How 1 real bride proposed to her bridesmaids
1. Tell us about YOU; who are you, where do you live and what do you do?
I'm Jesse, I currently Live in Leamington Spa With my Fiancé Dan and our little Sausage dog Winnie. Myself & Dan met through friends when we were 19 and have been together for 9 years. We got engaged in November 2022 in Copenhagen (our favourite place in the world) and Dan truly blew me away with the intimate and breathtaking setting.
We spent 4 of those years traveling back and forth to see each other whenever we could from Leeds to Falmouth (a 12hr trip) where we were studying our degrees. I spent 4 years studying Fashion Marketing at Falmouth University and had the most incredible 4yrs of my life living on the Cornish coast with my best friends.
I then spent a few years in the fashion & accessories industry in various marketing and social media roles. I now work freelance as a marketing consultant alongside running my own Lifestyle & home accessories brand - Sunday Only. I love all things interiors and classic antique mixed with fun stylised modern architecture. Sunday Only allows me to curate and source the most beautiful unique pieces, glassware and all things interiors ready for our wonderful customers to enjoy.
2. When & where are you getting married?
We are so excited, we have opted to have a wedding weekend as initially we planned on getting married in Mallorca however after doing a lot of research it felt way more restrictive and the logistics became too much so we decided to go with the UK. We wanted to make the most of it and enjoy the celebrations for as long as possible with all our family and friends.
It took us a really long time to find the perfect venue and we ended up viewing over 20 different places but nothing felt more “us” than Kin House. We are getting married on Saturday 21st September 2024 at the beautiful Kin House. We fell totally in love with Kin and the incredible interiors by Barlow & Barlow made it our perfect venue. From every bedroom being immaculate to the incredible marble bar its everything we could have dreamt of all in one place.
3. When is your Bachelorette? Do you know where you’re going?
We haven’t got any set dates yet but we had a great laugh thinking of so many options at the Bridal lunch. Me & Dan have even discussed a “Sten” together in Palma, Mallorca with all our friends as we aren't really big on he traditional Stag or Hen. All I’ve said Is that I want to be involved with the planning process as I cant deal with the anxiety of not knowing haha!
4. Tell us about your recent bridal event? (your bridesmaid dinner) Did you have a theme, what was the vibe, how did you choose the aesthetic?
I decided I wanted to do an intimate Bridal Lunch for my “bridesmaid proposal” all I knew is that I wanted it to feel really personal and special for my girls. When initially planning I needed to decide on a cohesive aesthetic which can be hard if you look on Pinterest as everything Is so beautiful! However I decided what I wanted and set out on making it perfect. I chose a minimal vibe with blush pinks, whites and sage green as the colour palette. I spent the few weeks prior getting everything organised, I hand stitched their initials onto napkins I had made, I designed personalised photo strips with individual photos of us and had them printed. I ordered them all a beautiful personalised notebook from Papier, and I ordered a cake which said “The Bridesmaid Edit” for the table.
Slowly it was all coming together, I had a wonderful local calligrapher (The Crafters Gym) hand write all my personalised cards in which I wrote them all an individual letter about how special they are to me. The final and most perfect touch was my Gigi and Olive gift bags as I had struggled to find anything I liked to pop all there gifts in. I wasn’t keen on the traditional boxes or bags and as soon as I saw the beautiful cotton gift bags I knew they were perfect.
Three of my best friends Shannon (MOH), Jess & Phee were coming for the weekend from London and Leeds and arrived on the Friday, how I didn’t give away the plans for the Saturday that night i’ll never know. I had made sure everything was packed aways and organised ready for me to set up on the Saturday morning. I made a variety of salads and light dishes for us to enjoy and had the champagne chilling ready to go. I spent the morning setting up the table, I used floristry frogs to get the look I wanted with my flowers, added the Personalised Papier menu and lockdown liquor cocktails to the table and we were all set. My best friend's Bebe & Pria who live more local arrived and I got all the girls to walk in together & there reaction was amazing, they we’re all thinking we were having a nice lunch and then they realised I was asking them to be my bridesmaids it was such a wonderful moment. There was a lot of hugging, tears of happiness and pure excitement.
5. How many Bridesmaids are you having?
Im having 4 Bridesmaids and 1 Maid of honour so 5 in total. Shannon is My maid of honour, we met in our first year at university when we both attended a London Fashion week trip and ended up in the same room. We had the most crazy few days and ended up sneaking into the Burberry Show, we were bonded for life from then on in! Jess, Phee, Bebe & Pria are my bridesmaids and all have been huge parts of my life, from university housemates to childhood best friend’s. I feel beyond lucky to have such incredible women in my life and truly cant wait to have them by my side on my wedding day.
6. What items did you gift for your Bridesmaid proposals?
They all got a bottle of Whispering angel, Glasses to keep from my brand Sunday Only, A Quai hair product, Papier personalised notebooks, a little love heart lolly, Personalised taper candles and their personalised napkins. I wanted to get things like earrings and accessories however because I hadn’t made any set decisions regarding colour schemes or dress styles I wanted to wait to do those details at a later date.
7. What was your most expensive purchase? Was it worth it?
For me cost wasn’t a huge element when making decisions as I wanted to make sure it was all about the details and making the day perfect for my girls as I only get to do it once. I enjoyed pulling all the various elements together and where I could I made things myself, like the napkins and Photostrips. I think the most expensive elements were the cake & flowers which Im beyond pleased with and it was 100% worth it. The flowers were everything I wanted and I was so lucky to get such a helpful florist (The Orangery Kenilworth) who managed to source the specific flowers I wanted. The cake was one of my favourite elements of the day it was made by a wonderful local bakery (The Cakery Leamington) which we all enjoyed and it was delicious.
8. What was your best budget purchase?
I think the best budget purchase was actually the beautiful Gigi & Olive cotton gift bags and the Papier notebooks. The bags are such beautiful quality and the minimal, chic aesthetic was exactly what I wanted to achieve. I cant wait to get so much more from Gigi & Olive especially when it comes to the Hen do as everything they do it my kind of bridal accessories.
9. What are your 3 top tips to other brides planning on asking their Bridesmaids and looking to do something special?
I think its super easy to make the focus the wedding day itself once you're engaged however for me everything to do with and leading up to the wedding should be just as special. Make sure whatever you do it feels authentically you and If you want to make a whole day of it, do it. We get to do these things once and having the day with all my best friends in once place just simply laughing together, getting excited and enjoying a few wines was truly a memory I will have forever. For me Im all about making things special for those I love and I think if you can, adding the detail like the individual personal letters and personalised photo strips really made it just that bit more magical, its not often we tell those closest to us how much we love them and can look back on all the incredible memories we’ve shared. Embrace it all and most importantly enjoy every second of it.
10. What is the next thing on your Bridal to do list?
Pretty much everything else, photographer & Videographer are the next on my list for now and then save the dates and invites. Its all so exciting but I'm also wanting to try not find it to overwhelming- if that’s possible!
Follow Jessie on Instagram to find out more about her wedding journey!
If you're a real bride or groom getting married and have had a bridal event you'd like us to feature please email us at info@gigiandolive.com - we'd love to hear from you!
