Before you start diving into the deep end of full blown wedding planning now that you’re engaged, you want to ask your besties to stand by your side on your big day (or sit, whatever fits your style), at least I did. When I proposed to my girls we had no idea what day our wedding was or where it would be, all we knew was who we wanted standing by us from planning all the way to the big celebration!
I don’t give a hoot about “keeping bridal parties even” so my husband and I didn’t discuss how many people we’d ask… and it all worked out perfectly; I had 7, he had 9 (but 3 of them couldn’t come due to cov*d travel restrictions). Moral of the story, have as few or as many bridesmaids as you want, if you’re happy everyone will be happy.
Anyways, I love being ‘extra’ and I love making cute gift boxes/baskets, so picking the perfect bridesmaid proposal boxes was a little overwhelming at first. I spent hoouurs on social media curating the perfect boxes… but they always came up to cost a small fortune. So I would start again. and again. and again.
Before I knew it, we had a girls trip planned a few weeks away (almost all the girls would be there so it’d be the perfect time) annnd I’d purchased nothing.
So I started thinking; what do my girls realllly want, and what do I really want? Something tasteful, useful, original, personalized, edible, not too cheesy and nothing that said bridesmaid.
Fast forward, I put the boxes together, we all went up to Winter Park for a concert and stayed in a cute Airbnb together. We partied all night and went to bed around midnight (I guess we’re kinda responsible now!). Around 5 am I snuck out to the car to get the boxes and tip-toed my way back inside and started to set up the table, to my surprise one of the girls decided to sleep on the couch and it happened to be the ONE friend who wakes up early… every. single. day. no matter the night she had before. So I had to be extra sneaky, I actually ended up doing all of this in the dark.
An hour later, I heard the girls giggling as they woke up and started to move around, a few moments later all I heard were high pitched gasps of surprise and them coming to my room to ‘wake’ me up so they could open their boxes! I imaging this is what Christmas morning is like to parents of young children?
It was so sweet, they each took a seat at the table by their box and waited patiently for everyone to be ready so they could open them at the same time, and without a moment of silence I had a bridal party squealing “YESSSSSS!” and “OMG!!!” and also a few happy tears that followed the excitement.
Handmade Candle- 100% organic soy wax/candle kit (amazon) and essential oils. I scored the containers at goodwill for $0.99. I designed the label on Canva and had a shop on Etsy print the design on little clear 2″ stickers. Each girl had their name on it, and my sister in law’s was slightly different.
Babe Tank Top- these are cheesy, practical, useful and also tasteful (and to some, annoying). I found them on Etsy and loved the idea of mix matched colored tanks, not everyone loves a mauve and not everyone loves black. I super loved that they didn’t say ‘bridesmaid’ or anything that would limit them to only wearing for wedding related events.
Stainless Steel Tumbler- also practical, useful and they came with a straw for iced beverages! I found these on Etsy too, and held onto them until a deal came along. All the girls loved them, most of them take them to work now!
Mini Wine- bought a big pack at the discount liquor store in town.. who doesn’t love a mini wine toast (or chug.. whatever you’re into)?
Stationary- I chose to design my ‘invites’ using Canva and printed them at Walgreens on Cardstock. I also printed out their names on photo paper to label the boxes. To me, spending the extra $10 on pre-made stationary wasn’t worth it.
Boxes- This is probably the hardest part, finding a box that fits everything you need it to! I ended up getting these at Michael’s (their technically photo/storage boxes) for $2/piece. Another functional, cost effective bridesmaid proposal hack.
No matter what you pick they will adore it, and they will say “YESSSS!!” because they love your thoughtful gesture but more importantly, they love that you want them by your side on the big day!
Coffee & Chaos 