Category Archives: Favors and Gifts

Tanks for Parties or Bridal Prep

The Wedding Chicks is a great bridal resource, but it also has a shop with some fairly adorable tees and tanks that would be perfect to wear while getting ready the day of the wedding or at a bachelorette party. I’ve compiled some of my favorite styles below and you can check out their totes, hankies and more here. The orders are custom and each tank set is available in a “bride,” “bridesmaid,” and “maid/matron of honor” option with different colors to choose from. Some can also be customized with names and dates. The tanks go for $24 apiece.

Vintage

Nautical

Paisley

But my absolute favorite? This cozy bridal sweatshirt, also available in bridesmaid and MOH options, at $48 each.

A Year of Date Nights

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 →

Personalized Bridal Hangers

During the long hours of bridal prep, it’s nice to have a few surprises for the bride, especially those that present good photo ops. Enter Two Broads Design, purveyors of very affordable custom hangers.

Personalize name, hanger color, wire color and ribbon color to create a pretty keepsake for the day for under $20.


Or, for the bride, snag personalized hangers for your bridesmaids! After all, they’re the ones who are going to have trouble keeping track of whose dress is whose!

Bachelorette Party Favor: Mix CD

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.

Fashion Friday

Trina Turk at Banana Republic? Yes, please! I did a bit of a double take when I found this mini collection. Trina Turk’s Palm Springs-inspired neon-patterned dresses usually run in the $350 range, so at half the price these are a steal. Her clothing has a very specific resort feel, but it would be perfect for an oceanside destination wedding in Miami, the Caribbean, or Costa Rica.

This is my favorite, and I know what you’re going to say. Caitlin, it’s white. Yes, yes, I noticed. But only partially white! Just picture it! All the girls lined up on the beach, tanned skin, the bride in sparkling clean white flanked by her bridesmaids in pops of neon, perhaps holding bouquets of coral and yellow flowers.

Can’t get past the white? I offer you this alternative. I love the band at the natural waist and the very slight sweetheart neckline. The seaglass blues and sunset yellows are perfect for a seaside nuptial.

Too much pattern for you or not planning a beach wedding? Let me direct you to the accessories. The bangles and rings would be a perfect bridesmaid favor.

Or, how about this adorable makeup bag? It strikes me as the perfect container for a bridesmaid survival kit.

Bridesmaid Survival Kit

As a gift to her bridesmaids, Marisa put together this amazing survival kit. It was the perfect gift, both thoughtful and useful. It’s a great idea to have a kit like this on hand for the wedding day, so make sure to pack some of these essentials. Here’s what Marisa included in her gift box:

Kleenex (for mid-ceremony tears), Altoids, hair spray, Band-Aids, hair ties and bobby pins, Tide to Go pen (for emergency spills and spots), Soft Lips tinted lip conditioner with SPF 15 in Rose (love), a combination mirror and pop-out brush, clear nail polish, a tiny emery board, a small bottle of our favorite liquor (gin pictured for me), Roxy flip-flops to slip on at the reception, chocolates (not pictured, because I ate them) and gorgeous pendant necklaces to wear with our dresses.

An extended bridesmaid kit, ready for the day’s emergencies, should also include some meds: Advil, Tums, maybe some Claritin if the bride has allergies. Dr. Scholl’s heel liners have absolutely saved my life in the past (I once had to beg the father of the bride run to the nearest Walgreen’s to buy six of these). Two-sided tape can come in handy, both in keeping up slipping strapless dresses or fixing a hem that starts to come out. And if someone has a portable MP3 player or speakers for an iPhone, ask them to bring them along! You’ll be happy you have some jams while you’re getting ready!

For the Bride: Bridesmaid Favors

I am loving these custom clutches from Oatmeal Lace Design as a bridesmaid favor. You can choose a fabric for the exterior and/or liner and it will keep all her essentials neat and tidy on the day—no lugging a big purse to the reception or cluttering the limo with bags.