Sara Stafford

When the time came around to ask my girls to stand beside me for the big day, I knew I wanted to make it extra special. This group of ladies has already stood by my side for close to 15 years, some even longer, so I wanted to show them just how much each of them means to me.

One quick browse on Pinterest and Instagram you will be inundated with bridesmaid “proposal” boxes. There are companies out there who can put together the entire box for you, but I wanted to do them myself. I had a general idea of what I wanted to be included in the box, so the next step was to collect all the items and find a cute box to put it all into. Putting together these boxes can add up, especially when you have 7 bridesmaids, but hopefully there is a way to work it out to fit it within your budget, your girls will so appreciate this gesture. I shopped around for quite some time and I would say the boxes came together perfectly, and the best part: they all said YES! Read on below to see an in-depth look at what I included in the boxes and where and how I asked the girls to be in my wedding party.

In order to customize each box, I got a personalized nail polish from Say it with Polish with each of the girls names printed on it. You should definitely check them out, their polishes are fully customizable and make for a cute addition to proposal boxes, etc.

Each polish is free of DBP, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, paraben, camphor and more. Say it with Polish polishes are Australian made and vegan friendly. Processing and shipping was really fast and each polish came beautifully packaged.

I went for a bigger font for the main text and then did cursive writing for each of the bridesmaids’ names. You can fully customize the bottle with whatever font style and text you want, or, you can choose from a standard template on their site. I just love how these turned out, the colour is absolutely stunning and the polish is excellent quality!

You can even get a little something for yourself!

I’m a sucker for white polish for the spring/summer, and I just loved the cute saying on this bottle!

I picked up some stemless wine glasses from my local dollar store and wrote the girls’ names in cursive writing in gold Sharpie. — I have a blog post on how to use these Sharpies on mugs, only difference this time, was that it was with glass! There are a lot of companies out there who will print things on glasses but they run about $15.00 and up, whereas DIY-ing it on your own costs under 5! It was fun to be able to use them when I popped some champagne to celebrate them saying yes.

Each box also contained a card (boxset purchased from Homesense) with a personalized note inside. This is the part where you get personal and write a little (or if you’re me, a lot) about why that bridesmaid is special to you, maybe share a little memory, or your favourite thing about them. You can write as little or as much as you’d like, get creative, and dig into that big heart of yours!

The first thing I bought months ahead of everything else when I decided to put the boxes together were these knot bracelets. I loved how dainty they were and the significance of the knot and that it would be something they could wear anytime. For my sister (my MOH) she received a rose gold knot bracelet part of Lauren Conrad’s collection for Kohl’s (I am obsessed with her whole line). The bracelets come in silver, gold, and rose gold and the price point is amazing, especially if you are buying a few of them. I was able to locate a link for them (find it below). Kohl’s typically has some sort of discount code so keep an eye open for those to save you some extra cash! For the rest of the girls they got a silver knot bracelet. I made a customized tag that I attached to each bracelet that read “I can’t tie the knot without you”.

Shop the bracelets below!

I wanted to have bride tribe t-shirts for the whole crew so when I came across these ones from Walmart.ca . I added them to my cart right away. I tried to steer away for the most part on things labeled bridesmaid so that the girls could use it, or wear it again but I couldn’t resist including these in the box. It made it much easier and more cost-effective than ordering the t-shirt and having the font printed on it. I rolled them up and added it to the box, simple as that! These t-shirts can be worn again for bachelorettes, buck and doe’s, showers, or the morning of the wedding, it’s really up to you!

I made a little “mark the date” card and bought cute little engagement ring stickers from Michaels to circle our wedding date.

Walmart even had t-shirts for the bride, it’s hard to see in the picture but it has “BRIDE” written in gold.

Now what’s a proposal box without some of the fun stuff, bubbly?! I got a 3 pack of these mini Henkell rosé bottles from my local LCBO (making them around $5 each). They fit in perfectly with the colour and theme of the box and who doesn’t love rosé?

Once I had all of my items picked out I was on the hunt for a box to put it all into. At first I thought I wanted just plain white photo boxes but I ended up finding these beautiful flotsl patterned ones at Michaels (okay, I had to go to a bunch of locations to find a complete set, but it was so worth it!) They ran about $3.00 a piece and were a better size than some of the ones that I found at the dollar store. I scooped up the crinkle paper at Michaels as well so that the contents of the box would sit in nicely.

I was so excited putting these together and seeing the looks on the girls’ faces when I gave them their boxes was priceless. I decided to plan a little girls’ trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake and we rented a beautiful Air B & B. I knew it would be the perfect time and place to pop the question to my girls. While we were out wining and dining in the morning, my exceptionally devoted and patient fiancé set everything up in the beautiful English Garden of our Air B & B so that when we arrived back it was all a surprise (I know, I know, I’ve got myself a keeper!)

I ordered this engagement ring balloon from a balloon store in town, but they sell them at all party stores and even on Amazon (more cost effective for the balloon than a party store, you just have to go get it filled!)

My fiancé was even hiding out in the bushes with a camera like a true paparazzi snapping the most memorable pictures of their expressions! Sadly it was hard to get my girlfriends and my sister and sister-in-law altogether in NOTL without giving away the secret so I gifted the boxes to them right after.

The moment they realized Ben was hiding in the bushes with a camera!

All the planning around the boxes, the Air B and B, the set-up all came down to this moment. These expressions made everything SO worth it and even more memorable.

I am so excited for the remaining 5 months of planning and celebrating with them all , and I am so lucky to have them as part of my bride tribe.

SPOILER ALERT! We booked our plane tickets for June for the bachelorette and I could not be more excited. We are headed to San Diego, California! The fun just keeps on coming, and I hope you’ll continue to follow along with it all!