Friday, November 21, 2008

Charming Bridesmaids Gifts

I've told you all about my wonderful girlfriends and how they totally spoiled me during our engagement. From the moment when I asked them to be bridesmaids, I was racking my brain for the perfect gift to thank them.

I decided to build the girls charm bracelets. I wanted the gift to be something that they would keep and actually wear and something with sentimental value. Once I bought the base of the bracelets, I set to work to find the perfect charms for each girl. Each bridesmaid received a silver Adirondack chair to signify the day that they stood by me in Lake Placid as I married Mr. Bliss. Others received mementos from trips we had taken together (a London phone booth, the Eiffel Tower) and other charms that told the story of our friendship and explained the traits that I love about them.

I had so much fun thinking about charms for each girl and then scouting different online charm stores to find them.

Here is a peek at my maid-of-honor's completed bracelet:



The evening before the rehearsal dinner, I stayed up (quite) late writing each girl a letter. In it, I told them how happy I was that they were standing beside me on the day of my wedding. I explained the significance of each charm on their bracelet and also expressed my hope and promise that I would continue to fill their bracelet with charms during the big moments of their lives.

The girls love the bracelets and I am already looking forward to giving them more charms.


If you look at Jenn on the far right of this photo you can see that she was wearing her charm bracelet in the salon the morning of the wedding.

Here are some tips if you decide to make charm bracelets for your bridesmaids:

1. Start early! It can take quite a while to find particular charms and you don't want to be dealing with ordering 30+ charms a few weeks before your wedding.

2. Pay attention to the size of the charms when you order them. I ordered a few that were much larger/smaller than anticipated.

3. Write your girls a letter so they know your heartfelt intent behind each charm.

4. Make yourself a bracelet at the same time! You will want one!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I absolutely LOVE this idea! Where did you get your charms and bracelets? Was it local or did you use an online company?
Thanks :)

Ms. Bliss said...

Hi hisbirdie!
These were the bases of the bracelets: http://www.bluenile.com/sterling-silver-charm-bracelet_2954

The charms were from a variety of online charms shops, including CharmFactory (http://www.charmfactory.com/) and Evercharming (http://www.evercharming.com/).

I am actually wearing my bracelet today!

Unknown said...

OH Ahppy thoughts! I cherish my bracelet and am wearing it now. Ms. Bliss has given me a charm since and I will AlWAYS cherish this bracelet!

xoxo~MOH

Anonymous said...

Great choice of bridesmaid gift! I am also planning to give jewelry pieces to my 4 bridesmaids but I'm still confuse what will I buy for them. I saw a line of bridesmaids jewelry at americanbridal.com and they are stunning! Plus, they can be engrave so I think that would make the gifts so special!