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Irresponsible Bridesmaids

August 19th, 2010

Question?

Reader Question:
My best friend has been my best friend forever. But she’s really irresponsible and I don’t think she’ll be a good maid of honor. Is it wrong to ask someone else?

Remember that your wedding day is not everything and that relationships with people continue beyond the wedding day. Just remembering that thought may determine what you do and what you say to your friends. :)

Irresponsible Bridesmaid from "Confessions of a Shopoholic." Photo Source: lapetitefashionista.com

Okay, so that being said, before you ask someone else to be your maid of honor, you should talk to your BFF and ask her if she’s willing to be a maid of honor and explain to her the usual responsibilities. She might volunteer herself to be a bridesmaid but also, don’t be offended if she doesn’t want to participate at all. It takes a lot of commitment of someone’s time and money to be a bridesmaid. If you have other bridesmaids that are responsible enough to make up for your maid of honor’s lack of it, then you should be fine. In my opinion, “maid of honor” is just a title.

Keep in mind, not every bride has the whole sha-bang of bridal shower, bachelorette party, engagement party, etc etc. So just because you get a responsible maid of honor, does not mean you’ll “get it all.” I hope this advice helps!

by Christine | posted in Relationships | No Comments »

Photo Source: Wedding Chicks

Show your bridesmaids how much you love and appreciate them by giving them one of these adorable customizable totes!  When I came across this website I couldn’t wait to have my own bridesmaids to shower them with these gifts.  All the totes, t-shirts and cards are customizable to match and coordinate with your colors and are cute ways of letting people know just who’s who in your wedding party!  Check out the rest of the adorable gifts on http://www.weddingchicks.com/shop/

by Amanda | posted in Miscellaneous, Relationships | 2 Comments »

bridal shower invitation with pink cupcakes and pink pretzels

My brother-in-law is getting married in August! Yay! I have the wonderful privilege to be a part of their wedding as a bridesmaid. As some of you may already know, I love weddings and what I love most about weddings are the paper goods. For the bridal shower, the bride picked out a cute invitation from weddingpaperdivas, who were a pleasure to work with. The turnaround for the proof and the actual invites was so quick and seamless.

recipe card

For the shower, the bridesmaids wanted to do a recipe box for the bride. Since I was in charge of sending out the invites, I wanted to send these cards with the invitation so that the guests would be able to fill them out before the shower. First, I scanned the invite pattern to create the cards (with Adobe photoshop), so that it would match the invitation. I found a cute recipe box from Hallmark so that it would be convenient for the bride to take home.

Hallmark recipe box

Other than sending out the invitations, I was also put in charge of some of the games. For one of the games, I took the same invite pattern and made blank cards for the “who am I?” game. When the guests arrived, they were instructed to write out a memory they have shared with the bride without including their name. Later on, we had the bride read the cards aloud and guess who each was written by. Imagine the nostalgic atmosphere it created. The cards made a lovely keepsake for the bride.

cards for "who am I?"

Another game we played was the buzz word game. To begin, choose a “buzz word” such as bride, groom, wedding, etc. To go along with the invitation pattern, I made flowers out of felt and put them on bobby pins to use for this game. When each guests comes into the party, we handed them each with a felt flower. Then, if someone hears another person saying any of the “buzz words,” they get to take that person’s flower. The person with the most flowers at the end of the party wins.

handmade felt flowers

This is also posted on madebymelis.

by Mel | posted in Accessories, Design Ideas, Events, General Planning | 3 Comments »

DIY Bridesmaids Cards

June 30th, 2010

Source: Once Wed

I’m always looking for cute do-it-yourself projects to incorporate into weddings.  They’re a great way to not only save money, but be creative as well, such as these adorable linked bridesmaids cards!  I love the paper chain people that we all learned to make in grade school and this project uses that simple concept to introduce your bridesmaids to everyone. Cut out the shape of the dress you plan on using in the color you desire and personalize each person with some paper hair.  You can then wrap them around a personalized card asking “will you be my bridesmaid?” before mailing them out to each of your girls!

by Amanda | posted in Design Ideas | No Comments »

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

January 22nd, 2010

Have you thought about how you’re going to pop the question? Some brides will ask over lunch or dinner, while others will ask through a card. Your bridesmaids will be supporting you through the whole wedding planning process and will be spending lots of time and money to make your wedding happen. So what if you want to do something special? After finding that greeting cards were impersonal, a friend had a cute idea of personalizing her requests through DIY cards and boutique cupcakes from Cupcakes Actually. Everybody loves cupcakes!

Here's a cute way to ask your bridesmaids through personal notes and cupcakes

With the help of experts at Paper Source, these are the materials she started with.

She glued white paper to the cardstock, added sticker, and tied a bow. Picture is blurred to protect identities. :O)

The envelopes had a print inside that matched the outside label.

by Christine | posted in Relationships | 2 Comments »

How many bridesmaids?

October 30th, 2009

Question?

