All of my gorgeous bridesmaids!! From left to right:
Krista, Nicole, Melissa, (me), Anna, Emily, Jennifer, Kelsey
GOOD MORNING! I asked you guys in yesterday's post what you would like to see on the blog today and the answer was overwhelmingly about bridesmaids stuff :) I'm answering all of your questions in this post, but if I miss anything, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you there! First up, when I got engaged last May, one of the very first tasks was asking my best friends to be bridesmaids. I had such a hard time deciding what to get them! I wanted their gifts to be personalized and fun, and also have a touch of Charleston charm.
I decided to put together little "bridesmaid kits" for each girl. In each box, I placed Charleston cosmetic bags (they also sell a really cute monogrammed version), monogrammed wine glasses, and mini bottles of champagne. For the champagne bottles, I bought customized bottle labels from Etsy that had the girls' names and the question, "Will you be my bridesmaid?" printed on them. The hardest part was putting on the wine bottle labels - they took forever to do! I boxed everything up in these white boxes I had ordered off Etsy with a bunch of pink crinkle paper, and added my own card inside as well.
I was able to give a couple girls their boxes in person, but the rest I shipped through UPS (side note: if the package has alcohol it must be shipped through UPS and not the post office!).
All my girls said yes (love you guys!), so let's fast forward to the big day!! The girls arrived at the Thomas Bennett House (our venue) to get ready around 9 am on the morning of our wedding day. We had the entire top floor of our venue to get ready in, which was amazing! The whole morning ended up being so fun! Lindsey got started on everyone's makeup right away, and we played loud music, had girl talk and munched on hummus and veggies. We also kept peeking out the windows to try to see the decor and flowers, haha! At this point, I was also starting to freak out internally thinking about walking down the aisle - I'm so thankful all of my friends were there to keep me calm!!
Right when all the girls got there in the morning, I gave them all little gift bags. Each gift bag had a blue hydrangea robe for getting ready in and a mini monogram necklace from Love Always Couture - the girls are wearing both in the above photos. I ordered their robes from this Etsy shop - they have a ton of patterns, colors and styles (for instance, if you wanted your girls to wear pajamas rather than robes!) and I also like that you can buy items in bulk. Since I had 7 bridesmaids, I was able to buy a bundle of 7 robes at a discounted price. I absolutely love how the robes turned out - in person and in pictures! The blue hydrangea pattern was the perfect "southern" look for our Charleston wedding.
I also received a ton of questions about my getting-ready robe! You can purchase my robe HERE (search for "Danika" robe), I ordered it in an XS! You may notice that I replaced the pink satin sash with a white sash - I took the white sash from a different robe. If you want to get the same look, you could go to the craft store and get a small amount of white satin fabric and create your own sash. Underneath my robe, I wore this white silk chemise.
The next step was putting on our dresses! All of the girls got dressed in their Sorella Vita bridesmaid dresses (Style #8472 in the color "platinum"). These dresses are convertible and can be worn multiple ways, but I love love loved the one-shoulder look! Especially with the bow on the shoulder. After we were all dressed, I gave them their final gift - the one I was most excited about!! I gave them all pearl bracelets from Tiffany & Co. The little silver heart tag can be monogrammed, so I had each one monogrammed with the girls' initials. I wanted this gift to be really special and something that the girls would continue to use and wear in the future - and think about our friendship every time they did! I am honestly so thankful for my friends' love and support... they have been with me through the ups and downs, and each one of them has played a significant role in my life and contribute to who I am today.
And then - it was time!! We quickly grabbed some group and individual photos on the front porch, and after that point, the entire day was pretty much a whirlwind. (A good whirlwind, I might add, seriously the best day of my life!!!!).
I saved this picture for last on purpose - I wanted to give a special shoutout to Krista because she just got ENGAGED!!!!! I met Krista five years ago at a blogging conference and we became immediate best friends - and have been best friends ever since. Krista was the biggest help on my wedding day - she was responsible for all of the iPhone pictures and videos you saw on my Instastories that day - she completely took over so that you guys could see what was going on but I could focus on the wedding and celebrating with Chris. I will be forever grateful to you, Krista, and I can't wait to do the same thing for you on your big day!!! She and Andrew are a PERFECT couple - you can read all about her engagement and her wedding journey here on her blog. Love you Krista! :)
Like I said, if you have any additional questions about bridesmaids stuff, let me know in the comments! Also, if you missed my first wedding post, I shared a bunch of pictures HERE!
Sources:
Photography by Bethany Small Photography
Bridesmaid robes by Piyama
My getting-ready robe by BHLDN
Bridesmaid dresses by Sorella Vita (they are wearing style #8472)
Makeup by Lindsey Burchfield
Flower hair piece by Ulyana Aster (wearing the Daria)
Florals by On a Limb Florals
Venue: Governor Thomas Bennett House in Charleston, SC
xoxo
Cait