I got some long awaited and very exciting news from Florida last weekend. It looked something like this:

That’s MOH M and her fiancee moments after getting engaged in front of the Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World!!

I’m so excited for her – we went out to dinner last night to celebrate and it’s fun to see one of my very best friends start on the crazy journey that I’m now in the home stretch of. Have any of you ever become a bridesmaid in addition to being the bride?  I’m trying to think of all the most useful advice I can give her without overwhelming her, haha. She’s already been gifted a pile of bridal magazines.

Congratulations dearie!

One really great part of visiting David’s Bridal was that we found the bridesmaid dress!

WOO!

I knew I wanted the girls to wear dark purple, preferably a-line, and not floor length. Other than that I didn’t really care. After I was finally freed from the the grip of the Wedding Industrial Complex, the mothers went off the look at mother of the bride dresses and the girls and I headed over to the bridesmaid dresses. I gave them my requirements and we started looking. After a bit I went to check on the moms. When I got back I was informed that they had voted that the dress would not be strapless. Fair enough.

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This past Sunday, we headed over to FSIL’s house so we could hunker down in The Eagles Nest and watch Donovan McNabb get the crap kicked out of him

Despite that bad news, I’m thrilled to report we have our final bridesmaid! NEPA Groom’s sister loved her card and happily said yes. So we now have:

Bridesmaid E – a frequent (and sometimes sarcastic) commenter here at Nepa Bride Blog.

Bridesmaid L – you’ll find us about once a month out on a coffee date, dishing on the latest gossip found via the Facebook.

Bridesmaid M – my future sister in law.

Maid of Honor M – we’ve known each other since we were 5. That’s 20 years. Ridiculous.

This leaves us with one groomsman to officially be asked. If he ever actually picks up his phone, we’ll get that taken care of! I’m happy to be one step closer in this whole process. Step by step my friends.

I’m extremely proud of myself for this find, if I do say so myself. I decided I’d like to do a candy buffet for our favors pretty soon after I started looking at wedding blogs & magazines. It’s waaaay too soon to start buying candy (would you like some MOLD with your jelly beans?)

I met my friend, Bridesmaid L, at St. Nick’s bazaar on Friday, and we hit the jackpot in the flea market. I picked up these 4 glass jars for a grand total of $3.50. Yessssss. L helped me carry them, in the rain, across the parking lot and then over the guard rail and across Pennsylvania Blvd. back to my car. I gave them a good scrubbing and have tucked them away for safe keeping.

I also officially asked L to be a bridesmaid after our trek in the rain. I had planned to all along, but I couldn’t think of a better (or funnier) moment. She’s very excited and already planning the bachelorette party. I mailed my card for Bridesmaid E a couple of weeks ago since she lives in New York, so I’ve got 3 confirmed girls! I’m just waiting for the right moment to ask FH’s sister to join the party.

Did you ever find wedding decor in surprising places? Or has any of your wedding party gone above and beyond for you? I feel really lucky to have these ladies by my side!

Phew. This week totally kicked my butt. Thankfully, I’m only working 3 days next week. Then it’s time to set off some fireworks!

I had dinner with my best friend on Wednesday night and asked her if she would be my maid of honor. She was thrilled, though she was a little nervous too. Neither of us have been in a wedding before. In fact, neither of us have even attended many weddings! It’s all pretty new to us, but I’m sending her some sites like Wedding Bee and Style Me Pretty that I think will help her get her feet wet. I know they helped me!

Next up, I have a bridesmaid that lives out of state that I’m asking to be in my wedding party. I mailed her card yesterday, so she should get it early next week. I’ve only hinted that she’s got mail on the way, and I’m still not sure if I should hint further or just let her be surprised.

Has anyone else ever asked out of town friends to be bridesmaids? How did you go about ‘popping the question”?

Even though I still haven’t asked my bridesmaids if they’d be in the wedding party yet, I’m thinking about what kind of cute gifties I can give them. I scored some CUTE little black & white damask bags in the dollar bin at Michael’s last week that I want to fill with things for them to start:

They’re not very big, but I thought they could hold some beauty supplies, like nail polish, files & trimmers. I love the shades in the OPI Fairytale Brides line, and there are some good shades in their Sephora line as well!

Now I’m off looking for other bridesmaids gifts that I can include with this little bag. Favor Warehouse has some cute things that I could personalize with our wedding date (once we have one!). These bath salts would go perfectly with the gift theme I have in mind. They have a ton of custom labels, but the sample one, with the black & white swirls, actually matches perfectly!

I’m still looking around to see what I can find on sale. Buying some of the beauty gifts this early might not be the best idea just in case they have a limited shelf life, but at least I’ll be ready to go when the time comes!

What kind of gifts are thinking of getting your bridesmaids?