The Perfect Recipe for a Virtual Girls Night In With Your Bridesmaids

It’s still hard to believe that we’ve been social distancing for more than three months now, but, in the same breath, we’re kind of getting used to these new rules (or at least not feeling totally trapped by them). Zoom calls are keeping us in touch with our favorite people, streaming services are keeping us [Netflix and] chill, more downtime spent outside and less behind a desk is giving us the Vitamin D we’ve been deprived of for far too long, and online shopping+on-demand food & beverage deliveries are giving us whatever ‘life’ we’ve felt like we’ve lost since March. It’s not ideal, for sure, but we’re finding ways to make it more doable. And by the time this virus is a distant memory, brides are going to have the whole engaged-in-the-time-of-quarantine routine all figured out. COVID: you can take the wedding (as we used to know it) away from the bride, but you can’t take the party away from her and the girls… 

After all, what’s truly necessary for a girls night in? Girls in attendance – and right now, everyone is available, there’s nowhere else to be on a Friday or Saturday night; ample time to talk – and one of the crew has to have an unlimited Zoom account, right (if not steal it from one of our husbands!); something to analyze, be it a reality show, a newly-dropped Rom-Com, or which celeb thirst traps on Instagram have become the stuff of our dreams; props to make it festive and a noteworthy reason to celebrate #shesgettingmarried done and done ✔️✔️.  

Our Style Me Pretty Collection is brimming with bridal party swag, and just because social distancing has become the vibe of 2020, the products can be enjoyed just as much virtually. So! If you want to plan a virtual GNI (that’s what’s in for the foreseeable future), make the girls gathering even more memorable with bridal party accessories that will look oh-so-appropos in all of your Zoom screenshot social posts later on… Nothing says we’re leaning into this quarantine life more than a bride and her besties having regular digital hangs or happy hours. 

 

Whoever’s planning the party, make sure you check ALL these boxes!

  1. Send an invitation out. If formal is your thing, go with real cardstock (our SMP bridal shower invitations are personalizable and beautiful, so even your girls night can feel much bigger picture). If real-time/no-wait correspondence works for you, then some of our favorite sites, like Greenvelope, also have customizable, super fun, and obviously-gorgeous virtual soiree stationery to save the date on all the squad members’ calendars. 
  2. Include some recipe links to bride-loved bites and sips that everyone can make or order in and have on hand during the party. 
  3. Make a hashtag (assign to the hypest-hype person in the group) so that any screenshots of your Zoom dashboard can be shared on your socials post-celebration! 
  4. Send out a Survey Monkey a few days in advance to see what everyone wants to watch or at least have in the background. 
  5. Dress up. Or at least dress up your COVID-casual (yoga pants, sports bras, and neon tanks are the new normal, totally OK) with cute headbands and a bride-to-be sash for the GOH (girl of honor).  
  6. Transform your setting for the night. Yes, we’re all rolling with these new social standards, but we can make things even more fun. Especially if it’ll make the bride happy! Have each bridesmaid come to the party prepared with 5 different Zoom backgrounds and at each 30-minute mark, do a switch of scenery! 

A bride needs her bridesmaids and her girl time when we’re not planning during a pandemic, so, of course, our current situation calls for reinforcement. Girls night in is the solution! And Style Me Pretty has lots of phenomenally-pretty paraphernalia to help out. Get shopping now! 

Danielle Halibey is a writer, editor, and publicist living in New Jersey. She has been immersed in the world of weddings since planning her own whimsical, romantic affair in 2014. And isn’t that what they always say, “those who can’t do, teach?” Well, once her nuptials were over, she still had stuff in the ‘I Do’ industry to do. She writes regularly for top wedding blogs including Style Me Pretty and Wedding Chicks, and has garnered millions of press impressions for brands in the wedding space: fashion, beauty, wedding talent+tastemakers and more.