Asking my bridesmaids...

Dime con quien te juntas y te dire quien eres... | Tell me who is your friend and I'll tell you who you are..

When Arri and I  decided  to  have  the  wedding  in  South  Africa  I  knew  I  wanted  to  have   bridesmaids  (a  tradition  we  don’t  have  were  I  come  from  and  that  I  only  knew   from  movies  but  that  I  completely  love).    

I’m  so  thankful  to  my  best  friends  because  without  them  I  wouldn’t  be  who  I  am.   My  bestest  friends  from  childhood  with  whom  I  shared  wonderful  stories  and  I   know  I  can  count  with  no  matter  where  we  are...  and  my  bestest  friends  from   South  Africa;  without  them  I  would  have  never  been  able  to  cope  with  moving  to   a  new  country  with  such  different  language,  ways  and  culture.  

I  always  told  myself  whenever  dating  “Friends  always  first”  So  it’s  still  today  that   my  friends  come  first  –of  course  the  day  I  say  “yes”  he  will  become  family  and   that  will  be  different...  but  for  now,  my  girls  have  priority!  

So  I  wanted  the  “proposal”  to  be  something  more  special  than  just  a  phone  call,   sms  or  email.  I  saw  long  time  ago  in  a  wedding  blog  a  great  idea  a  girl  did  to  ask   her  bridesmaids.  She  made  a  box  and  inside  a  card  and  some  goodies...  I  knew   my  girls  didn’t  deserve  anything  less  than  that...  

So  I  made  these  6  wooden  suitcases    that  I  named  “Friendship  road  trip  through   life” with the cover inspired by an original illustration that  tallented Amelia from The Sometimes Zoo did for Sarah and Warren.  

I made  3  bigger  boxes for the  girls  that  live  in  SA and smaller  ones  for  the  girls   in  Argentina  so  I  could  post  them  with  no  problem.  For  the  girls  in  South  Africa  I  organized  a  picnic...  We  were  meant  to  hike  my   favorite  route  of  Table  Mountain  but  the  day  couldn’t  have  been  worst...  So  we   ended  up  having  the  picnic  inside  the  dog’s  house...  it’s  more  like  a  tree  house   and  I  was  surprised  we  all  fitted  in  comfortably.  For  the  girls  in  Argentina  I  had   some  help  from  my  mom  who  couldn’t  be  more  cute.  She  invited  them  all  to  her   place  for  tea  and  gave  them  the  boxes.  

Thankfully  all  of  them  said  yes  straight  away!  Would  have  been  quite   disappointing  otherwise.  

Inside  the  boxes  I  included:  

.  A  set  of  cards  with  info  about  the  wedding  and  the  bridesmaids  duties  (feel   beautiful,  hold  some  gorgeous  flowers  and  wipe  away  my  happy  tears).
.  A  handkerchief  with  inspiring  friendship  phrases  that  I  hand­‐made  myself   (sewing  and  printing).  

.  A  calendar  with  pictures  that  I  took  through  last  year  that  represent  love  in   some  way.  

.  A  hand-­‐written  card  telling  each  of  them  why  they  are  so  special  to  me.
.  A  letter­‐block  from  an  old  letter  press  with  their  first  initial.  
.  Color  swatches  that  I  like  for  the  wedding.  

Preparing  each  of  the  boxes  took  me  some  time  (of  course  there  was  an  English   version  and  a  Spanish  version)  but  I  must  admit  I  enjoyed  every  little  bit  of  the   making...  Besides  my  friends  deserve  that  and  a  lot  more.