Will You Be My Bridesmaid(s)?

Well, I had planned on doing an entirely different post today (well, two weeks ago actually - whoops, time got away from me!), but I’m too excited to start writing about my wedding planning! This post completely revolves around all my favourite huns, and how I got them to say YES to standing beside me on my big day (plus the anxieties I went through of narrowing down the list)! I mean, I’m not the easiest person when it comes to planning (yes, I’m a strong perfectionist who needs everything done her way), so I wasn’t sure they were actually going to be willing to do it.. and I reaaaally wasn’t sure how I was going to choose who I’d ask!

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe..

I wasn't sure how I was going to ask my girls to be in my wedding. But, to be honest, that was the least of my worries at first. I was having SUCH a hard time narrowing down the list of essentially perfect friends that I’ve acquired since childhood. I mean seriously, I have a small army of wonderful, powerful women surrounding me at all times and that, my friends, makes it extremely hard to choose.

I felt like there was no way for me to pick without leaving some of my girls upset that they weren’t picked. I tossed and turned for three months before I could even think about starting the selection process. So, I made my hubby pick his groomsmen first! He has a much smaller circle than I do, so he had finished picking within a day (oh how we differ). But his quick selection made me realize: I need to stop worrying about others being upset because there’s literally no way around it. Who has been with me the longest, who is going to brighten my day, and who brings me essentially nothing but positivity in my darkest hours? I immediately knew who I was picking. Mind you, I would ask 8, but wished it could be 9. However, 20 people standing when you include the bride & groom is simply too many for the wedding I want to have!

I Can’t Say “I Do” Without You

Now that everyone was picked, I had to figure out how I was going to ask them and WHO WOULD BE MY MAID OF HONOUR?? I felt like this was an ongoing circle of impossible situations. Once again, someone was going to be upset. So, I mimicked my previous plan - I made the hubby figure his out first! However, this completely backfired in my face..

It was the night he was going to do it. He headed to the apartment where they all hung out and pretty much all of them were there. Next thing I knew, he was home and I was eager to find out who he picked and why. Turns out, his groomsmen collectively selected who should be the Best Man based on a number of surprisingly smart decisions; who would calm him down if he started freaking out, who would make sure they were on time for all activities, and who could plan an appropriate bachelor party that I would still be willing to marry the hubby after.

Needless to say, I was impressed, but this certainly didn’t help me. What was I going to do? I was left literally in the same boat I was already in, just more time had passed. How do you make a decision like this?? Finally, I woke up one morning a week later to a memory on Facebook of my best friend and I. We have been two peas in pod since we were four - everyone knew we came as a package. In that moment, I knew. It couldn’t be anyone else because no one else had gone through as much as we had.

Pretty Please?

The selection process was FINALLY DONE. Now, what’s left? To ask them! I wanted to do it in a cute way, but nothing over the top! I headed over to Icing in Dartmouth and found some really cute pink & white boxes! I thought these would be perfect to give the girls something in, but what?? I found a pack of little pink crystal beads there as well, grabbing them on my way out! I immediately headed to Bath & Bodyworks to grab my favourite hand cream in a mini sized container to add to their boxes (I mean, who wouldn’t want to smell me all the time, right?). Then, I headed over to the Dollar Store and picked up some fake flowers, sparkly tape, cardboard cutout (brown) that came with rope to loop through, and 8 small canvas’s.

When I got home, it was time for arts & crafts! I used the sparkly tape to put around the edges of the canvas, for which I wrote cute proposals like “I can’t say I do without you! Will you be my bridesmaid?” in black sharpie! I glue-gunned the tape down because I felt like after a week it wouldn’t stay since the canvas was a different texture than plain paper! I then sorted everything into proportions so I could spread everything across all 8 boxes; I added the crystal beads, the fake flowers, and a hand cream to each one! I then wrote their names on the brown cardboard tags, closed the boxes, and attached the name tags around the handle holder!

Overall, I think they turned out nicely, costing no more than $12 each! Not bad at all! This is the first experience I’ve had of many in regards to planning the big day. It came with the lesson that I don’t have to over-think things, and I can just go with my gut. Don’t let the stress of planning take over your life or influence any of your decisions - You’ll know what’s right in your heart! Let me know below if you’ve done or plan to do something like this for your bridesmaids as well!