remedied the situation by instructing the Maid of Honor to be the one to lift the veil of the bride.
Missing Priest at Wedding Pictorial
Somehow, I've come to know of the officiating priest as someone who doesn't linger in the premises after his work is done. After the wedding mass has concluded, he calls the bride and groom to the front at the altar to sign the marriage contract. Typically, he would exit to the sacristy after the documents have been signed by those concerned.
Well, today's photography crew wanted him for the group pictorials. After seeing him vanish, one of the crew approach me to ask the priest to come back. But I know the priest as the "my-work-here-is-done" kind of a guy and then leaves.
So rather than me arguing with the priest that he has to go back out for the pictorials with the entourage, I just nudged the crew to go chase the priest and convince him to come back.
And I think he was able to do just that.
