DIY: How To Gift The Bride On The Morning Of Her Wedding

If you are looking for a cost effective and easy way to give a gift to the bride for the morning of her wedding, you've come to the right place! This one goes out to all of the bridesmaids and maids of honors and all around good friends who are helping their friend get married! In addition to all of the wedding garter designing going on around here, I've been in my fair share of weddings (I was a bridesmaid in seven weddings the year I got married!) as a bridesmaid, maid of honor and guest.

Are you looking for a way to spoil and surprise the bride the morning of her wedding? Do you want to make your friend feel special without spending a ton of money? I'm sure after all the bridal showers and expenses of attending a wedding, the last thing you need or want is more cost and more work. But, this is a short story about why my friends and I created a surprise gift for the bride and a detailed list of the specific items that we included in a special "bride bag" for the morning of her wedding. You can easily do this same thing for your friend on the morning of her wedding!

Keep It Easy

Everything in the bride bag, with the exception of her custom wedding garter, was purchased at Target. The total cost of the bag and the items in it was less than $100, which split between 10 friends wasn't so bad! We specifically purchased things that she could use long after her wedding (robe!) or that were meant to be consumed on the morning of her wedding (snacks!). However, the most important thing we wanted to do was make the bride feel special and loved on her biggest day. It wasn't about how much we spent on the bride bag, it was the fact that we thought of it and did it without being asked!

Our Friend

A friend of mine from high school was recently married and she didn't have any bridesmaids in the traditional sense. Both the bride and the groom had a few of their family members stand up with them on the altar during the wedding ceremony, but as far as the traditional wedding party goes, they didn't have one.

Not having a wedding party is a completely personal decision (I didn't have one either when I got married, so I understand!), however it does leave in question many of the traditional gifts and parties that the wedding party typically takes care of. Who is going to host a bridal shower? Who will plan the bachelorette? Who will be with you the morning of your wedding helping you get ready?

Luckily, the bride is such an amazing person that many friends from all phases throughout her life were happy to take care of these wedding traditions for her and throw her a bridal shower and, of course, plan a super fun bachelorette party! This also left the morning of the wedding a little bit up in the air. Would she just be alone getting her hair and makeup done? We didn't want the bride to feel isolated as she was getting ready. We wanted her to know that we all loved her and were so excited for her big day!

Here are lots more pictures of the bride bag and all that we included in her wedding morning gifts…

The Bride Bag

Enter the bride bag – a curated gift for the bride full of things for her to use on the morning of her wedding! My friends and I went in together on a bag full of goodies for her. We dropped the bag off in her hotel room in the morning with lots of hugs and well wishes for an amazing wedding day! All of the items in her gift bag were meant for her to use the morning of her wedding and the best part was that she could keep the adorable tote long after the wedding!

Here is what we included inside the bride bag:

• Bridal robe  – I'm so glad that we put a robe in her bride bag, otherwise she would have been wearing her PJs or a t-shirt in all of those getting ready photos. We went with a robe that was pretty, but neutral in pattern so that she can use it after the wedding.
• 1 pair of blue lace undies for her something blue!
• 4-pack of champagne cans
• 2 bottles of coconut water to stay hydrated!
• 1 bag of snack mix
• Mints
• 2 granola bars
• Chap-stick
• 1 package chocolates

Form & Function

We found a gold heart covered canvas tote bag in the dollar bin at Target and from there we were on our way through the store picking out different things. With the exception of her custom bridal garter, which I of course made for her, we purchased everything at Target for under $100. It was important to us that she stay hydrated and full because once the wedding starts it is often hard for the bride to get a bite to eat! Since she isn't super girlie and wasn't really into being a "bride," it was also important that any items, such as the robe, that we included were able to be used after her wedding.

As for her custom wedding garter, yes, I did make one for her! I couldn't let my friend get married without a special wedding garter just for her! It was my pretty wedding garter style from my collection and then I hand embroidered something special on the inside. As I said, she isn't a super girlie girl, so I designed a garter that was simple and beautiful – just like her!

The look on my friend's face when we showed up at her hotel room bright and early the morning of her wedding with a surprise bride bag full of goodies was priceless! She was so happy and appreciative. We just wanted her to feel special on what can sometimes be a very stressful day after all those months of planning! You don't have to spend a lot of money on a bride bag for the morning of the wedding. It really is the thought that counts!

For more DIY wedding projects and patterns, be sure to check out my blog. And, don't forget, that you can design your own custom wedding garter on my site, or you can shop for a wedding garter in my collection.