I am SO excited that today I am sharing photos from MY bridal shower!! This weekend, my mom, sister, and future mother in law hosted a stunningly gorgeous, fun, and loved-filled bridal shower to help celebrate my upcoming wedding. It was spectacular, and I am so thankful to the three of them for all of the handwork, time, and effort they put into this (plus hundreds of emails and Pinterest pins!). I am also so grateful to my dear friends and family who joined me to celebrate this weekend. It was so special. My sister (who will be my maid of honor in less than a month!) put an incredible amount energy into planning this shower. She thought of even the tiniest details and made sure everything came together smoothly.
Kelsey desperately wanted to hire a photographer, but I love photography so much; I knew I wanted to photograph this beautiful day. I brought two of my camera and a couple of lenses and flashes and just kept things simple; I had the cameras sitting around for guests to pick up and snap a few photos (I think most people were afraid to do that though!). I had my makeup done by the very talented Libby at Alison Harper that morning; meanwhile, my sister, mom, dad, Justin, and Justin’s parents put the finishing touches on the decor and put together the food. Around noon, Justin surprised me with two dozen Georgetown Cupcakes (in buttercream, peanut butter, and chocolate ganache!) to serve to guests. So sweet! At 1:00, Justin, my dad, and Justin’s dad left to have lunch together (even though, to be honest, I don’t think any of them actually wanted to leave – they were just as excited about the party as we were!).
When guests arrived, they were each given a clipboard with their name on it (my mother decorated all of the clipboards!). Each clipboard had all of the bridal shower games and a pink pencil, so guests could mingle, play games, and snack.
The food was so beautiful; my sister planned out a menu of tiny dishes and tasty treats that were oh-so cute! For lunch, she served three varieties of tiny tea sandwiches (cucumber, pesto and red pepper, and fresh mozzarella caprese), spinach dip, small cups of 5 layer bean dip (Justin was very proud that he helped put this together), lots of fruit and sliced veggies, and a variety of cheeses and olives. Pink lemonade and lemon water were in drink dispensers, and my mother’s outstanding white sangria was served in pitchers. For dessert, my sister made three types of “dessert shooters:” peanut butter pie, cherry cheesecake, and pistachio chocolate crumble (served with miniature spoons; they were too cute!). Justin’s mother, Debbie, brought two dozen beautiful chocolate and vanilla pink rose cupcakes, and Debbie made matching pink meringue cookies. I made pink and white cake pops, and we also had blueberry and pineapple cups (a favorite of mine!) and the cupcakes Justin bought from Georgetown Cupcakes. There was no shortage of food!
The plates, teacups, and most of the serving ware was all vintage items from my mother’s collection; we used antique silver-plates silverware and the drinking glasses are some of the ones Justin and I purchased for use at our wedding later this month. My mother ordered 125 pink roses, and my mom, sister, father, and I spent a few hours on Friday night putting together arrangements in teacups, milk glass vases, antique blue Ball jars, and in vintage milk bottles. The decor consisted of vintage tablecloths and doilies, a chalkboard my father built, tons of framed photos of Justin and I that my sister surprised me with, as well as photo boards of old photos she put together.
For favors, guests each took home their adorable decorated clipboard, a tin of custom M&M’s (complete with photos of Justin and I from our engagement shoot with Katelyn James!), a pair of bride and groom chocolate covered strawberries from Zwahlen’s (unbelievably cute!), and a matching pair of bride and groom pretzel sticks (also from Zwahlen’s) that Debbie surprised me with!
Enjoy this story of my bridal shower :)
My dad built this chalkboard for Justin and I to use at our wedding! I used our “wedding font” (my favorite font!) to write out this welcome.
I am not normally a tiara sort of person, but Justin’s mother bought me this gorgeous tiara and really, when is there a better time to wear a tiara than your own bridal shower?
Surprise Georgetown Cupcakes from Justin!
When guests arrived, they were given a decorated clipboard (made by my mom!) filled with cute bridal shower games by Kelsey :)
Oh this amazing pink chair!! My mother was determined to have a “person of honor” chair (based loosely on Victoria’s chair from Revenge). She found a few online she liked, but ultimately, the three of us wanted to DIY – it is just in our blood! This was my grandmother’s old chair, and it was an unusual mustard color. Using paint and fabric medium, we painted two coats of pretty pink, then painted the trim a light cream. It dried pretty stiff, so my mom covered the seat with a pretty floral.
I LOVED reading the wedding advice my friends left for me!! My bestie Michelle wrote five different pieces of wedding advice and even called her husband to get ideas! So cute! (Kelsey made this cute advice holder; definitely saving this for the day I get to plan her shower!).
Our “guestbook” was a custom magazine I had printed of our engagement photos. It took me HOURS to design it (the website I ordered them from is really specific about sizing!) but they turned out so cute! I set up my vintage blue typewriter and some genuine antique letters from my great uncle to my great aunt, all sent during his time serving in the Navy during WWII.
This was such a cute idea! My mom gathered four clocks (including my childhood Beauty and the Beast alarm clock) and set the time on all of them to 5:00 – when our wedding ceremony begins! My sister made the cute wedding date sign to go with it :)
I had so much fun creating these little rose teacup displays! Definitely want a few of these at my wedding!!
My sister has been the bunting queen! My mom and sister made the first string of bunting as a birthday gift for me (that’s this one). Afterward, my sister made two more as decor. They are SO festive and fun! I picked up the fabric months ago at JoAnn’s half off; I basically just went through and got two yards of every one of the cotton prints that I loved!
My mom and I made the LOVE letters a few months ago. She picked up the letters at JoAnn’s, and I painted each one pink. Then we sprayed them with spray adhesive and covered them in four different shades of Martha Stewart glitter. I LOVE these!! My sister made the beautiful set of six photos as a surprise for me :)
My pretty sister!
With my soon-to-be mother in law, and with my sister and mom :)
Love this!! Can you guess my favorite color? :)
Adorable tiny dessert shooters in cherry cheesecake, peanut butter pie, and pistachio as well as gorgeous rose cupcakes and matching pink meringue
My dad and I made cake pops. I don’t think we have a future in this! haha
Too cute bride and groom strawberries and pretzel sticks for all of our guests :)
For anyone as obsessed with these fabulous shoes as I am – lots of shoe photos! They are Jessica Simpson Marya. Gorgeous!!
And once everyone had left, Bella the cat snuck downstairs to check things out and Poppy the cat came and enjoyed the decor :)
It was a wonderful bridal shower! I love celebrating these special events leading up to our big day!! :) Thank you to everyone who made this such a beautiful day!