Bride-to-Be Makes a Quirky Request of Her Bridesmaids Ahead of Her Wedding (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Bride-to-be Casey Church chose a “dress how you met the bride” theme for her bachelorette after realizing her closest friends came from completely different chapters of her life

• The costumes recreated memories stretching from childhood Girl Scouts and high school choir to college nights out and friendships that began through TikTok

• One bridesmaid wore the same yellow dress and Mickey ears she had on when she first met Church at Magic Kingdom in 2021, a detail that brought the bride-to-be to tears

Casey Church’s bachelorette party came with a dress code unlike most: show up dressed as the moment you first met the bride. By the end of the night, the 30-year-old musician was surrounded by Girl Scouts, a high school choir member, a baby, a Disney fan and even a friend wearing a fake mustache and glasses.

“Seeing all my friends from different chapters of my life in one room was so special and made me feel so grateful and blessed to have people that I can have fun with in any season,” Church tells PEOPLE. “They have all been there for me through my best and worst moments, but celebrating getting married to the love of my life is the most special one so far and that’s when the emotions really hit me!”

Church, who is from Venice, Fla., is set to marry her fiancé, Jake Grubbs, in November and celebrated the upcoming wedding aboard Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas, which sailed to CocoCay and Nassau, Bahamas. In a TikTok from the trip, she captured her friends and bridesmaids showing off the outfits they chose for the “dress how you met the bride” night, summing up the scene in her caption as “so many seasons of life in one place.”

The idea started on Pinterest, where Church came across the theme and immediately thought about how differently each of her friendships had begun. Some of the women had known her since childhood, while others entered her life through high school, college and, more recently, social media.

“I met them in all different phases of my life,” she says. “Since I met them in all different ways I knew it would be a variety of fun and silly outfits!”

Her sister, Alyssa, went back to the very beginning, dressing as a baby because she is Church’s younger sister and, as Church puts it, they have “always been best friends.” Kaitlyn, Lisa and Allison looked to elementary school, arriving as Girl Scouts in honor of the troop where the four first became friends.

“We all joined the same troop in elementary school and have countless memories from community service to camping and now are celebrating big life milestones like this one,” Church says. Tiffany dug into another part of Church’s past, finding a choir dress on Amazon that looked nearly identical to the ones they wore when they met in high school.

The costumes only became more specific as the night went on. Amber referenced the local line dancing bar where she and Church bonded in college and would “dance the night away,” while Madison B. dressed for a memory from their first night together, when Church taught her how to do the cup song.

Then there was Kristen, whom Church originally met through Kristen’s husband because he was already part of her friend group. She transformed herself into him for the occasion, complete with a mustache and glasses that stayed on all night.

“One of my personal favorite outfits was Kristen,” Church says. The commitment to the disguise was part of what made it memorable: “Yes she wore the mustache and glasses the whole night lol.”

But another costume hit Church differently. Madison T., whom she met through TikTok after posting Disney content, recreated the exact outfit she had worn when the two met in person at Magic Kingdom for the first time in June 2021: a yellow dress and Mickey ears.

Church says meeting Madison T. and another friend, Hailey, through TikTok “opened my eyes to the power of social media and not to be afraid to go out of your comfort zone because you might just meet some of your best friends!” In Madison’s case, a friendship that began online eventually led to her becoming part of Church’s wedding party.

Madison arrived at a different time from the other women, so Church never captured her entrance for the TikTok, something she found especially ironic considering how their friendship began. Still, seeing her friend recreate the outfit from that first day together was enough to bring Church to tears.

“It made me emotional because social media connected us and now she’s a part of my wedding party,” Church says.

The themed night was one part of a weekend that also included “golden hour glam” and “sequins and seashells,” along with plenty of time for the friends to celebrate without costumes. Church says they “laughed till our cheeks hurt,” danced, reminisced about their years together and, given her profession, inevitably ended up doing some singing.

“As a singer, I couldn’t get away with not doing karaoke and that was a highlight for me!” she says.

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For Church, however, the weekend ultimately became a reminder of how much life she had already shared with the women around her. Their friendships had changed as they grew from Girl Scouts, choir members, college friends and TikTok connections into adults celebrating another major milestone together.

“While all these friendships have evolved and changed over the years they still all made time to celebrate this big moment in my life and that meant so much to me,” Church says. “As I enter this next chapter excited to begin married life I will continue to hold onto these friendships and look forward to making more memories in the future with them — we haven’t told our husbands yet but this may have to be a yearly girls trip!”

Read the original article on People