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!).
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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.
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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
Love this post! Some of the Etsy links aren't working (but some are!) but I love this! I'm a looooong way off from marriage or anything close, but I always loving seeing about the bridesmaids and especially the cute gifts for how to ask them!
Hey Kristen, thanks so much for letting me know! I just fixed the Etsy link so it should be working now 🙂
Okay … SUCH a great idea to get matching robes and I absolutely love hydrangeas. I love the colors you went with for the dress. They are subtle but enough to stand out in a crowd of non-wedding party friends. It's sweet how close you are with all of these girls. xo
Allison | Peplums & Pie
Ahhh love this post!! All the little gifts you picked out are so sweet and thoughtful, and you all look gorgeous!! What a great group of friends!
Lauren Lindmark | https://dailydoseofcharm.com
This post is so fun! Love seeing photos of your wedding. Every pic is gorgeous! Adore those hydrangea robes… so pretty. Thanks for sharing. And congrats to Krista!
Everything is so gorgeous!!!
will you do a book review soon? I would love that!!
Your bridesmaids dresses perfectly captured that quintessential southern belle look! So gorgeous!
A beautiful wedding curated with enormous care and style! Love it!!! Bravo Caitlin.
So lovely! 🙂
http://www.evdaily.blogspot.com
Hi Caitlin, thanks so much for sharing! I'm in the process of planning a wedding right now and it seems so daunting but I love seeing what others have done. I do have an additional question, did you give your bridesmaids presents at the bachelorette party? and if so what were they? I'm trying to get a sense of my overall budget for wedding party gifts. Thank you in advance! BTW I think you're giving everyone wedding goals(:
Getting ready with the bridesmaids the morning of was one of my favorite parts! <3
BlondieintheCity.com
Love how you asked your friends to be your bridesmaids.
http://www.amysfashionblog.com/blog-home/
Oh wow- what beautiful gifts for your bridesmaids!! I'm sure they loved everything. Everyone looked great!
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
WOO those bracelets are amazing and so sweet! I'm sure they were just floored by the generous gift! Keep the wedding posts coming! I'm 52 days away from my wedding day and I am just loving the inspiration!
xoxo Shannon
http://www.ThatsSOShannon.com
Lovely bride and bridesmaids!!!! The color of the dresses were just breathtaking!!! Thank you for sharing!!
Aww what a precious post! Those pictures speak for themselves and all of you girls looked absolutely gorgeous!
Xx Janine
https://walkinmysneaks.blogspot.com/?m=1
Hi can you tell me the brand of your wedding gown.
Wow you all look so beautiful ! The dresses are amazing !
https://thefrenchiestblog.wordpress.com
What a beautiful post, Caitlin! The colors and dresses were all SO beautiful! I think you did so well planning your wedding to encompass the Charleston vibes and feel. Congratulations on your friend, Krista's engagement! I thought it was very sweet of you to honor her in your post! xo
She Sweats Diamonds
Hey Caitlin! I loved this post – so cute to see you and all of your closest friends there to support you on your big day. I am obsessed with the bridesmaids' pajama sets. Do you know if the pajama sets were they a comfortable material? Are they silk or more cotton like?
Hi Caitlin,
What color nail polish are you and your bridesmaids wearing? Seriously so pretty!
This is so cute!
http://thegirlswhobrunch.com
Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing the details
I wanted to ask, did you purchase the bridesmaids dresses or did the girls get it themselves? I have opted for a destination bachelorette and now I am guilt stricken since it’s certainly pricey! So I’ve been debating to get the girls’ their dresses, but I also have 7 bridesmaids and that adds up (esp bc I’m def paying for their hair/make up, robes and gifts of course)! Thanks !
Hi Caitlin! I saw that this bridesmaid dress is discontinued. Do you know where I can find this elsewhere? Or do you know of any other dresses that look similar? Thank you so much!!
Loving everything about this post!! I’m getting married in a few months and love the personalized hangers that you used to display the dresses. Would you be able to link where you got them from? Thanks so much!