As a wedding photographer, I’ve been privvy to a vast variety of different bridesmaid gift ideas, so I thought I might make a list of some of the more thoughtful bridal party gifts that I’ve come across at my weddings. Giving your bridesmaids a gift before your wedding ceremony – perhaps also at a bachelorette party – is a modern traditions and is seen today as a way for the bride to thank her entourage on a personal level for helping her plan and put together her big day.
Bridesmaid gift ideas
Jewellery
The most common of bridesmaid gifts are pieces of jewellery. Usually given to accentuate what the bridesmaids are wearing on the day in a bridesmaid gift boxes, and also to give a bit of uniformity between the bridesmaids – if that’s the style you’re going for at your wedding. Jewellery can also be very personal, it’s usually small and easy to package as a gift, so it one of the easier gift ideas to manage too! Generally jewellery gifted in this way should be something you’d know your bridesmaids would like to wear and enjoy after the day itself.
Personalised gowns
During your wedding preparation with your bridesmaids, it’s fun to dress up in matching gowns that have been embroiled with either their names, or fun monikers, such as ‘bridesmaid #2’ or even ‘bride’s b****’, depending on your personality 🙂 There are a number of different ideas when it comes to this sort of thing and while the gowns are personalised specifically for this one wedding, they can be used at home for lazy days also.
A services gift certificate
Here’s one that’s not directly related to your wedding! How about gifting your bridesmaids a gift certificate for a massage, or a beauty treatment, or even a portraiture sitting with a professional photographer? This can be a great idea to allow your bridesmaids to pamper themselves after your wedding day and to show them that you think they are all beautiful and care about them outside the sphere that was your wedding day.
Personalised items
One common gift I’ve been seeing lately are personalised items such as wine glasses to drink from at the reception, or even clothes hangers to hang dresses on. These are easy, simple gifts people are bound to use more than once, or at least put them someplace in their home so that they will be reminded about your wonderful day and the role they had to play in it.
Personal artwork
This one may not be to everyone’s taste, but if your the artsy type, one of the most personal bridesmaid gift ideas I’ve ever seen was a personalised piece of art drawn and painted by the bride herself. This is heartfelt, personal and cheap! And it’s something that your bridesmaids will no doubt put on display once they get home. Failing that I’ve also seen professional artists at weddings where they would hand out quickly drawn caricatures of guests at your wedding reception, but this really falls more into the reception souvenir category along with photobooth photos.
Clothing
Be it shoes, a bag, or even her dress, having a formal dress for each girl at a wedding can get expensive, so many brides opt to make this their bridesmaid’s gift. It’s practical too in many ways, as if it’s the type of dress that would not look out of place at a club, or even at work it may get quite a bit of wear out of it. This goes for shoes also, and you can never have too many clutch purses to choose from can you?
There are of course a thousand other gift ideas for bridesmaid gifts, just to list a few other ideas – body products, candy, movie tickets, etc. But really whatever you decide to give, or not give your bridesmaids, I’m sure they’ll love you just the same 🙂
