VIP Dressing Room

Getting ready with the bride is probably the best part about being a bridesmaid.  The bride spends her wedding weekend juggling her time between her fiance/husband, family and friends.  However, for a few hours the day of the wedding, she gets to relax with her best friends (and girls from her immediate family) and enjoy some intense primping.

Whether you are a bridesmaid or a bride here is a quick insiders guide to what goes on in the exclusive bridal suite.

The bride will organize a few people to be in the bridal suite to do your hair and makeup.  She may even decide to give this to you as a gift or let you pick one or the other.  She should send out an email a few weeks before with all the details and get a head count of who wants what.  On the day of the wedding, she will have a schedule for how she wants the day to run.  It doesn't matter where you are on the schedule someone has to go first and someone has to go last.  Just be a good friend and do your best to get there on time; this will help keep the bride calm.   Unless you just want them to only blow out your hair make sure you come with your hair dry and straight.  If your hair doesn't keep curls they normally suggest you coming with day old hair.

The Bride and I getting ready

The bride will normally provide food and drink throughout the day.  It is so important for both the bridesmaids and the bride to eat and stay hydrated.  If you are in charge of ordering the food make sure to keep in mind that nobody wants anything messy or that will give you bad breath.  Who want to eat onions and then sit in front of a makeup artist?  Alcohol... see how your bride and her family feels about drinking while getting ready.  If they don't provide it or ask for you to bring it I would suggest not doing so.  It is a LONG day and unless they are endorsing it you may just add stress. 

Some bridesmaids hanging out in the bridal suite

I think it makes for some great pictures when everyone is wearing the same thing while getting ready.  Whether it is a robe, jumpsuit or your own creative outfit of choice it really brings the group together.  Often times the bride cannot afford to do everything she wants, if she isn't planning to give you something to wear, why not wrap up all the robes and give them to her as a shower gift?  Of course these weddings get expensive, so that is when you need to get creative.  Check back to future posts for more wardrobe and gift ideas.

Robes I had made for my sisters wedding

One wedding we had leggings made

Bride gave us these robes (do not mind my hair if you can find me)

This is the VIP time to be with the bride.  Make sure you enjoy every second of it because she will remember this forever.  Plan for someone in the bridal party to bring the ipod speakers (many hotels provide them) and someone to make a mix for getting ready.  The bride thinks she is in control of everything, but show her how excited you really are to be there by throwing in some cute suprises.  I'd tell you some examples now but what would I talk about in future posts?

This wedding brought old friends together and we just had the time of our lives.