Wedding Wednesday - Bridesmaids "Proposal!"
Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! It is the most beautiful day in California today and I am absolutely loving being in my sunny living room with my pumpkin candles lit and my “cozy fall” playlist on Spotify in the background (Listen to it here! I hope you like LANY and Ed Sheeran - cause there is a lot of it, not sorry!).
As most of you know, I got married last month! We got engaged on September 3, 2017 and were married on September 14, 2018 - just about a year engagement, which was perfect! I had SO MUCH FUN planning my wedding and, although I don’t want to plan it again (it’s hard work!!!), I would love to share my journey, tips and experience with other brides in hopes that it will help them! Every Wednesday, I will be posting about everything weddings! I am by no means a professional Wedding Planner, but I know as much as Jennifer Lopez taught me and I learned so much during my own process. My oldest sister, Kristina, just recently got engaged and I am so excited to help her through her journey!
Today I will be talking about something that I planned for months and months and was probably one of my favorite parts of wedding planning - “proposing” to my bridesmaids! I had my bridesmaids picked out from the second I got engaged. I chose my 2 sisters to be my Co-Maids of Honor and 4 of my dearest friends that are just wonderful women with the kindest hearts and are just so much fun. I knew right away that I wanted to do something special for them since I knew they were about to do so much for me over the next year.
My parents helped me brainstorm ideas of how, where and when to do it. We chose to do it in December because there really weren’t any “bridesmaids duties” before then and the holidays are the perfect time to get together! We decided to host a “Holiday Brunch” and tried to disguise it as a brunch to honor the bride. My sisters were only in California for a short amount of time, so the day before Christmas Eve was the only day we could do it, and it was perfect!
I had searched Pinterest for hours and hours for the perfect inspiration for their proposal boxes, but I really wasn’t finding the exact style I wanted, so my mom and I went to Anthropologie where I tried to find inspiration. It started with the most beautiful blue-periwinkle floral pattern on a bar of soap and I knew that was the color scheme I wanted to go with. Right next to the soap display was a matching mini perfume, which was perfect because it could be a scent that we all wear for the wedding. I happened to find these Rifle Paper Co. notebooks in a trio of different colors, all that still matched the color scheme. We went to Anthropologie around Christmas, so they had tons of gift displays set up, one being a “create your own necklace” station. They had these beautiful clear pendants you could attach to a necklace chain, so I got one for all of the girls.
La Marca Prosecco is probably my favorite prosecco, so I knew that I wanted to put mini bottles in the boxes! They were so easy to find at Target and they come in a pack of 3.
One of my bridesmaids, Kaylyn, has her own Calligraphy business, Pirouette Paper Company. She is beyond talented. She creates the most stunning paper goods and signage, I knew I wanted to incorporate her work into the boxes because I absolutely loved her hand writing and her foil pressed cards. I ordered “Will you be my bridesmaid?” cards from her, little did she know when I ordered the cards, she was making her own card!!! Sneaky sneaky….
I had planned on making stickers for the bottle labels, but time ran away from me and I ended up just making a little graphic that incorporated our hashtag, which was #JustinFoundHisBliss! Clever, right??? I wish I could take credit, my sisters actually came up with it! It couldn’t have been a more perfect hashtag to incorporate both our names. My mom and I came up with the “Justin found his Bliss, and having you just fits!” and we just decided to tape it to the back of the box!
I’m not kidding, it took me forever to find the perfect boxes. I wanted them to be deep enough for all the goodies, but not too big and I wanted them to be somewhat pretty! I finally found the perfect boxes at Target. Unfortunately, these boxes are only available during the holidays as a part of their holiday wrapping. The boxes come in all different sizes and a navy blue color as well, I went with the white color with the gold trimming.
My parents helped me brainstorm ideas for the menu, decor, drinks, etc… I was blessed with INCREDIBLY talented parents who are so creative with everything they do. They can turn something so ordinary into something so beautiful with their touch. They are also both incredible cooks, so we made everything for the food. My mom is one of the most amazing cooks. She can create anything with the ingredients she has and I honestly have never had something of hers I didn’t like. We served my mom’s famous egg casserole (recipe coming soon!), my dad’s breakfast potatoes (one of my favorite things he makes), brioche french toast with toppings (strawberries, chocolate chips, blueberries and bananas), maple bacon, and yogurt parfait’s with granola and fruit toppings. For dessert, we served old fashioned donuts and warm apple pie! I really wanted to have comfort food because that is really what brings families and friends together and it is just the most cozy, holiday feeling. For our signature cocktail, we did a Holiday Mimosa with cranberry juice, fresh cranberries and rosemary as garnish. My dad grows rosemary in his garden, so it was so fun to pick it fresh!
My dad has the most incredible long, copper dining table in his home, so when we were brainstorming the decor, I knew I wanted to have long garland, big white roses, fresh greenery, with silver accents. My mom and I went to South Coast Plaza and found the cutest silver holiday table trinkets at CB2 (Crate & Barrel’s sister company)! Just down the street from my dad’s house is the most adorable flower shop, Browne’s Flowers, so my dad and I went down the morning of the brunch and got some garland, big white roses and some fresh greenery. My dad has a super power of floral arrangements. Watching him create arrangements is one of my favorite things because I love seeing the direction he’s going to take it. He truly is so talented and made the most beautiful arrangements for the dining table.
When my girlfriends started to arrive, I was SO giddy with excitement. They had absolutely no idea and we were just so excited to be together. Unfortunately, one of my bridesmaids could not attend since she lived out of state and it was the day before Christmas Eve, but I shipped her box to her! We all caught up on our lives over cocktails and hors d'oeuvre’s and I was getting so nervous to give them their boxes! I dressed them up like christmas presents with big bows and ornaments to disguise them a little and throw them off when they were opening their gifts. When everyone was outside, I stood up and told everyone I had a Christmas present for them! As I passed out their gifts, I thought “oh god, they know, the surprise is done.” They either had the best surprise faces or they were actually surprised! It was the BEST feeling and we were all so giddy and it was just one of the happiest moments of my life. After we all hugged, shed a few happy tears and toasted to each other and to all the fun bridesmaids events that were to come, we headed inside to have brunch and talk about everything weddings.
If you have a chunk of your bridesmaids that live in town or close enough to travel, I HIGHLY recommend doing an event like this to “propose” to them! It was such a special day and I will cherish the memories and the laughs we had forever. Proposal boxes are such a fun thing to put together and surprise your bridal party with. So much thought goes into it and it really shows your bridesmaids that they are special to you and you chose them all for a reason! Hand written cards are such a great touch to the boxes because it makes it a little more personal and you can tell them why you chose them and what they mean to you.
Your bridesmaids are what truly makes your wedding planning process so fun and exciting. I had the most amazing bridal party and I feel so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful girlfriends. The entire time I was engaged, they were constantly checking to see I needed help with anything and they didn’t complain once about anything. My sisters flew in for every event, Cristin flew in from Kansas City for my bachelorette and wedding and Heather flew in for my bridal shower, bachelorette and wedding which was just so special to me and I can’t thank them enough for the time and money they spent to attend everything and make it the best experience.
