jotting jennifer

Mr. PB and I already had a pretty good idea of the bridal party before we were officially engaged. I also knew that I wanted to ask the bridesmaids in a special way. So before I even had the bling, I started browsing ideas to make the bridesmaids an offer they couldn’t wouldn’t refuse.

In addition to the beautiful hand painted cigar box in my inspiration post, some of my other favorite ideas on Pinterest were:

Such a sweet way to ask. (Pun absolutely intended.) // Source: Lip Gloss and High Heels

It’s fun and playfully helps to set some expectations. // Source: Lip Gloss and High Heels

I couldn’t decide on just one item so I decided a box of some sort was the best route to go. I began to look at wooden cigar boxes online and in stores but they either weren’t deep enough or were quite expensive. During one of my many trips to a craft store, I found photo storage boxes and a light bulb went off. Using one of these boxes, I could put the items in there and then they could potentially reuse the box afterwards.

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I wanted to dress the box up a little so I purchased some sparkly chipboard stickers and affixed each bridesmaids initial to their box.

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Another item I wanted to include was a frame. Along the same lines of the box, I wanted it to be something they could use later after receiving their “proposal.” I knew I wanted to include some of my favorite memories with each bridesmaid in their respective box and the frame was the perfect way to do it. I created a printout for each bridesmaid that had about 10 memories on it. I attached a small handwritten tag to each frame.

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Taking a queue from an above referenced idea, I decided to include a Ring Pop in each of the girl’s boxes. I found small gift boxes at a local craft store, used a small piece of tissue paper in the box, plopped the sugary bling in the box and topped the box off with a tag that gave them a hint of what was inside.

 

I had started to dabble in sewing shortly before we were engaged so I wanted to give the girls something handmade as well. I somewhat mastered this box pouch tutorial from Make it Modern and decided that would be it. I modified the design slightly so I could include each color in the bag.

Seeing I’m a sports-loving girl, Team Bride items are right up my alley. I had stumbled upon a bunch during online browsing and in-store shopping and felt the need to include a couple for my girls. I found Klinger Creative on Etsy and asked the shop owner if she could change the font for me. Heather was super responsive, I received the pins quite quickly and she packaged them super cute too! I added a pin to the zipper of the box pouches. (I gave one to each of the moms, too.) I also designed a Team Bride logo for the inside of the box lid.

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I intended to also put a sweet treat in each girls box – a wedding cake shaped cookie paired with some heart shaped cookies. Due to my poor planning for my local brides, the cookies weren’t exactly done/dry for them. Fail. For my out-of-town bridesmaids, I bought regular cookies from the store to give to them.

The final box, sans cookie.

To finish off the boxes, I created a card similar to the inspiration one in the post but using the wedding colors. I made four different types of cards – MOHs, local bridesmaids, out-of-town bridesmaids and my junior bridesmaid. I wanted to include things like the toast for the MOHs and I wanted to change the wording for the out-of-town bridesmaids so they didn’t feel obligated to travel for everything. Also, I edited JBM Moo’s to take the bachelorette out, include having a brother-in-law and make it more pre-teen friendly.

I also wrote a note to each bridesmaid on the back in silver sharpie and then put the cards in white square envelopes.

Add a bow and I was done. (Well, with one. There were seven to make.)

I am fortunate to report that each of my bridesmaids accepted their duties and were happy with their gifts! I am happy that I took the time to make sure they know how special they are to me.

*all photos personal unless otherwise noted

How did you ask your bridesmaids to be a part of the day? Did you find inspiration in any of the same items I did?

To the chagrin of marshmallow lovers, this is not a post about these guys:

Oh hai! // Source: Pflow.com

Instead, I’d like to focus on three groups of people – the ‘maids, the ‘men and the munchkins.

The ‘Maids

Top Row: Maid of Honor Homegurl, Matron of Honor Sharpie, Bridesmaid DW, Bridesmaid Frack
Bottom Row: Bridesmaid Nachos, Bridesmaid Cupcake, Junior Bridesmaid Moo
Photos: Personal/Facebook/Twitter

MOH Homegurl and I have been friends for the past 18 years and I couldn’t imagine her not by my side on my wedding day. She has been there for just about every guy I’ve ever crushed on. Let me tell ya, some of them were doozies, yet she loves me just the same. She is great about giving me a perspective I didn’t think of and is always willing to lend a helping hand.

MOH Sharpie is my cousin and has been there since the beginning (makes sense since she’s older than me). Out of five cousins on my mom’s side, her and I were the only girls and we hung out a lot. She’s been a huge support system throughout life and I was fortunate to be by her side when she got married. Sharpie is a new mom yet she still is willing to tackle MOH duties – bless her soul!

