When I first got engaged, all of my friends and family assumed that I had been planning my wedding since I was a wee one (imagine Monica Geller and the flying nun from Friends). Maybe it was because I love all things pretty or because I have notebooks overflowing with to-do lists and schedules, but my people were all shocked that my Pinterest wasn’t spattered with dresses, decorations, and floral bouquets. In fact, what I had been planning since I was a kid, was who my bridesmaids would be.

Growing up as an American Sikh in Tennessee I was fairly socially isolated. Wearing a tiny turban on my head and not going to church on Sunday kept my cafeteria crowd pretty small, never feeling like I belonged amongst the southern belles. When I was fifteen I chose to attend a boarding school in India, which was established for western born Sikh children to study and learn about our Sikh culture. It was my time there that absolutely sealed my friendships with many of my bridesmaids and finally gave me the circle of friends I had always craved. To be able to combine these soul sisters with my nearest and dearest from college and beyond, in order to form a super-pack of the greatest women in the world, has been such a joy!

I have always held tight onto ritual and been a bit sentimental, and I’m sad that there are so few meaningful traditions left in our solitary and digital world. Any opportunity to connect with those I hold dearest, to establish a lasting memory, is precious to me. My intention was to create a physical object that could hold all of our feelings about this particular moment in time.  I wanted to make these fiercely wonderful women feel embraced, honored, and excited about our growing and evolving lives, and ask them to be by my side in style!

I began by scouring the whole internet wedding world for my favorite bridesmaid proposal idea. I saw many cute concepts – bracelets, simple cards, and small gifts. I have a big mouth, so I thought, “I can’t contain ALL of my excitement in a card or gift.”  My favorite was the bridesmaid box where I could house all of my wedding related plans and ideas. There were many beautiful boxes, and I started sampling and compiling the pieces and parts I liked the best. I think the most fun I had was going through old photos and choosing those that I would include in each girl’s box. The ones I picked were mostly shots of me and the girls doing something ridiculously stupid, that we probably thought was hilarious at the time. These inspired some of the best memories and would end up being the first thing they would see upon opening the boxes.

As always, my idea of how simple or easy something is going to be, in theory, was way off the mark. Many trips to the craft store later, I poured out my pile of ribbon and fabric goodies that I felt matched my wedding color and style theme. I began experimenting with where things would go and the unfolding layers organically began to reveal themselves. I loved the idea of the box being an interactive experience, like opening a treasure box, where the girls felt like they were unwrapping one piece at a time.  The Will You Be My Bridesmaid note card was the first layer, followed by the postcard collage of wedding inspiration pictures on the second, and then a photo film strip of all the girls on the third. The final layer included cards detailing what, where, and when they would be joining the fun, as well as some color inspiration fabric and a small bracelet specifically chosen and made for each lady.  I hand painted the outside of the boxes with designs inspired by Anna and Nathan Bond of Rifle Paper Co.. It turned out to be quite a lot of work, but absolutely a labor of love. I am overjoyed with how they came out!

I believe that one of the most important aspects of any wedding is the community that joins together to witness the union. The courage and pure glee that it requires to stand in front of your tribe and declare that the person next to you is yours until your last breath is a miracle! I want every piece of my wedding to honor and recognize the significance of these precious people, and these boxes were step one.

p.s. For your own custom bridesmaids boxes, contact The Bride

Love, 

The Bride