Shower Ribbon Bouquets

A few people have been wondering what I am doing in my “profile picture” listed in the “About Me” section and on my Facebook fan page. In the picture taken by Beth Robyn Photography (by the way, I highly recommend Beth, who is available for weddings, engagement pictures, showers, and other events, etc.) I am constructing a ribbon bouquet for Bride #7.

What’s a ribbon bouquet? Well it’s an old shower tradition to take all of the ribbons used to wrap the bride’s gifts and compile them into either a hat or a bouquet. Personally, I prefer the bouquet because A) it can be used by the bride at her rehearsal to walk down the aisle, B) it’s more wedding appropriate! and C) the hat can look a little silly (but some people like embarrassing the bride).

At the second shower I ever attended (I wasn’t a BM) - the MOH asked for my help because the rest of the BMs were helping unwrap and repack the gifts- and she knew I was artistic and creative. Little did I know back then that this would become my job at almost every shower I attended! Personally, I love having the responsibility. As a BM you usually have to help with the gifts anyway, and I find assembling the ribbon bouquet a lot more fun than unwrapping, re-packing or being on trash patrol!

So how does one create such a masterpiece? Well here are SuperBridesmaid’s tips to make a ribbon bouquet your bride will love!

What to bring from home:

1. Paper Plate
2. Scotch Tape
3. Pair of scissors (it may be helpful to bring an extra pair so that the unwrapping team doesn’t keep stealing yours!)
4. Stapler

Directions

1. Top of plate is back of bouquet, facing you
2. Poke holes in the paper plate
3. Tie ribbon in bows and bring strings through the back
4. If there is ribbon already curled or in a premade bow, you can staple on the plate or just find one string to pull through
5. Try to evenly distribute ribbon you have lots of colors of
6. Fake flowers are great to use- so try to make them prominent
7. Use extra (boring color) ribbon to tie the strings in the back together to make it easy for the bride to hold
8. If you have a lot of ribbons, you can have it trail from the bottom (and even tie together)

Helpful Hints

1. Since you want to finish the bouquet as the bride finishes opening the gifts, you need to work quickly- don’t get distracted by pretty gifts!
2. Grab two chairs- one for you to sit on (a little painful to do standing in stilettos!) and one to hold the pile of the ribbons and bows to use
3. Ask the BMs who are unwrapping the gifts to take the ribbons off first, so you have a big pile and your choice of ribbons
4. If you decide to make the hat, I like to use the tool on Bed, Bath & Beyond wrapping to make a little veil

Below are some pictures of hats and bouquets I have made. Which is your favorite? Do you prefer hats or bouquets?

Happy Bridesmaiding!

Custom Cocktails

What's one of the most important aspects of a bachelorette party? If you answered drinking- you are correct. And what's more fun and festive than having a custom cocktail for your bride-to-be? Here's a chance for you to be creative and use her personality and name to make the drink apropos.

I got this idea from my friend Katie's sister. Katie always signs her name "KT" in e-mails, and her MOH used it at her bachelorete party by serving everyone "K-Tinis." The first time I made a custom cocktail was this past summer at Bride #6's bachelorette prty. Her name is Stephanie, so I served "Stepha-tinis." We bought her a plastic martini glass with a veil, and plain ones for the rest of us. I got a recipe from Work Bride #2 and made a delicious beverage that consisted of Nuvo and champagne. The drink was festively pink and bubbly and got us all off to a good start for the night!

For Bride #7's Bachelorette Party- we did something a little different. Bride #7 used to have an alter-ego in college when she had a few drinks in her. Her friends called her "Lucy" when she got like this, which was short for "Lucifer." For this custom cocktail, we filled a punch bowl with Skip-N-Go-Naked (pink lemonade, cheap beer, and cheap gin) and called it "The Lucy Inducer." After all- it was only appropriate that Lucy reappear on Bride #7's last night out as a single lady. (And no, she did not skip, nor did she go naked that night, but Lucy did come out!)

So my advice is to use your friend's name, personality traits or even future name to come up with a fun drink name. Use her favorite color or just use pink to go with the bachelorette party decorations. And if all else fails, you can always just call it a COCKtail and drink it with fun straws.

Happy Bridesmaiding!