Everyone should have a best friend in the wedding business. It always seems to result in beautiful bridal showers, like the pink and gold tea party Rachel of Blue Barn Photography threw in Raleigh, North Carolina, for her best friend Aly. The inspiration for the theme came from Aly’s love of vintage teapots, so Rachel borrowed delicate, colorful vintage china from her own mother and mother-in-law as well as Aly’s mom to create a cleverly mismatched set. Rachel found the fringed photobooth backdrop project on Pinterest and the other bridesmaids jumped in to assemble it the day of the shower. While the pink sodas and rosy teacups kept the theme undeniably girly, pops of gold and white throughout gave this tea party a chic moden spin. Venue: Pullen House
Today on Ultimate Bridesmaid we welcome guest poster Tara from Spotofteadesigns.com. I was totally inspired by Tara’s super-creative shower gift—A Year of Date Nights! See how she pulled it off below.
Hello UB followers! My name is Tara and I’m the T of Spotofteadesigns.com! Since 2010, I will have been involved in 6 weddings as a bridesmaid, maid of honor and a bride-to-be for my upcoming September wedding. Needless to say I’m in full-on wedding mode these days! As a bridesmaid, I’m used to the plan to chip in for an expensive item off the bride’s registry, but in one particular case, all the big ticket items were already taken. We came up with another plan.
As a big Pinterest user, I was very excited to come across this post from Shannon Brown’s Life in General Blog. She gave her husband a Christmas gift that included 12 envelopes of planned dates for the full year. I loved this concept and used it as inspiration for my bride’s group gift, which we nicknamed A Year of Date Nights.
At her shower, Allie, the bride, was only able to open a large box containing all the wrapped gifts you see above, and a descriptive poem explaining the concept. Each month after their wedding, Allie and her hubby, Tim, are allowed to open that month’s gift. Upon reading it, they’ll be able to pick a day on their calendar to enjoy the date. Since the couple only wed in May, as of this post only 2 gifts have been opened that I can share.For June, Allie and Tim opened a mini pizza box containing an empty frozen yogurt container. Inside they received gift cards for dinner and dessert at their local pizza and froyo locations.
For July, they opened a handmade card with a gift card to Wegmans. They were instructed to buy some steaks and trimmings, then enjoy a sunny BBQ for two on their backyard patio.
Not all her gifts had to do with food, but I can’t reveal the rest until they open the gifts as the months pass.
Below are a few suggestions for other bridesmaids who might want to make their own Year of Date Nights gift: Continue reading →
I entered adolescence in a very specific era: after cassette tapes but before mp3 players. We were the children of the “compact disc,” with our portable CD players and giant binders of CDs. Sure, there was a time when I had to queue up a tape if I wanted to record a song off the radio (God, that was hard! And you always missed the first two or three seconds of the song!), but when the mix CD came along? WOW! Let’s just say that high school was filled with CD exchanges and mixes specifically tailored to long road trips. In homage to the era of the mix CD, I decided to make one as a favor for Marisa’s bachelorette party. I emailed the attendees to ask for songs that reminded them of Marisa and then put together a mix.
I started off with songs that would remind us of specific events—when Justin and Marisa met, when he proposed, our girls’ weekend—and then added songs that I knew Marisa loved from different eras. I wanted to include a lot of “love” songs as well because I know sappy love songs annoy her, so I chose upbeat, peppy ones with the word “love” in the title. It turned into a ridiculous mix of songs, but they are all personal to her.
Then I bought some jewel cases and CDs (man, that took me back) and set about creating a CD cover. I am by no means a graphic designer, but I do know how to use InDesign, so I created my case there. I stuck with polka dots, typography and a color palette of pink, black and white, because I felt like I couldn’t screw that up. I bought some pretty polka-dot ribbon on sale at a local craft store. Ribbon can be expensive, so look out for deals! I needed almost 15 yards for 15 CDs—about a yard a CD. Then once we checked into the hotel, I left a CD on each pillow so the guests would find them when they arrived.
The first time I was asked to be a bridesmaid, I cried. I didn’t expect to, but I just felt this wave of emotion roll over me and I started tearing up. It didn’t take much—just a phone conversation and a heartfelt request—but asking someone to be your bridesmaid or maid of honor is a special moment, so choose a personal way to do it. Make a special phone call to each of your ladies or meet with them in person if distance doesn’t stand in the way. There are also lots of beautiful invitation cards or small gifts that can serve as a keepsake for the moment. I think it’s best to ask verbally so you two can share a special moment. Then you can follow up with a card or gift to commemorate the occasion if you wish. Here are some “will you be my bridesmaid?” items I love.
If you’d rather not play the sentimental card, this one from Naughty Betty is hilarious.
Want to go a step further than a card? How about a bottle of wine or champagne with a custom label from Michele Purner Designs? (I almost prefer the groomsmen option. Mustaches!)
My friend Nicole should be the poster girl for DIY weddings. She arranged a sunset ceremony in her backyard right on the St. John’s River, and we were surrounded by sunflowers while two of her friends strummed guitar and other friends snapped photos. Nicole even made all the food herself, with the help of her aunts and Mom (more on that later). One of my favorite projects from the wedding though was her Thumbprint Tree Guest Book.
You can find lots of trees on Etsy, but they’re a bit expensive. Nicole’s fiance Brenhan is a great artist, so he painted this one himself and I added the calligraphy. Then we set it out on a small table with four different shades of green ink (found at Michael’s) and paper towels and water to clean your finger after leaving your print. We also set out a pen so that guests could sign their name next to their print. At informal receptions, bridesmaids can be a huge help in getting things like this done. I offered to take charge of the guest book, circulated and asked guests if they’d had a chance to “sign” it yet and helped show them what to do. The result was absolutely gorgeous!
Venue: Pullen House
