Remember that wedding Ryan and I are supposed to be planning? After we survived the holidays, and our event coordinator at the venue was emailing me about our upcoming planning meeting, I realized that “Holy Crap! Our wedding is 5 months away!”
The first thing I did was notify my bridesmaids, some of whom had been asking me if they were going to be in the wedding. I had already devised a cute plan for inviting them, and not wanting to spoil it, I avoided answering the question.
Via OnceWed
Why did I take too long? I didn’t want to have any bridesmaids at our wedding. It’s hard for me to deal with, this idea of asking only some of your friends to stand up there with you. How can I draw a line? Some women solve this by having 8 or 10 ladies in their bridal party. But that also seems ridiculous to me, the vision of Ryan and I completing our vows, with a long row of people up there.
Ryan, however, said that he wanted to have groomsmen – and you can’t have groomsmen standing up there without bridesmaids to balance them out!
With that, the next dilemma arose: How should I invite my ladies to be part of the wedding party? Of course an email or note would do, but inspired by Jeannine’s approach, I came up with my own little surprise: a cute and useful zippered pouch with a note inside.
Zippered pouches are always handy for corralling the small items that often get lost in purses. With so many affordable and cute options on Etsy, I was able to stick to my mission of buying handmade products from small businesses, rather than buying mass-produced items most likely manufactured in sweatshops.
Each of the Etsy sellers I ordered from provided a great product with exceptional customer service. Here’s the list of sellers in case one of these catches your eye: Chicken Pouch from DownZipper ~ Schoolbus Pouch from Ciocia Ela ~ Elephant Pouch from TeniaMarie Creations ~ Birds Pouch from ChickChick Handmade ~ Scooter Pouch from Pink Lady Designs
Once I had the pouches, I had to add my invitation. Initially I’d envisioned a cute postcard that asked “will you be my bridesmaid” with a check box for yes, no, or “only if the dress isn’t ugly” – or something equally silly. When I sat down to design them, however, my brain froze and I just stared at the screen.
Time was running out, so I grabbed some colorful scrapbook paper, cut it into little cards, folded them, and then used one of my specialty paper punches to add a decorative edge. I used a scrapbooking pen to write “Please say ‘yes’ to the dress!” on the fronts of them.
Inside the card, I used a white pen (I have no idea why) to invite each lady to be my bridesmaid or maid of honor. Simple, but to the point.
I tucked the cards inside their designated pouches (the design on each pouch was chosen with the specific recipient in mind), wrapped the pouches in tissue, tied them with twine, and made little gift tags for an added decorative touch.
Finally, I popped the packages in the mail, and checked that item off the list. The ladies loved their pouches, and now I’ve officially got some people on my side as we prep for the big day.
If you had a bridal party on your big day, how did you invite your bridesmaids? Or did you choose the easy way out and just not have any? I’d love to hear how all of you handled (or would handle) this!
14 Comments
Very cute idea! Shall your gifts for your attendees at the rehearsal dinner be similarly themed? :o)
Wait, gifts for rehearsal dinner? I don’t know about these, please enlighten me!
Yay, that’s so exciting! Sadly, I was not creative at ALL with my bridesmaid invites. I just called them, squealed, announced that I was engaged, and asked them flat out. I already knew who I would ask, so that made it pretty easy! =)
These are a lovely idea! Since I entered a stable long term relationship I’ve dreaded the day I’ll probably have to pick out bridesmaids. My boyfriend is so much better at making close male friends than I am at close females friends, I don’t want the sides to end up bizarrely uneven.
This is so adorable! I had bridesmaids, but I asked them in person/over the phone (if they were out of town). I was WAY to impatient to wait for them to get a package 🙂
Very cute idea!
Bridesmaid gifts are just something brides usually get for each bridesmaid. (Usually there are groomsmen gifts, too.) Often it is something to wear with the dress at the wedding (like a scarf or necklace or earrings). I got my bridesmaids a pair of flip-flops for the reception because the shoes I picked out for them weren’t so comfortable. 🙂 My mom also made each member of our wedding party a quillow (a quilted blanket that folds up into a pillow) in a unique fabric with a patch thanking them for participating in our wedding.
Oh, ok! I know about those gifts, just didn’t realize they were given out at the rehearsal dinner. But it makes total sense. Quillow, btw – awesome word. 🙂 And what a nice gift idea!
I would’ve loved to receive an invitation like this, very well thought and I like how you picked each pouch specially for each one of your friends. For my wedding, I have to admit I was blissfully unaware of most of the traditions including having a bridal party. So we didn’t have one, but I guess that in my case, the people who were closest to us were the 10 who were allowed into the courthouse with us: basically our parents and siblings.
So cute, Jane! I just asked the “boring” phone way. You are so original!
Very sweet, Jane! I just asked my bridesmaids outright in person (a few on the phone b.c they lived far away). No cute gifts for the asking! When the time came, I gave them each a special necklace to wear with their dresses (they all picked out their own, but they were all in black so it “went” – – this is also how I got out of “spend x on a dress to wear to my wedding” . . . it was a decision that they made on their own and it’s not like black is an exotic color to find in most any size/style.)
They’re adorable!
I was torn on the bridesmaid issue too. In the end I had 5. My sister, my college roommates and best friend from home. I ordered cookies in the shape of a dress that said “will you be my bridesmaid?”, and made a card to go with them. The cookies were cool, you could pick different dress and skin tone colors.
I love the cookie idea!! Unfortunately several of my ladies have interesting dietary restrictions 🙂
OH!! I love the idea!!!
I have to ask them, I already have the cards, but still don’t have the little gift I want to put with…Thank you for the idea (and the ideas in the comments 🙂 )