Reader Question:
How do I figure out how many people should stand with me? I could go with 2 bridesmaids, but I could also go with 10.

Bridesmaids help the bride but mine laughed at me. :O)

My sister (MOH) tries to tame my veil for the pictures at FDR Memorial. Source: Jay Wilson Photography

I don’t know where this etiquette came from, but the bridesmaids ratio is suggested to be 1 bridesmaid for every 50 guests you have. I’m not a stickler for etiquette but it gives you a guideline. Because if you have a wedding of 50 guests, you don’t want to go with 10 bridesmaids. You might as well invite everyone there up with you!

My wedding was 230 guests, but I had only 2 bridesmaids because I kept to close family members: my sister and my cousin. I couldn’t decide among friends and I was too afraid to offend people because if I asked one person, then I felt obligated to ask 3-4 other people who were in the same group of friends. So I made it less complicated and in the end, it worked out because with our short timeline to plan the wedding, it was less to coordinate.

by Christine | posted in Etiquette, Questions from Audience | 1 Comment »

Bridesmaids Gifts

October 27th, 2009

Trying to figure out what to give your bridesmaids? There’s no correct way and specific gift but just like any gift, hopefully you can find something that they’ll like. Being part of the wedding party requires alot of money on their part so if you can do something to relieve that financial burden, I’m sure it would be appreciated. You can give a pair of earrings, necklace, or bracelet that they can wear to the wedding but tasteful enough that they would choose to wear after the wedding is over. Some brides will consider paying for hair & makeup or the bridesmaid’s dress as the gift. For myself, I had only two bridesmaids so I felt I could spend a little more than expected. Because one bridesmaid was still in college, I paid for her dress to relieve financial burden. The other bridesmaid was my lawyer-sister who I thought would appreciate an iPod Shuffle especially since she didn’t have one yet. If you’re looking to spend a little more, Apple products are a nice gift especially since they get outdated every few years. You can get one for $59 for 2 GB or $79 for 4 GB, plus they offer free engraving!

Bridesmaids gifts dont have to be traditional!

Bridesmaids gifts don't have to be traditional!

Other gifts that I have seen include purses to match the dress, and bridesmaids mementos from Things Remembered. The gifts can be any amount, both inexpensive or expensive, as long as they express your thanks for helping and being part of the wedding party.

What did you give your bridesmaids? Did they like it?

by Christine | posted in Etiquette | 1 Comment »

“And you’ll definitely be able to wear it again, isn’t it great?!”

This is one of the most common phrases every bridesmaid hears regarding the dresses selected for the bridal party.  Is it true?  Well, it’s not often true, but it’s been known to happen.  In my six (to date) turns as a bridesmaid, I’ve worn one dress again.  It was when I was a bridesmaid in another wedding, but it still counts!

Some words of wisdom and things to keep in mind when choosing your bridesmaid dresses:

  • Choose wisely – you could be in one of their weddings and in the bridesmaid hot seat next
  • Stay away from fabrics that are very shiny and very clingy – dresses like that are really only meant for .01% of the population
Step away from the gold lamé and no one gets hurt

Step away from the gold lamé and no one gets hurt

  • Decide how important it is that your bridesmaids all wear the exact same dress – consider letting your ladies choose their neckline style, shades of the same color, etc.
Same color family, similar lengths, different dresses. Courtesy InStyle.com

Same color family, similar lengths, different dresses. Courtesy InStyle.com

Same color dresses, different necklines. Courtesy InStyle.com

Same color dresses, different necklines. Courtesy InStyle.com

  • Take all or some of your bridesmaid to the store so they can model the options for you – more often than not, brides end up going with a different style after seeing their initial choices on their friends
  • Is a dress the best choice?  Consider two-piece mix ‘n match combinations that many stores are now offering.  David’s Bridal has a great tool where you can match up different separates with accessories to see which look you like best.
  • Try to choose a store that has a wide selection – David’s Bridal is one great option.  They have a huge selection of bridesmaid dresses in a wide range of sizes and colors.  Other popular chain stores include Alfred Angelo and J. Crew (they always have a decent selection of dresses on sale). Another up and coming brand I’ve heard a lot about is Melissa Sweet – her dresses are lovely, but they’re not the most affordable option
  • Unless you’re planning to purchase the gowns for your bridesmaids, make sure to pick a dress that everyone can afford
  • Like when you purchase a wedding dress, leave enough time to place the order and make any alterations if necessary

I’ve worn four black dresses, one baby blue and one deep lilac dress.  The blue one was donated to a charity, two of the black ones are collecting dust in my closet, I wore one of the black ones twice (in my friend’s wedding and then in my sister’s wedding) and the purple one needs to be dry-cleaned before it joins the other black dresses in my closet.

Questions for both the bridesmaids and brides out there – how did you choose dresses?  Did you ever wear them again?  What did you do with them afterwards?

by Anna G | posted in Attire, Budget, Design Ideas, General Planning | 3 Comments »