Wedding Wednesday: How I Asked My Bridesmaids.

      Today's Wedding Wednesday post has been a much requested topic from some of the Instagram Q&A boxes that I've done the last few months! I've been looking forward to sharing the details with you of how I asked my bridal party to be in the wedding. 

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     Over the last several years, it has become very commonplace for brides to "propose" to their bridal party with elaborate gift boxes filled with various items inside. I feel like with each year that goes by (and with the increased popularity of Instagram and TikTok), these boxes often get more elaborate and more expensive-looking. After Ryan and I got engaged last fall and I made the final decision on which girlfriends to ask to be in the wedding, I suddenly felt a ton of pressure to immediately go and buy a ton of random items and put them into boxes to mail off to my girlfriends. Instead of being excited to do this, I felt very stressed out.

     I didn't want to waste hundreds (maybe even thousands?) of dollars on random items for the girls that they might not even like. Not to mention a lot of extra money on shipping them around the country to all the girls, as none of my bridal party lives in Virginia Beach! The first couple months engaged were by far the busiest and most stressful part of wedding planning, since we had so many major decisions to make in a short amount of time (What state were we getting married in? What venue? What date? What's the budget?). The last thing that I wanted to do at that time was feel pressured to quickly buy a bunch of random items to stuff into boxes and pay a ton of money in shipping for,

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to go cheap on my bridal party gifts! Bridesmaids deserve to be spoiled by the bride. My bridesmaids will all be getting more gifts from me during the wedding weekend! But by the time our wedding weekend is here, I will have had months to think of the perfect gift ideas for them, and I also won't have to pay any shipping costs since they'll all be getting these gifts in person (and no shipping means more money to spend on the actual gifts, too. 😉) It was simply for the proposals that I felt very pressed for time, and felt that it would be much better to save more of the gifts budget for the actual wedding. Remember brides- it is your wedding! Just because it seems like everyone is doing these elaborate box bridal party proposals doesn't mean that you have to also. 

     So what did I end up doing? 

     If there's one thing to know about me, it's that I have a giant sweet tooth! I have been well-known for decades to be a firm believer in eating dessert first. Ever since Crumbl Cookies came on the dessert scene a few years ago, I've been obsessed! I did a quick Google search to see that there was at least one Crumbl location within 30 minutes of where all of my bridesmaids live. I decided to do a Crumbl gift card for each girl! Who doesn't love cookies as a pick-me-up?!

     I also purchased the most perfect bridal party proposal cards from my favorite artist, Evelyn Henson. I've loved her art for years, and I've had my eye on her bridesmaid cards for a long time! It felt surreal to finally get to buy them. She makes them for both maid/matron of honor and bridesmaids!  Inside of each card, I wrote a sentimental note to each friend on one side, and on the other side I printed and taped a photo from a favorite memory from a past year with each friend! I am someone who treasures special handwritten cards and notes, and I save them forever. Hopefully these will become something that each of my friends treasure, too! 

     So that's how I asked my bridal party! It was simple, yet very "Annaliese." I'm now getting excited as I start planning out the rest of my bridal party gifts, which I'll be giving the girls in person during my wedding weekend later this year! 

Past Wedding Wednesday Posts:

Our Proposal Story // My Ring Shopping Experience // Local vs. Destination Wedding // My Wedding Dress Shopping Story // 9 Months Out Checklist + Early Wedding Planning Q&A // How Ryan and I Met // Our Engagement Photos // Virginia Beach Wedding Guest Lodging with Transcendent Stays // Our Engagement Party // 6 Months Out Checklist + Q&A  // 

      God Bless,

      xoxo Annaliese