Weddingbee Blog

Today’s DIY rewind comes from Mrs. Eggplant. Mrs. Eggplant kept her bridesmaids well-informed by sending out periodical newsletters to her bridesmaids. Here she shows us all the information she included and how she made one of the most comprehensive bridesmaid newsletters ever! This DIY project was originally posted on June 1, 2007.

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After many laborious hours, I finally completed the second edition of my bridesmaid’s newsletters (or news magazine in this case). Using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, I created a spoof on gossip mags like US Weekly, complete with headliners like “pretty in pink!” and “what’s going in groomsville?” It was my first time using Adobe InDesign, so please bear the unprofessional layout.

Now before I get pinned with the “bridezilla” nametag, I have a justification in my defense! I created this newsletter because I wanted to get a feel for Adobe InDesign before Mr. Eggplant and I embarked on our DIY wedding program and invitation adventure. A newsletter was the perfect starting point. That said, I love InDesign! It’s functional, easy to learn for basic use, and it makes organizing a simple newsletter such a breeze.

The cover fronted a picture we took after a pedicure session that the girls surprised me with.

Table of contents.

Editor’s note and Contributors section with credit to the bridal party.

Page 4: the BM dress style that they picked by unanimous vote (picture on the left: dress by Watters & Watters, but we’re getting similar ones custom made in pink) and some examples of girls in pink dresses taken from The Knot.

Page 5: A play on InStyle’s Steals and Splurges for some shoe suggestions

Page 6 & 7: Groomsmen introductions written by Mr. Eggplant (contributing writer).

Page 8 & 9: Makeup and Hair. Some of the girls have had bad experiences with other makeup artists in the past so I added pictures of my makeup trial with Nam Vo, the artist I booked. I wanted to ease their uncertainty so I also added a few pictures from her portfolio. The hair styles were pictures taken from The Knot, Amy’s Bridal Accessories, and various other websites.

Page 10 & 11 were filled with different pictures of the girls throughout the years.

Page 12 & 13: Some photos of a surprise mani/pedi session the girls threw plus a play on US Weekly’s “They’re just like us!” section

I needed to fill up some white space on the back cover so I made a “got milk” ad using an altered picture from Jenny Lee’s bridal campaign.

I hope they like it! Now I’m just debating whether to send these out as a PDF file over email, or snail mail them to each of their houses. It seems a little silly to mail the letters since I see most of the girls every week, but I also know how much I personally loooove getting packages in the mail. Hmmm… to mail or not to mail… what do you think?

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*Edit*

I sent the BM magazine package to the girls in a bright pink folder that I bought from Office Max for about $2. It was wrapped in two layers of ribbon: white and green. Included with the letter were the following items:

- A pink and green card I found in the $1 section at Target
- A STD postcard
- A package of pink and green candy
- A ring pop with a note that read: “Just a little bling until you get yours.” None of the girls are married and only one is engaged, so I thought it would be cute to get them ring pops.