One of my favorite parts of the wedding planning process so far has been asking my bridesmaids to be in my bridal party! If you read our Wedding Wednesday post on Groomsmen Gifts you saw how we compiled personalized gifts for each of my fiance’s groomsmen. Now we have done the same for my bridesmaids!

I’ve partnered with Swoozies to put together the cutest gifts to ask my gals to be in our bridal party! If you’ve never been Swoozies before, stop by one of their stores or their website! It’s the perfect one stop shop for all your party decor and celebratory gifting needs!

Check out these adorable gifts we put together and hopefully they provide you with some inspiration when putting together your own bridesmaid packages!

Personalized Stemless Champagne Flutes

These stunning and modern champagne glasses are the perfect bridesmaid gifts for your friends! There are a myriad of ways to customize them for your wedding, but for bridesmaid gifts, I personally love the monogram look with the wedding date! There are also some adorable options for your bachelorette party or wedding favors! These would also be super cute in the hotel welcome bags!

When you first get engaged it’s easy to start thinking about all the incredible details that will make up the most important day of your life so far. You begin imagining the flowers, the venue, the food, the band, all the amazingly fun decisions you will make over the next year! However, before you jump in too fast and start all your planning meetings, it’s important to first create a budget and have some of those (unfortunately) uncomfortable conversations with your significant other and both sets of parents, or whoever is helping foot the bill. 

Traditionally, the bride’s family is responsible for a majority of the wedding reception (with the exception of the liquor/bar, bride’s wedding ring, officiant, flowers for the bride and her family to hold/wear, and oftentimes the photographer) and the groom’s family is responsible for the rehearsal dinner, marriage license, and the honeymoon. However, with couple’s getting married later in life or different familial budgets, many of these expenses get shared between the families as well as with the couple. 

No matter who is paying for what, sit down and start working through your budget. Below is our wedding budget guideline to start helping you allocating your budget amongst the most important wedding related expenses. This is by no no means set in stone, as you will find everyone has different priorities and elements they want to splurge on, but it’s important to start the process. After this step, the hard conversations are mainly over, and it’s all the fun and exciting decisions you have been dreaming about your whole life!

Enjoy!

One of the first things future brides and grooms love to do after getting engaged is is officially asking their friends and family to be their bridesmaids and groomsmen!

Getting the bridal party set early makes it officially feel like it’s your wedding season! You can talk about the bridesmaid dresses and bachelor party, and for the future bride, you have your team ready to help make those tricky decorating decisions!

After you’ve decided who you want standing next to you as you marry the person of your dreams, I think it’s always fun to find a creative way to ask them. Being in your bridal party is a big honor, so let’s make it more special with a fun invitation!

I have compiled a few of my favorite ways to ask groomsmen (don’t worry ladies – bridesmaid gift ideas are coming soon!) to be in your wedding party, including how we asked ours!

Cheers and happy planning!

“Will you be my Groomsmen” cards from PurpleandPlatinum:

Brooke, the owner of this shop, is an absolute delight to work with! She will customize these cards to match your wedding colors and the style of your wedding.

Custom pint glasses from Frederick Engraving:

These custom beer pint glasses are the perfect groomsmen gift for your guys! Arika can customize them to include each groomsmen’s name, your monogram, the wedding date, or even the location! These pair perfectly with the beer labels below.

Custom beer labels from StudioBLabels:

What is more manly than these custom beer labels with your favorite local beer?! I am absolutely obsessed with these labels and think they are perfect for any groomsmen! Rachel also makes wine labels for your bridesmaids, so it’s the perfect one stop shop!

Wedding weekend sneak peek: 

Happy Wedding Wednesday! It’s officially my new favorite day of the week! We are moving full speed ahead with the wedding planning and are just a little under a year away from the big day!

Even though I have been dreaming about this day for what feels like forever, I have found myself a bit overwhelmed with the entire process. So many exciting things to do and, of course, I want them done yesterday! 🙂  If you’re like me and are planning your own wedding, your daughter’s, or a friend’s, I am sure there seems to be an unending list of things on our wedding to-do list and the order and priority of everything is a little bit hazy. 

