Monday, January 18, 2010

I Have A Bridal Party!!! Part 1

So one of the few things that I got done while we were back home was invite my friends to be in my bridal party! This was really exciting and I'd spent hours thinking about how to ask them. As a side note, it's so interesting to see the differences between men and women in these situations. Mr. Milk just straight up asked his guys to be in the bridal party. Some he went out for a coffee with and asked them, others he did over the phone, but either way it was quick and simple! Not that way for me!

To begin with the selection was hard for me. There were some people who I knew I wanted by my side for sure on that day, but the problem is I didn't want a large bridal party, 4 max, and Mr. Milk didn't want one at all. He just wanted his best man and that was it. So my sweetie is compromising big time for me! But I think I struggled most with the idea of disappointing or offending the people I couldn't include. I talked it over for hours and hours with Mr. Milk and got his input too. Again due to the long distance and us living in North America while most of our our close friends are in Europe, it has been hard to get to know all of each others special people. But after months of contemplating, and a series of events that sealed my ideas (I won't go into the details of these) I was able to put aside my feelings about offending others and be true to myself.

While I was trying to decide who to invite to be in the bridal party, I was also thinking about how to ask them. I had seen on a number of blogs, including Born to be Mrs. Beever's, that some brides-to-be were asking their friends by taking photos of themselves with the friend and turning those into puzzles. I loved the idea. I looked into a variety of sites that would do this, but shipping to Canada cost almost as much as the puzzles put together! Or the ones that were decently priced came in 200 pieces, not ideal! Then I thought about going the DIY route. Lets just say that was a HUGE failure! I even got Mr. Milk involved in trying to figure this out, as he as far better at these things than I. But alas, no success. 

A week or so before we left, I thought I was just going to place the pictures with "be my bridesmaid/maid of honor?" photoshoped on them into cute frames and present those to the girls as Christmas gifts, when Mr. Milk came up with the idea of turning the pics into magnets. I remembered seeing magnetic sheets with an adhesive side at our local craft store and new this would be an quick, inexpensive way to get something close to a puzzle. 



So I bought one sheet of this stuff (which was more than enough) and set to work creating my puzzles. While the magnetic sheet was really easy to cut through, I decided that instead of having regular puzzle pieces I would just cut them all into 1 inch squares to make it easier and not ruin the pics. While at the craft store, I also found little square tins to place the cut magnet pic into.



I used the cutter at Mr. Milk's work to get my squares, tied the pieces together in a small deck, wrapped them in blue tissue paper with the instructions "use the fridge to help you answer the question". I then presented my ladies with these:



The pink post-it had the girls name on it so I would know which ones to give to who! Stay tuned for Part 2, where I actually show you what went into these pretty boxes.

How did you ask your ladies to be in your bridal party?

25 fabulous blogger's comments:

Alicia said...

What a great idea!!! So creative!! I haven't had a bridal party (...yet). Maybe in a few years.. this is a fabulous idea!

Tana said...

I love that. It's a adorable!

Kim said...

So cute! I love everything about it. I made homemade cards for my girls, and included them in a little bag with a mini-bottle of champagne. It was a fun little project :)

Born to be Mrs. Beever said...

Oh yea! Congrats on getting that special part of the big day handled. And you are so resourceful with creating those cool puzzles yourself! Wow...what a great idea...and as a magnet they can save it on a mirror or fridge...so great! Can't wait to see what they looked like. And so glad you loved the puzzle idea...my girls loved it too. Can't wait to hear how they reacted :)

Heather said...

What a fun, creative idea! I admit I just asked my ladies over the phone. We had been anticipating my engagement for a while, and are all a close-knit group of friends, so they all knew they would obviously be my bridesmaids.

Sarah said...

I am like Mr. Milk, didn't want a bridal party. Sean and I have switched traditional roles for this event...he wants a big to-do, he wants to wear a tux, and he wants all of the glitz and glamour. I compromised with him and agreed to have his brother and Best Man (duh) and my brother as a groomsman. From there it was easy. Sean's SIL as Maid of Honor and MY sister as bridesmaid. The decision was made because the pairings make sense (my bro and sis together, Sean's bro and SIL together). I still don't know if we will order dresses or if the girls will just wear a brown or green dress that they choose or already have. I am STILL going to wear flip flops, that is NOT up for debate! :)

Katie said...

My bridesmaids are my 3 sisters. I have been in 7 weddings, mostly when I was in my 20's, so all my good girlfriends are past the 'bridesmaid' phase. Just easier to keep it sisters. They pretty much knew that is what I was planning, so I just asked them once we became officially engaged. Thankfully, they all said yes, lol.

FI had 2 good friends and his stepdad, so thankfully, it worked out pretty neatly.

Salt said...

What a FUN idea!! I'm with Mr. Milk...I didn't do anything formal. My Maid-of-Honor and I have been best friends for more than a decade, so I just called her and was like "it's time for you to get your Maid-of-Honor on!". Then I asked my other bridesmaid while we were out to lunch.

Katie said...

what a great idea! They turned out so cute!!

JazzWhispers said...

That's such a cute idea! I love it!

I didn't do much at all. Five ladies, 2 via phone, 2 in person and 1 via Gtalk. Classy ;)

Ams said...

That's a great idea!!!

♥ ashley said...

SO cute! I left you an award on my blog too by the way!

Shannon said...

Very cute and thoughtful! I already knew who I wanted to ask before I got engaged so when I told them I was engaged I also asked them in that same conversation if they would be in the wedding. That's pretty much how I had always been asked too. My friends and I are too impatient to wait to do something more special. haha.

JEM - Aqua Bride said...

Wow, that's awesome! My sister just assumed the role of maid of honor since I was hers; my SIL once we got engaged just said well i'm a bridesmaid and the other two bridesmaids are my two closest cousins so they just fell into the role. I wish I had had a chance to do something that creative and pretty.

Meagan said...

I bought them each gourmet cupcakes and wrote out a smushy card. I asked them before I started reading a lot of blogs and now I wish I had done something mroe creative!

Mrs T said...

They look so pretty in the boxes. Can't wait to hear their reactions.

I asked all my girls with a giant fake diamond ring on a keyring. They loved them.

Katrina said...

I love this idea!! I was definitely lame and just asked them over the phone. I wish I had done something cute like this!

Stopping by from SITS. :)

Minky Moo said...

What a cute idea! Your bridal party must have loved them! Stopping by from SITS

little luxury list said...

Aww what a lovely idea! The square pieces was a good idea and they'll love putting it together!

Nicole-Lynn said...

Very cute! Looking forward to Part 2 :)

I asked my girls by "Popping the question" w/ a ring pop. They loved it :)

Danae Hudson said...

I had actually asked 4 girls to be in my party and then...we decided to get married in France! So, fortunately, the girls understood and most of them couldn't come either way. So my sister stood by me at the altar! I don't know...I just asked. :) Totally lame compared to what you're doing! I can't wait to see Part 2:)

Stopping by from SITS

Ms. Chouette said...

So cute and I love the idea. I went through so much trouble to ask my girls but it was so much fun.
Love the tin... You just gave me an idea for my favors packaging!

Unknown said...

What a great idea! I just called my bride's maid and matron of honor of the phone. This is so much more fun.

Stopping by from SITS!

Ashley said...

This is a cute idea!

I was WAY to over excited when I got engaged and ended up just asking all of my bridal party in person the day we got home.

I wanted to do something cute, but somehow it ended up getting away from me

Jennifer Oberth said...

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Love the cute idea. I've got three weddings to go to this year and I'm the Maid of Honor for one so I'm on the loookout for anything creative!

I'll definitely be visiting your blog again.