As a woman, having girlfriends I can depend on at every stage of life is a blessing. I truly have some of the best, most selfless, friends anyone could ask for.
That is why when Justin and I began planning our wedding there was no question on who I would ask to stand at my side on the happiest day of my life.
I didn’t want to ask these women to be in my bridal party in any simple way, though. I wanted to make it special and do something to demonstrate how thankful I am for each of them.
Being the DIYer that I claim I am, I did many Pinterest searches for “Will you be my bridesmaid?” gifts. There were a lot of great ideas that popped up, but the one that stood out most was a wine bottle with a personalized label for each lady.
It was something that would be fun for me to easily recreate and it would be a gift that my bridesmaids could keep and display in their home (if they want).
So, I did some research on what type of label would work best for what I hoped to achieve and learned that most folks used Avery brand shipping labels for similar projects. Then, with the measurements from my labels in mind, I went to work on the design using Adobe Illustrator.
Once the design was close to completion, I began the next phase of the project — writing a poem for each girl.
Because I wanted to personalize the wine bottles, I spent the most time composing verses that would tell a story of friendship. Some of them I wrote from scratch, others I modified from poems I found on Pinterest. Either way, each one relays a special message.
When I was finally happy with the poems, I added them to the design-ready labels, triple-checked that everything was spelled correctly, and began the printing process.
I purchased six bottles of wine — one for each girl and one for myself.
While waiting in line at Target to buy my bottles, however, the 5-year-old standing with her mom in front of me called me out on my fairly large purchase.
“Wow, mom, she must be having a party at her house,” I heard the tiny voice call out as I felt my face turn burning red. All of a sudden all eyes were on me and my six bottles of Barefoot.
Nope, no party. Just a late-20-something trying to buy wine on a Wednesday.
After returning home with my bottles, I began the process of removing all labels from the glass. This part was much easier than I anticipated. I simply soaked each bottle in warm water to dissolve as much of the adhesive as possible and then used a warm, wet rag to rub away all pieces of the labels and their residue to create a smooth surface.
I then let the bottles dry completely before carefully applying the personalized labels I made.
I was so pleased with the finished product — they all looked beautiful. I regret not snapping a photo before I handed them out, but some of my ladies got pictures.
The only thing I wish I would have done differently, however, is use a better printer. My printer at home is fairly old and didn’t do the best job at preserving the colors in the design.
My bridesmaids loved them, though, and seeing their faces light up as they read their unique poems was one of the highlights of the wedding planning process to date.
