bridesmaid lookbook

Today or maybe Tuesday my bridesmaids (occasionally known as the Lady Squad) will be opening up their mailboxes to find packages from me.

Inside the packages are stacks, all three the same. On top of the stack is a book. A flip book of dresses and shoes. The book itself was Bridesmaid Chloe's idea - she called it a Bridesmaid Lookbook.

I knew it wasn't fair to send them out looking for outfits with zero help, so I set some guidelines. Color range, sleeve type, length. Same for shoes - although just a color range, since I really don't care if they wear gold sandals or bronze ballet flats. Some guidance is good - no motorcycle boots or flip flops, say - but I have a recurring case of wedding ennui that makes me lazy about some details. Hats off to you if you can keep it all straight, but not me! I know my limits.

Then I went around the internet and found some dresses and shoes I liked. I put them into Powerpoint along with their sources and prices. After printing, I trimmed the pages to fit together.

I used silver jump rings and a 1/16" holepunch to bind them inside cardstock covers. The idea being that you can flip dresses and shoes and make up outfits. Not that I expect them to buy any of these particular dresses, it's just a thing to get them started looking.

To make up for the hassle of finding their own outfits, I packed the little books up with emerald green pashminas. They'll serve the dual purposes of keeping the girls warm if the evening is chilly, and bringing in a bit more of DJ's beloved GREEN.

Details and dimensions, if you're into that sort of thing-

Covers: Paper Source Pool cardstock, left over from making pocketfolds. Cut to 5.25" x 7.5"
Dresses: Printed on 8.5" x 11" typing paper, trimmed to 3.5" x 5" using the product information as a guide, which was right-aligned to the upper right corner.
Shoes: Printed on 8.5" x 11" typing paper, trimmed to 3.25" x 5" using the product information as a guide, which was right aligned to the upper right corner.