Bridesmaids certainly don’t get enough credit. More often than not, they are paying for a dress they’ll never wear again, taking off work for wedding activities, there for you when you need to vent over guests that refuse to RSVP and help plan your showers. Can we also note the fact 9 times out of 10 they don’t know the other bridesmaids! It’s an awkward bunch because you’re pulling your besties from your entire life and basically saying, “Okay, y’all be bff while we plan this bachelorette.” And they do it with grace! Suzie from your childhood church reaches out to Hannah, your college roomie, and somehow they can make friends in 5 seconds and figure out how best to serve you during your engagement. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I receive from bridesmaids wanting to surprise a bride with a sweet gift. So today, the tables have turned! Let’s talk about some of the best ways to honor your besties, because they day certainly wouldn’t be as special without them! On the other hand, if you’re a bridesmaid, you can grab one of those satin bridesmaid dresses to look your absolute best on your bestie’s special day.
I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer on what you spend on your bridesmaids! Naturally, if you only have 2 you probably spend more than if you have 12. I think the most important thing to factor in is to get them a gift they will actually use. Bridesmaids gifts can get quite “Hallmark” if you aren’t careful! It’s easy to think, “Oh how precious! A sleeping mask that says, “team bride!”” But you quickly realize that the girls won’t ever use those outside of wedding week.
Here’s a few tried & true bridesmaids gifts your girls will actually use!
What did I gift my girls?!
I gave my girls personalized necklaces along with monogrammed Lola James bracelets!
See more of my wedding [bridesmaids’ dresses & robes are linked] here.
How to ask?
I shared this post last year on a sweet way to ask your girls! I asked mine with a fun bridesmaid luncheon. I didn’t blog it, but my mom threw it for me and I thought it was so sweet! It was blue and white themed which is how I collected all of our ginger jars in our home. The table arrangements were ginger jars with peonies in them. My mom and my wedding planner sourced them from all over and most are vintage. I made boxes with the Lola James bracelets [the necklaces are what I gave closer to the wedding!] and wrote them each a personal note on why I wanted them to stand by me on the big day.
What did you gift your bridesmaids?!
Photography by: JoJo Pangilinan
I love these ideas so much! I wish I would’ve had this guide a few months ago! I had such a hard time deciding what to get my bridesmaids because I wanted it to be something worthy of saying thank you for all they had done for me, but #budget.
I wanted my wedding to be a little more trendy, so I gifted them all dainty gold chokers to wear on the day of- and most of them still wear them a lot 🙂
I also wanted a way for my husband to be involved, so he made each of them these wood block picture frames with our wedding date on the back. Once we got our photos back, I printed one of me and each of my bridesmaids and sent it to her to go in her frame.
I figured they all needed a little relaxation after all of the festivities, so I gifted each of them with a face mask and a Lush bath bomb.
Lastly, I wanted to do something personal for each of them, so I made a goodie bag for each of them with their favorite snack, candy and drink for the wedding day.
When I got married. I hosted a paint with me at my home so that way all my girls could get to know each other and hang out and things wouldn’t be so awkward. It was a fun way to get them all to meet and nice to get our minds off the wedding. I gifted them a robe, tote, and essentials for the wedding.
Love this post! I just got engaged in July and we just booked our venue yesterday. Ha! I am having 3 girls stand up and I have some ideas of what to get them as gifts but always enjoy looking to see what other people chose. I have yet to ask them as I am waiting on the cookies I had made up for them. Each girl gets 2 cookies. One is a fancy dress that has a sash on it that will be the color of their dresses (black–my wedding dress is champagne so black is the only color that will go with it–but I don’t mind because I feel black is elegant) and the other is a pretty design and written on it is “Will you be my bridesmaid/maid of honor”. Thanks for sharing! xoxo
LOVE this post! I gave my girls heart shaped sterling silver necklaces with personalized cards. My MOH got a separate necklace that was a gold Y necklace with gold feathers embossed on it. We both eventually want to get tattoos of matching feathers that stand for, “birds of a feather flock together”, so in the meantime, I thought this would be an elegant way for her stand out from the group. I also got my sisters gold honeycomb necklaces since growing up everyone used to call us the “3 little Bees”( our names all start with ‘B’) so it was a fun play into our sister nickname:) This post is giving me all the feels:)
Personalised necklaces are such a great idea! As are clutches!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
I gifted them monogrammed makeup bags from a small business Etsy store! A wedding I was in, the bride gifted us those and I really loved how practical they were, so I did the same! And then I bought them getting ready rompers instead of robes so that they could wear them again if they wanted to!
So helpful! I am asking my girls next week at a brunch I’m hosting at my house. I have 9 girls and got them each dainty gold knotted bracelets from etsy and mini bottles of champagne with personalized labels. I’m also going to get them each a card with all the bridesmaids/MOH contact info + a sweet memory with each of them.
You’re ideas are so cute! Thanks for the post!