The Bridesmaid Proposal

Happy Monday, all of my beautiful brides!

I get a lot of questions on how to propose to a bridesmaid and while it isn’t something that is 100% necessary, I think that it makes the whole planning experience more fun for everyone involved. Let’s be real, most of your bridesmaids probably already know if they are going to be in your wedding party before the proposal even happens, just because you are the best of friends. But asking each of your girls in a special way is that much more meaningful, and shows how much you truly care about her and NEED her standing right by your side as you say your “I Do’s.”

For those of you asking 6, 7, 8 or even more bridesmaids, I know that this can get a little pricey but there are tons of ideas that are very price-effective. I promise, we can figure out something that will work with your budget, even if it is very simple. And in many cases, simple is better!

So today, I wanted to showcase one of the cutest bridesmaid proposal ideas I recently found. Although I loved my proposal to my bridesmaids (photo on the right), I wish I had known about this company before because I would have LOVED to propose in this way!

And without further ado, here is the most adorable bridesmaid proposal idea from Blue Penguin Shop!

The Ingredients

-          These adorable proposal mirrors from Blue Penguin Shop
-          A small box for each bridesmaid (I would recommend looking at Dollar Tree!)
-          A mini bottle of champagne
-          A mini jar of M&M’s or her favorite candy...or how cute would the personalized M&M’s be??
-          And some confetti to dress it up (in your wedding colors, of course!)

Take a closer look...

While this is just one example of an inexpensive proposal idea, there are so many options to put in your little gift basket.

But take a closer look at these adorable mirrors! Not only are they super cute for the proposal, but can be used as a keepsake and a useful compact mirror to keep in her purse! And every time she takes a look in her mirror, she will remember the amazing friendship the two of you have :)

If you want to order these proposal mirrors, please click on the button below to visit the Blue Penguin Shop website! And don’t forget to tell them that The Overwhelmed Bride sent you :)

And if you've already proposed to your bridesmaids, believe me, you'll want to check out the other oh-so-adorable mirrors they have for you!

The Sparkler Shot

Through our months of social media, showing you all tips, tricks, and beautiful photos as inspiration for your wedding day, there has been one photo that got an overwhelming amount of feedback. It was a photo that all of you absolutely loved. And along with the many likes, there were also many comments, most of which read, "How do you do this??"

With brides and photographers wanting to know how they can make this photo happen, I reached out to an amazing photographer who is a pro at taking this one very specific type of photo.

And that is the sparkler photo.

You know, the nighttime photos of the bride and groom with beautiful sparkling lights dancing around them, or the word "love" written in fire.

Today, we are going to learn how you can do this on your wedding day from the amazing,Jessica Layburn Photography!

And without further ado, here is Jessica...

Timmy and Joan were married on Friday May 9, 2014. When I asked if they would be interested in modeling for this photo, Joan was ecstatic! First, I want to thank my right hand man, Anthony Robinson, for all of his help capturing this photo. If you have an assistant, or a friend help with the image, it will go much more smoothly. 

Before we dragged the couple away from their celebration for a few minutes for a great picture we checked our settings. You need to make sure your lens is on Manual and not on AUTO because it will try to focus on everything when you light your sparklers.

After that you will play with your settings, this is the time for trial and error. This type of image is all about controlling your aperture, which means how much light you let in. The longer your exposure, the more light you let in, which is how you create the awesome sparkler picture. The only thing that I recommend is doing this shot somewhere that is COMPLETELY dark. This venue was pretty well lit inside and out, so complete darkness was not happening.

Because you are exposing your photo longer, you NEED a tripod for this and I also recommend a wireless remote. The less you have to touch your camera during this, the better, because you want the camera to be as still as possible. With that said, you also want your subject to be as still as possible (within reason). Then, you have your assistant run around them with sparklers, writing words, or making hearts.

And that's all there is to it!

Drum roll please...

Jessica Layburn Photography

How amazing is that shot!! Thank you Jessica for sharing your expertise with all of us. And a special thank you to Timmy and Joan for allowing us to use you for the shot!

If you are a bride and have no idea what any of this means, just forward this article to your photographer! And if you would like more information on how you can capture this photo on your wedding day, Jessica would love to help you out!

Preventing Cold Feet

Written with love, by Kendra Barnes

I married the love of my life in April 2013. I was racking my brain trying to think of a gift to give him. Then it hit me - I knew the perfect thing that would put a smile on his face and make sure he didn't show up to our wedding in his holey dress socks.

On the morning of our wedding, I took my husband’s wedding socks and I made label for them that read: “Just to make sure you don’t get Cold Feet! With love, Your Bride”. I had the “Cold Feet” socks delivered to him by the Maid of Honor. It made for a great photo opportunity, put a smile on his face and ensured that he didn’t wear a pair of his holey socks to our wedding! It was a win-win!

I thought it would be great to offer this product to other brides so I set up shop on Etsy and the rest is history.

Since then, I have expanded the line to include socks for the groomsmen and Fathers of the Bride and Groom which make for a great addition to gift baskets!  They also make for amazing photo opportunities like these:

At CUTEnCRAFTY we believe in two things: practical, high-quality wedding gifts and amazing wedding photo opportunities. Head on over to www.cutencraftyshop.com ...because we all know what happens if your groomsmen show up in gym socks...

I wanted to feature CUTEnCRAFTY because so many of you have told me that you are looking for the perfect socks for your groom and groomsmen and they have so many adorable options...with adorable labels too ;) hehe

So if you are still looking for your wedding day, this is the place to go!