three times a bridesmaid

Today’s version should be ugly bridesmaids dresses of the day. I’m trying something new, a YouTube video.

 Another good example of why bridesmaids dresses should be kept timely and classy. Who wants to look back at wedding pictures in ten years with regrets. I’m sure at the time, people thought these were beautiful.

My sister recently switched our dresses for wedding No. 3 from black to pale green. While I like the green, I wish she hadn’t. I  wonder how they’ll look in 20 years when we flip through pictures. She worries black isn’t appropriate for a spring wedding. What do you think?

Do you want to purge your ugly dress from your closet? E-mail me at threetimesabridesmaid@today.com. You can remain anonymous.

A good bridesmaid should stand by her bride from the beginning, to help with planning, and to be available for frequent vent sessions.

Christmas is a great opportunity to help your bride organize and unwind. While hunting for a gift for bride No. 3, my sister, Kim, I realized I should share my finds for other bridesmaids who want to use the occasion to give a gift that will help into the wedding season.

The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner: Worksheets, Checklists, Etiquette, Calendars, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. I found this step-by-step guide to planning for only $10 at Alibirus.

Start an online wedding look book. Many brides blog about their weddings, but if your bride-to-be isn’t web savvy, create a blog for her with looks you think she’ll like. Use a free site like blogger.com and you can make the blog private if you want.

Make an engagement scrapbook. Couples document weddings like crazy, but forget about preserving engagement moments. Take the opportunity to interact with other bridesmaids you don’t know as well, and the grooms family to write down their memories and surprise the bride with a letter included from her finance.

Give a spa gift certificate. SpaFinder sells gift certificates good at locations throughout the country.

In my post about my new static bridesmaid’s guide page, someone wrote a comment requesting bachelorette party ideas and updates. Something I haven’t touched on yet. I decided to start with my two bachelorette parties so far as an intro and will add ideas and tips as I start planning for bride No. 3.

Bride No. 1, Rose, for her party we did the rather tame dinner and a night out at the bars. At the time I lived off of the strip of all the bars in Indy, so I hosted. But, I skipped the bars. I was in a confusing time of life, and was due to move to New York the morning after the wedding! We held the party just two days before the wedding.

We met the other two bridesmaids for the first time at the party, so I learned ice breakers and introductions are great for bachelorette parties. I heard many tales from the last half of the evening.

The maid of honor pitched in no money and helped in no way, but we quickly stepped up to make sure the party went on. So, if you’re a bridesmaid, due keep an eye out for where the maid of honor is slacking so that the whole wedding experience goes easy for the bride.

Bride No. 2, Erin, held a combined bachelor/bachelorette party at her house. We were all a little older, and didn’t feel the need for a girls night or guys night. Everyone was just excited to get together having graduated college a few years prior.

The traditionalist would probably shy away from this break in wedding tradition, but I loved it. I’m not one for male strippers or for the sleazy attention gals get out on the town for a bachelorette party.

What have been some of your bachelorette party successes and failures?

Who doesn’t like toile?

I found a fresh round of inspiration at Tacky Weddings.com. Fans of my ugly bridesmaids dress of the day should check it out for not only bridesmaids dresses like above, but everything tacky in wedding.

I think the color has to be one of the worst choices as well. I feel especially bad for the younger girl. No child should have to see those monstrosities walk down the aisle!

Do you want to purge an ugly bridesmaids dress from your past. E-mail me at threetimesabridesmaid@gmail.com. I’ll blur out your face (I didn’t above since this links from another site) and any background details.

I decided a little organization was in order for three times a bridesmaid. I have two main content goals: I want to create useful posts for brides and bridesmaids, and I want to entertain just about everybody. Who doesn’t enjoy seeing an ugly bridesmaids dress or reading about the time I passed out in a fire pit?

I sorted through my previous posts and compiled them into a bridesmaid’s guide. I thought of a few witty, fun titles, but my design isn’t cooperating and breaks up anything longer into two lines in my navigation bar. But, I digress, I’ll be adding posts I think are especially helpful to both brides and bridesmaids.

Any topic requests? What did you wish you knew leading up to the big day?

When I first prepared to walk down the aisle in bride No. 1’s wedding, I had no clue what being a bridesmaid entailed. Luckily for me, the bride, Rose, was determined to have a by the book wedding. She read numerous Web sites, books, and magazines to make sure she participated in every tradition and knew everyone’s role.

I signed up for creating a survival kit, what I thought was a manageable task. Unfortunately, Rose decided her maid of honor should take over the kit on the big day. She left the carefully put-together package at the church. Rose’s maid of honor was a flake, but gave me much material for a future bad bridesmaids post. We quickly learned what was necessity in a wedding day survival kit and spent much of the reception tracking down those items.

Items to include in a brides survival kit:

• tissues, lots of crying on wedding days.
• double-sided tape, Rose ended up flashing a few startled guests until we tracked this down.
• hair pins, for hair emergencies.
• a disposable camera, you can never have too many cameras at a wedding.
• band aids, a must in any type of kit.
• aspirin or pain reliever, weddings are loud and stressful so headaches are inevitable.
• clear finger nail polish, stop those panty hose runs.
• blister-relief band aids, why are all cute shoes uncomfortable?
• main makeup products used by the bride, don’t forget to show touch-up materials into the kit after the bride gets dolled up.
• lip balm, who wants chapped lips on their wedding day?
• non-smelling body lotion, to keep the bride feeling beautiful and happy.
• paper and a pen, bride no. 2 wrote her vows the day of, and she ended up having to use a napkin after we couldn’t track down a piece of paper.

Update: Reader suggestions, such great ideas

• a snack, as Eryn from the Homeschooled Year pointed out, the bride might be so busy greeting guests she might not get to enjoy the catered meal.
• hairspray, as Whitney from That Girl reminded me, it serves double duty for hair and panty hose emergencies.
• emergency nail kit, another great suggestion from Whitney.
• a straw, yet another of Whitney’s ideas, so the bride doesn’t have to worry about spills.

Have I forgotten anything?