BrideAngel

When Faye asked me to be her maid of honour, I did not care how much or how difficult it would be to get over to Las Vegas, for the ultimate commitment to my dear friend was far more important than money. You see Faye and I met at uni and believe me once you have lived with a friend for three years, been on the same course and seen the best and worst of each other, it's for life. We're there for each other through thick and thin, the good, the bad and the Big Day.

People have since told me about how the responsibility of being a maid of honour is far more difficult than being the bride itself. Organising the hen do, making sure the big day runs smoothly, helping the bride hoist the dress up each time she needs the loo (yes, it does happen) and saving the day in whatever catastrophe takes place. People have also warned me about Bridezilla syndrome.

You know what I mean. How the effects of planning a wedding turns even the nicest of women into the evil characters seen in fairytales (wicked witch, horrible stepmother and I'm sure there's a third example out there..), forcing the bridesmaid to wear unflattering gowns in the colour of puke and demanding all their spare time to go through hundreds of colour patterns for something as trivial as the reception tablecoth!

I can honestly say that Faye is nothing like that whatsoever. In fact forget Bridezilla, she's the ultimate BrideAngel. I did worry about having to use all my spare time heading over to Liverpool/ Wirral to help with the planning but somehow - and it still makes me wonder - she managed to plan everything within three months of the big day. All I had to do was research Amsterdam flights for the hen do, order some wigs (more on that later) and decide what kind of hairstyle I want. So far, so no need to run and hide from bridal monster.

Then came the bridesmaid dress shopping trip. I mentally prepared for a six hour traipse around Liverpool, dreading the thought of going into every store and trying on every dress that fit the colour scheme. How long did it actually take? Just over two hours. We started in Phase 8, went on to Debenhams, John Lewis, Warehouse, Monsoon, Coast and ended back in Phase 8 to buy the first dress we saw.

We both loved it - it's off white/ ivory in a shift style (abit like what Michelle Obama wears according to my mum). For shoes we went to three stores and eventually settled on these pale pink five inch beauties which, Lord help me, I will need to practice wearing or else I will forever be remembered by the Dabek/ Keane clan as the woman who fell up the aisle!

So now I have nothing pressing to do for Faye until the hen do in 7.5 weeks. I guess I'm just extremely lucky in being the maid of honour to someone as chilled as she. Sods law will have it that when the times comes, I will become the most evil of Bridezillas. I can just see it now:

• I want five bridesmaids
• I want them  to wear the exact shade of blue/purple created when the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet
• I want my hen do in Cape Town
• I want the invitations done only in recycled paper
• I want a horse and carriage.
• I want to fly to the moon.
• Finally, I want to marry, or at the very least have as a guest, George Clooney.

Is that too much?