Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaid Gifts from a Practical Bride

I was so thankful to have my best friends standing at my side for my wedding day. It’s tradition to purchase gifts for the members of the bridal party and I wanted to gift my friends with something special that was likely to be reused. Welcome to another Wedding Wednesday! This week’s topic: practical bridesmaid gifts. (This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Making a purchase through one of our links helps to support the blog.)

Rather than trying to be trendy, I went the classic route and selected a simple crystal jewelry set, which coordinated beautifully with their vintage-style bridesmaid dresses.

I purchased the jewelry from For the Maids on Etsy. They had an excellent selection of beautiful and simple classic jewelry styles in an array of soft colors. They even have many rose gold items (and you know how that metal makes my heart skip a beat!) Each jewelry set came in the most adorable little package with the bridesmaid’s name handwritten on a tiny little card and tied with twine. The small touches were exquisite.

Rather than giving each girl an expensive white t-shirt emblazoned with sequins spelling “bridesmaid” across the back or an uber-short floral robe (why on earth do they make those things so short?), I went a more classic route and provided each of my bridesmaids with a button-down chambray shirt to wear while we got ready on my wedding day.

Each bridesmaid also received a classic bow clutch from DavieandChiyo on Etsy. I’ll be the first to admit that the clutches were a splurge and the one item that is not likely to be reused very often (if at all). They were so beautiful though. Rob and I have been blessed in many ways and were within a few months of finally being debt free. We had a little extra room in the budget so we spent a little extra on our bridal party as a thank you for all they had done in support of our wedding. The good news is that the shop offers discounts if you purchase their clutches as a set.

As an added fun touch, each member of our bridal party also received a custom beer koozie. None actually used these at the reception (we had a keg), but it was a fun, inexpensive to share with the bridesmaids and groomsmen alike. I designed the koozie online using a template and was very impressed by the quality of the koozies for the price we paid.

With a vintage theme-wedding, I couldn’t resist the temptation to wrap the bridal party gifts in a special (yet simple) way. I purchased some decorative gift boxes from Marshalls and wrapped each one with a sheer ivory ribbon.

Our bridesmaids weren’t the only members of the bridal party to receive practical gifts. Rob and I also carefully selected the perfect shoes and accessories for our groomsmen to wear with their suits. You can read all about their gifts and attire in this blog post.