By Megan Peters

This weekend one of my bridesmaids is throwing a Bridesmaid “Meet & Greet” cocktail party for me. Because I have seven bridesmaids that are from different times of my life as well as from different circles of friends. This is why we thought it would be a good idea to get everyone together to officially meet, in this case over cocktails, music and food.

This party is an important step to the beginning of all the bridesmaid festivities i.e. the bachelorette party, the bridal shower and dress fittings. After all I am going to need to rely on them for help with the wedding as well as for them to be able to work as a team. And I can’t say I mind having this help. I enjoy the idea of having my friends kindly help me without even flinching, and this seems to be the normal reaction so far. To me it appears that bridesmaids in this day and age are more often used than not within a wedding. Which got me thinking, how did this tradition start?

The history of bridesmaids dates back to Roman times when an army of similarly dressed bridesmaids would accompany the bride to the new husband’s locale or village. In essence, these guards would protect the bride from robbers and bandits. So cool, but I don’t think I will need any protection in that way in 2010.

Later on the Romans made it a law to have 10 witnesses present at a wedding in order to ward off evil, magical spirits that were determined to destroy the marriage’s successful conception and progress. These attendants, both bridesmaids and groomsmen, dressed in identical clothes to the groom and bride, thus supposedly confusing the evil spirits that wished harm on the couple-to-be. Which is how we got the matching bridesmaid dress tradition for today’s weddings.

Today bridesmaids are the faithful, caring attendants of the bride at weddings. Usually, they are women that have some relational association to the upcoming bride, either a close friend or relative. They attend to the bride before and after a wedding ceremony. They’re usually the ones in the movies that keep the bride afloat, listen to her fears, cheer her on, help her with preparations, and pass on the collective excitement. The maid of honor is the most esteemed bridesmaid, and she plays a principal part. There is no fixed bridesmaid quantity because the decision has historically been left to the bride. The size of the bridesmaid group is sometimes associated, as a reflection, with wealth, success, or, obviously, how popular the bride is.

I am happy to have such wonderful friends and look forward to our experiences together as we prepare for my wedding in fall of 2010. I plan to update you more on my bridesmaids. But for now, I hope the party is all sorts of fun and that it will be the official kick off to my wedding.