Many brides choose to give their bridesmaids a gift of the jewelry each wears to match their dresses. And others choose engravable gifts such as picture frames, compacts, trinket, jewelry and keepsake boxes, charm bracelets and key chains. These are all fine gifts and many times there is no charge for monogramming the items for each bridesmaid.

An inexpensive and more personal gift that the bride can give is to take candid shots of each attendant and arrange them in a photo album or personalized scrapbook. With the availability of one-use cameras, the bride can tuck one of these into her purse, and take photos while shopping for gowns and shoes, at the bridal shower, rehearsal dinner and bachelorette party. She should include individual pictures, group shots, as well as pictures of herself with each bridesmaid. Photos that are candid and funny will work better than those that are posed.

At Michaels, The Arts and Crafts Store, 12 x 12 stylized scrapbook pages range from .59 to .99 cents each. Or they can be purchased in 25 sheet packs of white or pastel cardstock for $5.99. Smaller sized packs come in 4 ½ x 6 ½, 6 x 6, and 5 ½ x 7 ½ inches. Cut outs can be purchased such as doves, flowers, hearts, wedding cakes, bells, churches, white satin gloves, and champagne bottles and glasses. Banners and alphabet packs are also available to customize the scrapbook pages.

The good thing about the bride working on this project, is that by working on a special gift for her dear friends, she will be helping to relieve stress from the frenzy of wedding planning. She will have fun assembling the photos and scrapbooking supplies, and give each friend a cherished keepsake of the wedding.