Maid of Honor - How are you making her stand out?

I let my party choose their own gowns as long as it was within the shades of blush that would look cohesive enough and my moh was the only one to choose a shorter dress than the others

After thinking about the tradition of bridesmaids and maid of honor, I decided to eliminate this completely from my wedding. It felt icky participating in a practice that requires you to rank the importance of your friends to you. I love and appreciate every member of my wedding party, and don’t feel it’s right to publicly declare that one relationship is better or more special than the others. Instead, I am allowing everyone to choose what they wish to wear, and honoring each of them equally.

Our bridesmaids wore different shades of mauve, my MOH wore burgundy. Her bouquet was also larger than the bridesmaids.

My MOH does not want a belt, nor do I think one would look good with her dress. I tried to suggest a sparkly dress, but she’s not into it. So she will be wearing some type of sparkly hair piece to make her stand out a little. Plus she’s my sister and everyone already knows who she is and that she’s my MOH, but I still want her to have a little something extra.

The thing is, my MOH doesn’t want to stand out. I have given her options but she just wants equal treatment. I offered that she choose a different dress color or shade from the maids or more dramatic looking earrings to match mine but she said no to all. I don’t want to bring extra attention to her if she doesn’t feel comfortable.

For me all my girls are wearing black (since its at night and more formal) and the MOH has a different dress than everyone with some sparkle. In addition her hair will be kinda similar to mine as well, plus she is walking in last of all the girls and alone.

My MoH will wear sequin dress while my other bridesmaids will wear chiffon dress in the same color palette

I have two maids of honor! All my girls are wearing same color/length dress in different styles. My MOHs will be carrying floral hoops instead of bouquets like the other girls

My matron of honor will have a different bouquet

I didn't. She's going to be standing next to me. And sitting next to me at the head table. She is walking down the aisle with the ring bearers as they are her sons.
We didn't feel the need to make the best man stand out, so we won't make the MOH stand out either.

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I totally respect that!

For me, my MOH is my MOH because she's helping me with all the pre-wedding planning, going with me to try on dresses (because she's the only one of my wedding party in town), helping with invitations/other crafty ideas, etc. If it weren't for all of that, I wouldn't be having a MOH either.

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I love this idea! Thank you for sharing pictures, too.

We're having a subtle Hobbit-themed wedding so I may steal your hoop idea!

All 3 of my bridesmaids will have the same dress but we may decide to have 2 add the optional straps, have the MOH get a bit of sweetheart neckline added. But we haven’t decided.
I will likely be doing a larger bouquet for MOH at the very least.

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I can completely understand where you're coming from, but I would say proceed with caution. I was a bridesmaid in a MOH-less wedding - which was perfectly fine from a ceremony perspective. However, that means that all of the jobs normally assigned to the MOH either don't get done, aren't executed well, or there's tension in the bridal party over who does what. My recommendation to you is to assign out the traditional MOH jobs - and make sure whoever stands next to you during your ceremony knows the expectations of the person who is standing directly next to the bride.

To OP - You don't need to have them stand out. I've been a MOH who matched the other bridesmaids, and a MOH with a different dress on. Frankly, it didn't matter to me at all because it wasn't about my recognition. It was about the bride and groom - plus, the MOH gets their love when they have to give a speech anyway

We aren't doing any kind of distinction as of right now. They all have had about the same involvement in my wedding Since your gal is more involved, you could give her a sash or a sparkly head piece!

I’m doing something a little weird, one of my bridesmaids has a lot of anxiety and didn’t even want to be in the wedding party, but she’s my best friend. So, I’m having my bridesmaid sit down on the front row, and my maid of honor will stand beside me during the ceremony

View Quoted Comment Very good points! Luckily, I am a control freak, so I have done absolutely everything myself. I literally planned the entire wedding in 4 months LOL I dont like the idea of sitting in front of people opening gifts, so I will not be having a bridal shower (plus, FH and I both have completely furnished/stocked homes, so there really is nothing we need. We are actually going to have to throw away a lot of duplicate stuff we have). Neither one of us is really into the bachelor/bachelorette thing, so we are not going to do those parties either. Instead, we are celebrating with our wedding parties and friends in New Orleans the night before the wedding. Any sort of “job” I may have the day of the wedding, I know any one of my wedding party, my mom, or any (or, knowing them, ALL) of my 6 aunts will come running LOL I tend to be a super chill person, so hopefully I am not under estimating what all will need to be done! Haha

View Quoted Comment I love that you are taking your bridesmaid’s feelings into consideration and allowing her to be seated during the ceremony! I have seen so many people on here who treat their bridesmaids like slaves & absolutely will not veer from their rigid ideas. It’s nice to see someone who remembers that these are friends we love, not “hired hands”.

View Quoted Comment She sounds like a wonderful friend! Maybe you could ask her if there is something special she would like to do/wear in order to “stand out”. Another alternative would be to privately gift her something special (rather than have her wear something different) to show your appreciation for all she has done.

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I love the idea of a private gift! Thank you for that great idea.