Weddingbee Blog

My family is from the South, and even though I technically haven’t lived there since I was 6 weeks old, there are some Southern traditions that have stayed with us (including my propensity to say “y’all” whenever possible). One of those traditions is the bridesmaid luncheon. I believe this usually takes place the day before the wedding, but for logistical purposes we held it on Thursday. My grandmother has hosted this luncheon for most of my cousins, and she and my aunts hosted the luncheon for me. We invited my bridesmaids and Mr. EB’s and my female relatives who were in town to lunch at my aunt’s house.

But first, my girls and I went to get our nails done.

Bridesmaid N and Bridesmaid K

I met my girls in the morning to get manicures and pedicures, which was a great way to kick off the weekend festivities and spend some time together. Unfortunately, while my pedicure was great, my manicure was not and I ended up taking it off before the wedding and just putting on some clear polish and calling it a day.

After we were done at the salon, I changed and headed over to my aunt’s house. My grandmother and aunts hosted this wonderful luncheon for me, and it was such a fantastic way to see so many of my family and friends before the wedding and get even more excited for the wedding weekend!

Mom EB, three of my aunts and Grandma EB

My aunts had planned a wonderful lunch—Ivar’s clam chowder, minestrone soup, a huge fruit salad, and some incredibly delicious bruschetta. It was so good and I ate a lot (which is significant, as it was my last real meal until after the weekend…but more on that later!). Mostly though, I was really grateful for the chance to spend time with some of my favorite people.

Aunt EB, Grandma EB, Mr. EB’s Grandma, MIL EB

Mr. EB’s cousin, Mom EB, my second mom, Aunt EB

My aunt (who was my go-to design genius for this entire wedding) made me this beautiful crown to wear for the day—all in our wedding colors of blue and green!

My aunt also made sure to take a picture of me with each of my bridesmaids

Me and Sister EB

After lunch I gave my girls their presents. I’ll do a more detailed post on what I gave them, but I included a silver initial necklace (Sister EB and I are wearing them in the picture above), earrings, a makeup bag/clutch, and a blue pashmina shawl that they wore for the wedding.

Even though Mr. EB’s sister was a groomswoman, I wanted to include her in all of the bridesmaid activities so I made sure she got all the same things that the bridesmaids got.

After my girls opened their presents we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting as people came and went (several more family members came in that afternoon so we got to see almost all of my mom’s family before the weekend started). We had planned on having a wedding weekend so that we could spend as much time as possible with all of our guests who were traveling to celebrate with us, and the bridesmaid luncheon was the perfect kickoff event.

Next up, Friday comes and my calmness dissolves into tears in a parking lot. Luckily, Mom EB knows how to save the day!