Our Wedding Day: Wedding Party Gifts

Hey everyone! I am so excited to share the details of our wedding party gifts with all of you. I meant to post this earlier in the week but I have been a little sidetracked. You see, I too have succumbed to the Twilight phenomenon. I have made fun of all of my friends and family for reading them so I decided to read them myself just so I could put some value to my opinion. Well, I was definitely proven wrong. These books are good. I mean really, really good. I was an English major in college and have probably read more literature than the average person, and that's why I was so snooty about the possibility of these books being good. Just trust me... do yourself a favor, get it over with and just read them if you haven't already!

Okay back to the recap! First, the boys. All of the guys in our wedding got different gifts. Sadly, I didn't remember to take pictures of all of them. Our ushers and guest book attendant got monogrammed rocks glasses, and I don't have any pictures of those. For each of the other guys, we got them each two gifts, and three for the Best Man. We tried to get them something to keep, and something tangible that they could use regularly. Their gifts included: personalized & framed sports bar signs, personalized Makers Mark cigars and cigar box, sports team wine bottle stoppers & corkscrews, personalized bottle of Woodford Reserve, and various other things. Here are some pictures of the boys' gifts:


I wish I would have taken pictures of everything all wrapped up... the boys LOVED the pink and green polka dot wrapping paper!

For our flower girls, we got them each the same things: a monogrammed purse, bow headband to wear in the wedding, pearl bracelet & pearl earrings, Claire's mini makeup kit and a pack of fun, colorful bracelets. For our ring bearer, we got him a video game for his PSP and a personalized Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Here are a couple pics of their gifts:


Since both sets of Ryan's parents live in other places (San Diego and Colorado), we wanted to get them something related to Lexington. We found these Lexington platters and fell in love with them, so we got them each one along with a stand to display it:


For my Mom, I got her a sterling silver frame with two 5X7 slots, and dates engraved underneath. One was from Easter in 1984 and I put a picture of the two of us inside. The other, of course, was the wedding date and will hold a picture of us from that day. On the top of the frame, I also engraved "I love you more because I'm bigger" because this is what she and my Dad both used to tell me when they said goodnight to me, from the time I was little to when I was in college. I also had this pendant made for her that displayed a picture of her and my Dad on their wedding day. I thought it would be special for her to wear, since she would be missing him more than anyone,


And of course I saved the most fun gifts for last... my bridesmaids! In the beginning, I planned to get them each something timeless like a Tiffany bracelet or something, but in the end I opted to go with a lot of little things that they will use all the time. Each of them received a monogrammed tote bag, monogrammed beach towel from Preppy Monogrammed Gifts, monogrammed spa robe from Monogram Chick, a pearl necklace and pearl earrings, their shoes for the wedding and some simple black flip flops for the reception. My Matron of Honor also got an extra little gift but it is an inside joke that isn't even worth trying to explain! Here are some pictures:

All of the girls LOVED their gifts. I tried to personalize each of their gifts to the colors that I thought they would like the best, so each robe's monogram is the same color as the towel's monogram. I am so thankful for both Monogram Chick and Preppy Monogram Gifts because the quality of the items I purchased was just amazing! I can't wait to order some for myself with my new monogram!

All in all, I think each person was really happy with their gifts. I'm really glad we went with gifts that were different for each person because I honestly feel like it made them feel more individually appreciated... so that would be my gift-giving advice for all you brides to be!

Next up... Getting Ready!!!!

Catching Up!

Ever get that "chicken with its head cut off" feeling? Because that is the definition of my life right now. As of today, we have EXACTLY 3 months until our wedding day! I seriously feel like I have been engaged for 27 years, but it hasn't even been one year yet. I wouldn't change our engagement length for anything though, because I like having plenty of time to get everything just how I... um I mean WE... want it! So not only are we working on all the little last minute wedding stuff, but last Friday we closed on our very first house! It is so exciting and overwhelming all at once. I think I am most worried about wedding stuff getting lost in the move, so I labeled various wedding boxes with things like "Drop this box and die" or "Lose this box and lose your life" so hopefully anyone who helps us move with get the picture. In the meantime, I have been able to get a couple more things crossed of my to-do list. Last week, I was able to pick up a couple of our flower girls' gifts. Here they are:

Okay now don't tell my flower girls, but I got those adorable hot pink, bamboo-handled purses on clearance at Old Navy... for 80 cents each! I just took them to my monogrammer and got both of them monogrammed for $7, so each bag cost me about $4.30 total! I am going to get them some other little girly things, but I thought that these bags were something they could use for a long time. I also was able to get our vase etched that we will be using for our sand ceremony. I absolutely love the sand ceremony idea. For anyone not familiar with the ceremony, it is the same symbolism as the unity candle but with two colors of sand poured into a vase or jar that you get to keep in your home. I bought an apothecary-type jar at Michael's and had it etched with our initials and here is how it turned out (with my lovely blue dish towel inside so you can see the monogram!):

I have to admit, I thought that the monogram would be bigger, but I am still happy with how it turned out. Please excuse the clutter behind the jar that is currently consuming my home.

In other news, I also received an award from a great new blogger, Erica. I got the Love Ya award:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Thank you, Erica, for this award!

And finally, I am going to do my very FIRST giveaway once I have over 100 followers, which should be very soon! I'll pass along the details soon!