Wedding detail: the getting-ready shirts

In the fog of pre-wedding madness, I knew I needed to figure out a plan for my bridesmaids’ getting-ready attire. Many brides give their girls beautiful robes, and with good reason - not only are they lovely gifts and keepsakes, they make the getting-ready photos look cohesive and elegant. But I was quickly running out of money at that point, and had already chosen gifts for my bridesmaids, so I had to come up with another plan - and fast. It was thanks to these lovely girls for their flexibility (and just plain willingness to go along with what I’m sure seemed like a crazy request) that this concept materialized as beautifully as it did.

It occurred to me that each one of my bridesmaids was either married or in a serious, long-term relationship with her partner, and I thought it would be a touching tribute to honor each one of our relationships with an article of clothing that day. So I asked that each of the girls wear one of her man's button-up dress shirts in a pastel color.

Thankfully Johnny had a pink shirt that was just perfect (he even wore it in our engagement photos!), but I had to assume that realistically, the colors I would be surrounded with would be mostly white or blue. Oh, how wrong I was! These sweet girls raided their guys’ closets for me, and we ended up with shades of green, pink, purple, medium blue, white, and light blue. It was perfect!

Paired with the monogrammed seersucker boxer shorts I bought them as gifts, the girls' getting-ready outfits were just adorable. And best of all, the meaning behind each one of the shirts made our photos even more special and personal!