So! To help you out, I’ve put together this wedding planning timeline printable to serve as your guide as you enjoy this exciting time. Feel free to click on the link below to download your PDF and check off all the big ticket items as you go! And most importantly, enjoy every minute of this wonderful time in your life! 

Download your free wedding timeline printable here!

Today is the very start of a new fabulous series that I am SO excited about! WEDDING WEDNESDAY!!!

Yes, it certainly is wedding season, so it’s fitting, but the real reason I am starting it this year is because…

Landon and I just got engaged!!!!

We are over the moon happy and so excited to be starting this next chapter of our lives. Thank you to all of you who have sent us such sweet words with your love and support. We are so grateful.

To start off Wedding Wednesday, I thought it would be most fun to start with our proposal story! So here goes!

Landon surprised me with a birthday trip to Nashville (my favorite city ever!) and while I, of course, wondered if this could be THE weekend, I naturally talked myself out of it. So I went thinking this would be an incredible weekend filled with fun tourist activities, hiking, and naturally lots of country bars with good cocktails and dancing. Little did I know it would be the most amazing and incredible weekend of my life.

We spent the first day walking around and exploring the city and all the hot tourist spots. Landon had never been to Nashville before, so it was fun showing him around this lively city.

The second day, we decided to take the scenic route down to Franklin (if you haven’t been, go! It’s just the cutest little town with a picturesque Main Street and some incredible art festivals!) via the Natchez Trace Parkway. Of course we stopped at Loveless Cafe, because how do you go all the way down there and not stop for their world famous biscuits?! We continued down the parkway checking out the beautiful views and stopping at all the overlooks.

We finally came upon a map, which led us to Jackson Falls. We planned on making a sort of “nature walk” part of our outdoorsy day, so this was the perfect spot! We strolled down the paved walkway to an absolutely gorgeous waterfall where kids were playing, sliding down the natural rocks, and enjoying their picnic lunch with their parents. Landon was looking for a quieter and more remote location (little did I know it was so he could propose!) so we walked back out and hiked to the other overlook at the top of the trailhead. We arrived at Duck Creek overlook and realized we had already stopped there during our drive so we headed back to the waterfall in hopes of a more solitary environment!

As luck would have it, literally all the families were gone! There were just a few scattered couples but they were all off on their own having their own romantic moments so we felt like we had the serene setting all to ourselves. We sat on a bench overlooking the waterfall and just talked about our relationship and life and how much we loved each other. It was just perfect.

I must have been in my own little world because as we were talking he was setting up a GoPro on the other side of him to capture the next few life changing moments, and I did not even realize it! He then started playing one of our favorite romantic country songs and asked me to dance. Well duhhh! I love to two step, especially with my favorite dance partner. We sang and danced and the moment was just beautiful. The song started to fade and Landon started telling me how much he loved me and got down on one knee and proposed.

It was absolutely perfect and so is he. This was the best moment of my life and of course I cried, said yes profusely, and jumped into his arms. We called our family and friends to share the news from Franklin and spent the rest of the evening celebrating!

To cap off the most incredible weekend EVER, Landon threw a surprise engagement party at our new apartment when we got home the next day. Even my family flew in from Colorado and California to surprise me! It was the absolute best way to top off an amazing weekend and celebrate with our loved ones.

Y’all, I am one heck of a lucky girl. We are so excited to be starting this chapter of our lives together and planning our wedding.

Over the next year, I will be sharing our favorite wedding tips and tricks as well as featuring my favorite vendors and companies that we are using for our Colorado destination wedding! I hope you enjoy following us on this adventure and get some good advice and tips for the next big wedding in your life whether it’s your own, your daughter’s, or your friend’s!

Xoxoxo

Kate
PS. Did I mention how lucky I am?! Landon made this amazing video to capture the whole weekend! 😍