Bride-to-Be Surprises Bridesmaids with Princess Diaries-Themed Sleepover: 'Me? A Bride? Shut Up!' (Exclusive)

Angela Andaloro is a Society & Culture Staff Writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, and LittleThings.

• Anna Kate Howard wanted to celebrate her bridesmaids with a special gathering, so she threw an unforgettable slumber party
• With help from family and friends, the bride and her mom put together a Princess Diaries-themed sleepover
• Anna tells PEOPLE why the beloved film felt like the perfect energy to channel as she got her girls together
  

Anna Kate Howard knew that when her big day came, she wanted an unforgettable party.

"I always knew I wanted a big wedding party. I'm a people person, the oldest child, and the first baby girl, so there was no way I wouldn't have a big wedding," the bride-to-be tells PEOPLE.

Anna got engaged in February and immediately got to work, with plans to tie the knot in February 2025.

As she began planning, it just so happened that several of her friends were also getting married in the year to come.

"We joke that it's like 27 Dresses because I'm part of 10 different weddings this year, including mine. All my friends are getting married this year. One of my friends had a bridal proposal party and did it with a garden theme. I enjoyed it and started realizing I had no clue what I would do," she shares.

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Thankfully, the bride-to-be was able to tap her mom for some help.

"My mom has been super excited. It's been so much fun. We are people who love party planning. It's always been our thing. So since this is the one party that I get to throw, versus other people throwing me parties, I was thinking what my dream party would be," Anna explains.

"I saw a Princess Diaries-themed birthday party that someone did. I thought, 'This would be so cute if we change it up for a bridesmaid party.'"

Anna found the theme to be "unique" and "something I hadn't seen anyone use as a bridal theme."

"I love the movie and I love Anne Hathaway. Every time I used to watch the movie as a kid, I'd be like, 'Oh my gosh, I wish I could have this mattress-surfing slumber party.'"

With the help of her mom, Anna was able to make that gathering come to life for her 12 bridesmaids, who only knew to expect a Princess Diaries-themed slumber party.

Anna was "surprised" when she walked into her mom's home and saw the beautiful celebration she'd put together.

"We're from a small town with not a lot going on, so my mom likes to throw these little gatherings. She had so many tables and linens, we owned a lot of stuff. And everything else, we have close family friends who we've worked with on parties for years, who helped us pull this off just because they wanted to do something nice for me to celebrate the wedding," she explains.

"It wasn't like we outsourced and had all these people spend all this money. It really just came down to using our resources and my mom definitely did way more than I expected. It was amazing."

Seeing how special the set-up was made welcoming her bridesmaids even more special.

"I worked on my boxes and my mom was like, 'This is your thing, but let me throw it. I want you to be surprised.' So I just kind of walked into all of this. The decorations, the food, all of that stuff she surprised me with it. I gave her a bunch of my inspiration and she took it from there."

To get the bridesmaids ready for the vibe, Anna shipped them a special gift ahead of their get-together.

"With their invitation, I shipped them pajamas. So they had that and they knew to wear them. They knew it was Princess Diaries-themed and that they were spending the night. They were really surprised when they showed up for the slumber party," she says.

Getting the group of women together in and of itself was very special to the bride-to-be.

"I moved to a few different colleges, so I've made a lot of different friends on my different paths in life. I've always stayed in touch with my people. I have all these friends that I love and I couldn't imagine them not being part of my special day," she says.

"It was fun getting to interact with everyone and hang out with them. They are going to be doing a lot for me on my wedding day, so I liked treating them and hosting them."

Anna's fiancé even made an appearance, ringing a bell by the front door as guests arrived.

The women had a fun-filled night, with tons of nods to the beloved film starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.

"The mattress surfing was really fun. We did karaoke and got to sing, just like in the movie. One of my family best friends, she's like a sister to me, she has trucker hat business. So we made the trucker hats and she just brought that stuff so we could have a fun little activity," she shares.

"And we ate good food," Anna continues. "It was cool because we had Genovian pear ice cream and pear cocktails. We had personal pan pizzas with "sorry" in M&Ms written on them. We had a photo booth, and we piled in at the end of the night and all took a bunch of pictures. Then we watched the movie together, which was so fun."

When Anna shared Instagram Reels created by @serenecontentco of the special night, she had no idea she'd go viral with the execution of her fun idea.

"It was really neat. The most likes I've ever gotten was a thousand on my engagement photo. I didn't think this would go viral by any means," she shares.

"I enjoyed it because I got all my inspo for everything from Instagram and TikTok and other people, so I hope that other people enjoy getting to see what I did. I had so many people message me about it."

It's also been special for her bridesmaids, who won't soon forget what the special night was all about.

"We got to all hang out and spend the night together because nowadays life's so busy. You have married people and people with kids and other things going on, so to be able to have that time together was great."

For the bride-to-be, it's the start of a very special time in her life, and she's grateful to share it.

"It was like a kid dream come true. I never had a reason to throw a party like this until now. It made me really excited for all the wedding festivities."