BM DW and I go back to when I started seventh grade and we even went to the same college together (Go Bulls!). Fall is our favorite time of the year because it means sweats and football – two of the best things ever. DW and I also enjoy the OC, Dancing with the Stars and making yummy food. She is the giraffe to my zebra.

BM Frack was my friend before she was my boyfriend’s/fiance’s sister-in-law. Even if I wasn’t marrying Mr. PB, I would still want her to be a part of my wedding day. It’s fantastic to have a future sister-in-law that you’re friends with and get along great with. We also both have a love for crafts, Grey’s Anatomy and cheese.

BM Nachos and I worked at the college student newspaper together and have some amazeballs memories together. She also shares a love for the WeddingBee with me and we talk about it frequently, but totally not in a creepy way. She lives in DC right now and I keep waiting for a phone call that she found a job in NY.

BM Cupcake and I met while I was doing an internship in Ohio and share a love for spontaneity, randomness and, of course, cupcakes. We know how to celebrate like princesses and heckle like rabid sports fans, maybe even both at the same time. Cupcake is another out-of-town bridesmaid, currently living in Ohio. Maybe one day I can convince her to move to the Empire State…

JBM Moo is my younger sister and like all sisters do, we torture each other from time to time but in the end, her and I are quite alike. Organization is something that brings delight to both of our worlds and we both love pop music, even though she is crazy when she says Justin Bieber is better than Justin Timberlake. Kids these days…

The ‘Men

Top Row: Best Man Gee, Groomsman Gold, Groomsman Honda, Groomsman Genny
Bottom Row: Groomsman Germany, Groomsman Tubesock
Photos: Personal/Facebook

Mr. PB’s brother Gee will serve as his best man, just as Mr. PB was Gee’s best man in 2010 for his wedding. Also standing with BM Gee will be GM Gold, Mr. PB’s longtime friend by way of Gee; GM Honda, a friend and coworker of Mr. PB for the past six years; and GM Genny, a middle school friend of Mr. PB’s. My older brother Germany and younger brother Tubesock will also be groomsmen in Mr. PB’s crew.

Side note: I apologize for the brevity in the groomsmen synopsis. I somewhat awkward writing about Mr. PB’s friends and Mr. PB isn’t exactly the blogger type. (He’s currently in the other room, probably browsing Craigslist for things he doesn’t need.)

The Munchkins

Flower Girl Princess, Flower Girl Diva, Ring Bearer Jersey // Flower Girls: Personal Photos, Ring Bearer: MitchStudio

These kiddos may be little in size but they bring lots in personality, as shown by their photos. The flower girls are my nieces and the ring bearer is the son of my cousin aka basically a nephew in our family. I can’t imagine them being any more adorable than they already are but I have a feeling they will steal the show at the wedding. FG Princess talks to me about the wedding every time I see her. She knows exactly what she wants to wear, how she wants to have her hair, where she will stand during the ceremony and what she will carry down the aisle. I love her enthusiasm. Future wedding blogger in the making

Tallying up the bridal party, that’s seven ladies, six guys and three little ones – 16 total. When I planned imaginary weddings growing up (you know, to people like Justin Timberlake, obv), I always pictured everything even and paired off. Back to reality, it didn’t work out that way and I am a-okay with it. I love our bridal party, even if it’s considered to be on the larger side of things. I actually probably could have added a few more people but I had to draw the line somewhere. Well, more like Mr. PB drew the line.

Did your bridal party count turn out differently than you imagined? Will you have more than 10 people in your wedding party?

Themes are a plenty for weddings. Season themes can center around autumn leaves, winter snowflakes, spring flowers or summer sunshine. Geographic themes can highlight the architecture of the city, the food of a region or a faraway country. Themes can be based on decades, cultures, hobbies, occupations, fairy tales or a wide variety of things.

Many of people have asked us what our wedding theme is going to be. That’s a more complicated question than they realize. As shown in my Pinterest inspiration, everything from ampersands, sprinkles, sports nods and jewel tones have been on my mind during the early planning stages. None of those items seemed to wrap up into a theme I’ve heard of before.

I often tell friends and family members who are planning their wedding to come up with three words that they want their guests to think of about the wedding. So I tried this strategy to help with me defining my theme. If I had to choose three words, I would go with fun, bright and love.

I want our wedding to reflect us, the goofball, football-loving, kitty parents who have a large family, energetic friends and a ton of love for each other. I think the best way to describe it is love & sprinkles. We want our love to shine during the wedding, ampersands will be featured throughout and we will have sprinkles of color throughout the wedding (and probably even the small sugar confections).

So there, it is. Our theme is love & sprinkles. It may not make much sense to people now but I’m hoping it’ll be very clear at the wedding.

Do you have an obvious theme for your wedding? Or did you have to create your own theme name like we did?