The Sweetest Day: Bridal Party

Our bridal party was so fun and made our weekend so much more memorable.

I always knew I wanted a larger bridal party and to be honest it was really hard to choose who we wanted to stand beside us. We are so lucky!

We ended up deciding on 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen, 2 junior bridesmaids, 2 flower girls and 2 ring bearers.

We loved having a big wedding party! If we had it to do over we would have added more friends to stand beside us.

My two youngest sisters were our junior bridesmaids. One of our flower girls was my little cousin and the other flower girl was a little girl I had in my classroom at the daycare I worked at a long time ago (my first job!)

Our two ring bearers were our campus minister's twin sons!

And now for our bridesmaids!

My sister was my maid of honor and I could not think of anyone else I would have wanted standing right next to me than her.

Kathleen and I met in the third grade and have been best friends through thick and thin. She just got married this past weekend and is on her honeymoon! I was matron of honor and Matthew was the best man in her wedding!

Sarah and I met in the fourth grade and have been best friends through thick and thin. She really is the sweetest person!

Jenny and I met when she and my brother-in-law started dating a few years ago, and they are getting married in 9 DAYS!!!! I am so excited and happy to have another sister.

Carleigh and I met a few years ago on an SOC retreat. She was one of the first SOC girls to talk to me and we quickly became really good friends.

Miranda and I met a few years ago through the SOC as well. She is also a really sweet person and will do anything to help anyone out. She's getting married this December!!

And our groomsmen!

Matthew's best man was his dad. His dad, Thom, had his dad as his best man and Matthew wanted to carry on the tradition. Matthew really looks up to his dad and could not have imagined anyone else standing beside him on one of the most important days of our lives.

Andrew, Matthew's older brother, was one our our groomsmen. Our bridal party included a lot of family and we LOVED that!

Matthew's twin brother, Nathan, was also a groomsman. A lot of people don't believe they are actually twins until they show them their license to prove it lol.

Ethan, is one of our best friend's that we met through the SOC. He is basically the fourth brother in the Coats family!

Corbin was Matthew's college roommate. We actually go to church now with his older brother who just got married back in June!

We met Joey through the SOC as well. He was Matthew's older brother's roommate during college, and we've all been really good friends!

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Matthew.

WE LOVE OUR BRIDAL PARTY!

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The Sweetest Day: Bridal Party

Wedding Wednesday: Asking my girls

I knew exactly how I wanted to ask my bridesmaids, even before we got engaged. It's all over Pinterest and I know a lot of people ask this way but I didn't care. I loved it and wanted to do it, so I did! A couple of weeks after we got engaged I went to Michael's to get the boxes and began working on them! It ended up taking longer that I thought, it could have something to do with the paint I picked out...I had to do about 4 coats to make sure it was dark enough, but that's okay I loved the way they turned out. I did try to speed up the process of making them and at first I wrote their name on the box with a navy marker (didn't get a picture of them like this) after I wrote all their names and looked at it I just didn't like it. So another 4+ coats of paint on the top and it was covered! I painted their names on top in black with a very fine brush. My dad helped me with the design under their names (he is so talented!)  It took awhile but I wanted these to look good for my girls. I want this to be something they can keep and use, if they want to! The lighting is awful in this picture but here they all are when I finished the names (I crossed the "t" in Kathleen's name before I gave it to her ;) )

They are a light pink, you can kinda tell in this picture.

This isn't a DIY post because there are a ton of those on Pinterest on these cute boxes, I just wanted to share with y'all how I asked them! I will share on what's inside of them though :)

What I put in the boxes:

I made three different little things to include in the boxes.

1.) A list of all the bridesmaids and their numbers. All of my girls have met at one point or another but not all of them have each other's numbers. So I definitely wanted to include that for them to have.

2.) The "asking them" sheet.

3.) A little design that I included at the top of their sheets, with our wedding date!

Other goodies in the boxes:

-Chocolate

-Lip gloss

-Pencils (and they matched our colors!)

-A note pad

-Note cards or a metal letter with burlap 

I wrapped them in white tulle 

and this is what they saw when they opened them

I wanted the "asking sheet" to be the first thing they saw because a couple of my girls didn't even know I was going to ask them. Their reaction was priceless and exactly what I was hoping for :) My sister and my MOH

My other bridesmaid, Carleigh, is in PA school in Memphis and hasn't been back home since her graduation back in December. I had to ask her over the phone to be a bridesmaid about a week or two after we got engaged to see if she would even be able to make it to our wedding since she doesn't really get a summer break from school. So it kinda ruined the surprise factor of asking her but that's completely okay, I'm just glad she'll be able to make it!! When she comes in for Easter or spring break I'll give her, her box!! So that's how I asked my girls! I absolutely loved asking them and had fun making their little gifts. I will formally introduce our bridal party to you soon! I can't wait!

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Wedding Wednesday: Asking my girls