From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls

I think being as obsessed with wedding blogs as I was, put things in an interesting perspective for me. Reading about so many amazing bridesmaids gifts I felt a lot of pressure to live up to. But what I didn't realize is that what's normal in the blog world isn't as normal outside of it. What I'm trying to say is I thought the bridesmaids' gift I came up with weren't nearly enough to show my appriciation to the girls, so I was a little surprised when they told me they were far above their expectations.

I handed out gifts at our rehearsal dinner although since I didn't want to make a big production of it (after all the LSU game was one) we were out on the balcony outside our dinnig room.
Above you can see Bridesmaid NYC and my SIL opening their personalized hangers from Signature Hangers' Esty Shop. If you remember my MOH gifted me my own hanger so I wanted to make sure all the girls had matching ones.

Next I gave each girl one of the new Penguin Classics books which I think are adorable. They're the type of book that looks so pretty sitting on a book shelf. I was able to figure out which books I wanted farily easily, but it took a while to figure out which one went to each girl.
A Little Princess was one of my favorite books growing up and one I've read over and over. (I love the '94 movie as well, and still consider it one of my favorites.) It made perfect sense to to gift it to my MOH who shares a name with a main character. Pride and Predijuce went to BM NYC, who was my college roommate, since that book reminds me of her. The first time I saw the Kiera Knightly was with her, and while I havne't since the entire BBC version, the only parts I've seen have been with her. That left me then with The Secret Garden which went to my now sister-in-law and Little Women for Bridesmaid Chicago. Funny enough BM Chicago has the same name as one of the sisters, which I can't beleive I didn't remember till she said something. And I can't believe I'm admitting this here, but the only one of these books I've read is A Little Princess. Although I do know all the stories since I love the movies, and someday do plan on reading them all.

Thirdly, I gifted the girls (and myself) matching robes to wear the following morning while we were getting ready. (And yes you are getting a wedding day preview here!)

Taken by Sabree Hill PhotographyI feel in love with Mrs. Castle's robes and knew I had to buy some for myself. Like her, I purchased them from Silk and More Esty Shop and was so impressed by their quality. The owner of the store is actually out of India, and even thought I ordered them with less time than recomended, she still got them to me on time. She sent me to her website with all her fabric swatches to pick exactly what patterns I wanted. I loved that the robe for me matched my blue and purple color scheme, and still wear it around the house on weekends.
Finally, I packaged all the gifts in bags I had found on theknot. I had concearns that these would feel cheap based on the reviews, but they didn't seem that way to me at all. From what I hear they been holding up pretty well even making it through trips to the grocery store with bridesmaid Chicago.
Moving onto the littlest girl of the bunch. I actually knew what I wanted to get our flower girl forever now, her first American Girl doll. It worked out perfectly because about a year before the wedding American Girl came out with a New Orleans girl, Marie Grace. As silly as it may sound, I can't wait to help her collect all of Marie Grace's collection in the years to come.
I wanted to get her a bag as well to match the rest of the girls', but all of theknot's flower girl bags had awful reviews. (Plus they didn't have a single bag that would work for a ring bearer.) So instead I discovered Personalized Mall, where I found both of these adroable flower girl and ring bearer bags.
In addition to the sports bag, we also gifted our ring bearer a box of lincoln logs as well as a giant monkey. I was actually arguing for something else in the store when the boy said, "Who doesn't want a giant monkey?" Turns out a little boy in the store heard him, and prompty asked his dad for a giant monkey, which made the decision quite easy.

What has been the best gift you've ever received from being in a wedding? And which of the four books do you think you would have wanted the most?

Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper