Custom Bridesmaid Gifts Made From Your Photos Together

Monogrammed robes, matching jewellery, a tumbler with a name on it, a candle in a box. Bridesmaid gifts are designed to match, because matching is the whole look of the day. They photograph nicely on the morning and then join every other monogrammed robe in the back of a wardrobe.

The odd thing is that no two bridesmaids are there for the same reason. One is the friend from primary school. One shared a terrible flat at university. One is a sister, one a cousin, one the colleague who became a friend. Each of them knows a different version of the bride.

A photo gift lets you keep the matching look and still make each one personal. Same size, same card, same wrapping, and a different photograph of the two of you on every cushion, chosen from the chapter of your life where that friendship began.

For a maid of honour who is also your oldest friend, the best friend guide goes further than one day's thank you.

The proposal

A small cushion with the oldest photo you have of the two of you, tucked into a box with the question on a card. It sets the tone for the whole engagement: this is about the friendship, not just the dress.

The wedding morning

Handed out while hair and make up are under way, with the best photo from the hen weekend on the back. It is the gift that turns up in the getting ready photographs, which is a nice bonus.

After the wedding

The most meaningful version often comes weeks later, once the photographer has delivered the gallery. Wedding photos printed for the people who were in them make a thank you that arrives just as the post wedding quiet sets in.

The maid of honour

Something a step up from the rest of the set: a 60 cm cushion with nine photos covering the whole friendship, from the first year you met to the dress fitting.

Flower girls and junior bridesmaids

Ask them to draw the wedding before the day, then turn the drawing into a cushion cut to the shape of a child's drawing of the bride. Children treasure these, and their parents usually do even more.

The bridesmaids' gift to the bride

It works in reverse too. A cushion of all of you together, given to the bride the night before, is one she will keep long after the bouquet has dried.

Every bridesmaid comes from a different era of your life, so the photos live in different places.

• School friends: your parents' albums and hers. Childhood photos are usually printed, so photograph them flat by a window, straight on.
• University friends: old social media albums. The files are small, so they suit 20 or 40 cm better than 60. The free preview will tell you.
• Sisters and cousins: family albums and the relatives who always had a camera at birthdays.
• Recent friends: your own phone, searched by her face. Most phones group photos by person now.
• Anybody else: a mutual friend. One message asking for the best photo of the two of you rarely goes unanswered.

The photos do not need to match in style. A grainy picture from 2004 next to a crisp one from last summer is part of what makes the set feel personal. What matters is that each bridesmaid looks good in hers.

• The bridesmaid proposal, usually eight to twelve months before the wedding.
• The hen party, as a keepsake from the weekend.
• The rehearsal dinner or the night before, when there is a quiet moment to hand them out.
• The wedding morning, during hair and make up.
• After the honeymoon, as a thank you with photos from the day.
• The first anniversary, for a bridesmaid who helped far beyond the dress.

For the couple's own first anniversary, photo gifts for a first anniversary covers the paper and cotton traditions.

With a matching set, the card is where each gift becomes individual. Write a separate one for every bridesmaid, even if the cushions look the same from across the room.

• Explain the photo. Why that picture, from that year. A sentence about the night it was taken brings back the whole friendship.
• Thank her for something specific she did during the planning. The dress shop trip, the spreadsheet, the phone call when the venue fell through.
• For the proposal, keep it simple and leave the question until last. The photo should do most of the asking.
• For a post wedding thank you, mention a moment from the day itself. Brides often remember the day as a blur, and bridesmaids love hearing which part stuck with you.

Handwrite them if you can. Weeks of planning produce a lot of printed paper, and a handwritten card in the bride's own writing stands out from all of it.

With a large bridal party, writing six or eight personal cards the week of the wedding is unrealistic. Write them as the photos are chosen instead. You will already be thinking about each friendship while looking through old pictures, and the words come far more easily then than at midnight before the rehearsal dinner. Tuck each card inside its matching box as you go, so nothing gets mixed up on the morning.

• 20 cm for proposal boxes and for a set of five or more, where budget matters.
• 40 cm for the main thank you gift. Big enough to sit on a sofa at home.
• 60 cm for the maid of honour, if she is getting the nine photo grid.
• The back is printed at no extra cost: then on one side, now on the other.

There is no bulk price, so budget per bridesmaid rather than for the set. Each design gets its own free preview, which means you approve every photo individually before anything is printed, and nobody's cushion is a surprise to you. Ship them all to yourself to hand out on the day, or straight to each bridesmaid if you are sending proposal boxes or post wedding thank yous.

One photo noticeably better than the others

Bridesmaids compare gifts. If one cushion has a beautiful professional portrait and another a blurry phone photo, it gets noticed. Choose photos of roughly similar quality, or print the weaker ones smaller.

Forgetting the wider bridal party

Flower girls, junior bridesmaids, the house party and the friend who did the readings often get overlooked. Decide early who is getting something so nobody finds out on the day.

Unflattering hen do photos

The funniest photo from the weekend may not be one she wants on her sofa. Check with each bridesmaid, or use a photo from earlier in the evening.

Ordering too late

Every design needs its own preview and approval, and the final weeks before a wedding are the busiest of all. Order the set well ahead, or plan for a post wedding thank you instead.

Old addresses

Friends move more often than anybody keeps track of. Confirm each address before sending proposal boxes or thank yous straight to their doors.

Other guides for weddings and the friendships around them.

• a present for the couple themselves, from the bridal party
• housewarming ideas for newlyweds, since the first home often comes the same year
• Gifts for her, for every other occasion in a friendship
• birthday photo gifts, for the bridesmaid whose birthday falls in wedding season