Certified Coordinated Bride Shakita
Journal Entry #3
Kiss The Miss Goodbye
I’ve always only wanted two bridesmaids, my sisters and that’s it. But with my fiancé having a list of 10 men he just had to have standing by his side, we had to compromise and settled on 7. When choosing my bridal party, I thought about the ladies in my life that represented the different parts of me that make up who I am today. I have a small circle so I thought this was going to be a breeze. But of course it wasn’t. That small circle is made up of even smaller circles of childhood friends to college friends and co-workers that turn into friends, and so on… you all know the drill I’m sure.
So I thought about the wedding related things that were important to me like everyone in the bridal party attending dress shopping, being able to come into town the day before the wedding to attend rehearsal as well as considering major life events happening in their own lives that may conflict with them being a supportive part of my bridal party. I didn’t want to have to deal with any drama. So I typed up a text message detailing all of this and sent it. I was so glad to get all of the excited text messages back with their various versions of ‘Yassssss’.
So the hard part was over…Kita’s Krew had been created. Now it was time to plan out a day of mimosa and dress shopping. Seeing that everyone didn’t know each other, I wanted to plan some type of bonding activity that we could do after dress shopping. I thought it would be fun to do something that was a first for everyone and really wanted to do air gymnastics. My matron of honor (Big sister) took over the duties of communicating to my Krew and they decided to come up with an activity together. While I really tried to insist on my wishes for air gymnastics, she assured me that wasn’t happening. They wanted to do wine tasting or something like that (insert side eye).
We picked a perfect spring day in April for dress shopping as the weather was just starting to warm up. Everyone met at my home and gathered in the kitchen for a mimosa toast before heading out for our fun day. While we were in the kitchen, my fiancé laid out their “thank you for being my bridesmaids” boxes by the front door. Each had their names on top of the box with an orange or blue balloon, and inside I included a personal note to each of them, a Kita’s Krew t-shirt, a voting paddle, mini moscato bottle with a champagne flute, and a snickers bar just in case anyone decided to get hangray (hungry + angry) lol. They were so shocked when they turned the corner to see the boxes and dropped a few tears when reading the notes so I was a happy bride.
We grabbed our bottles of champagne and orange juice (for mimosas on the go) and headed out to the bridal shops for our rendition of say yes to the bridesmaids’ dress. It only took us two stores and they were able to find a dress that everyone agreed on and looked awesome on each body type. For the most part I was a happy girl but I was waiting to find out what our bonding activity was going to be. When we got back to the house they told me to change into some relaxing clothes and sneakers. I’m thinking what kind of vineyard are they taking me to?? Were we going to be walking through and picking the grapes and making the wine ourselves? Of course I asked a million questions (control issues) and of course everyone ignored me.
On the way they kept me engaged in conversation so I didn’t really pay attention to where we were going. I didn’t realize we were at the air gymnastics place until we walked into the door and I saw the silks hanging from the ceiling. I lost my mind! I was so hype. Here I was trying to make the day special for them and they still came together and made it all about me. They even went to the place earlier that day and laid out drinks and snacks for us to partake in during the event. Swinging from silks was so fun and so challenging. We moaned and groined, we laughed, we sipped from our flutes, and we bonded. The instructor was great and everyone had an amazing time. By the time we left, we were already planning the next event to come back and do it again. Best. Bridal. Party. Ever.
My girls really are a great team and also outdid themselves for my bridal shower. they went with the theme of kiss the miss goodbye. I probably added more input than they wanted, but my Krew handled it in stride and went above and beyond to make sure the day was amazing. There was “kiss the miss” décor throughout the venue, a make your own mimosa bar, a kiss the miss goodbye “photo booth”, and food galore. We played fun games like, who has the groom and had a fierce competition in the “what’s in your purse” and “toilet paper wedding dress” games…which happened to be the funniest thing ever! I have the most amazing family and friends, they really made a girl feel special.
For my last hurrah, we will be going to Vegas for my bachelorette party. I cannot wait to see what my girls have in store for my final days as a Miss.
