What Are the Responsibilities of the Father of the Bride?
The father-of-the-bride has four traditional responsibilities according to Martha Stewart, and they include walking his daughter down the aisle during the wedding ceremony, co-hosting the reception, toasting his daughter at the reception and dancing with his newly married daughter. Wedding costs are also the traditional responsibility of the father-of-the-bride, but it has become more common for the marrying couple and the groom’s parents to contribute.
During the planning phase of the wedding, the bride’s father may also be called upon to mediate wedding-plan disputes and to deal with venue or catering negotiations. The bride’s parents are also responsible for sending out engagement announcements once the couple has declared their intent to marry. The parents of the bride, sharing duties as reception hosts, are responsible for making guests welcome, taking part in the reception line, monitoring the levels of food and drink and handling the closing-down details at the end of the festivities.
Duties that fall to the parents of the groom include hosting the engagement party, planning the bachelor and taking care of the arrangements and costs of the rehearsal dinner. The groom’s parents may also assist with the groom’s traditional costs, which include license and ceremony fees, wedding party flowers and honeymoon expenditures.
