Jun 7, 2017

Annie's Bridal Shower

The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity for me and my family. It started with the preparations for my youngest daughter's bridal shower last April.

My oldest daughter, Jessica, and I planned and co-hostessed Annie's shower, sharing the shopping, preparations, and the making of decorations. 

I made lots of big tissue paper flowers for decorations.

Jessica chose a Kate Spade party theme, and our color palette was of shades of pink, glittery gold, black and white.  

I glittered some tiny wood clothes pins and used black and white striped bakers twine to make a photo banner of the bride and groom.

 I purchased a digital download of a pink background with gold glittered polka dots on Etsy and created my own signs and cards on Photoshop using the same font as the invitations we had ordered online. I spread out my work over a couple of months so I never felt rushed, and it was a lot of fun! 

We held the shower at my daughter's beautiful home. 

Decorating her home for the shower was a team effort. Caroline, my fabulous sister in-law, flew up from California for the shower and spent hours helping us shop, decorate, and prepare food. We couldn't have done it without her. Jessica's sweet husband, Brody, was also invaluable help, especially at figuring out how to hang everything on their walls. We were so thankful to have extra pairs of helping hands!

 Caroline put together our favors of nail polish tied with little "mani thanks" tags, emery boards, pink foam toenail pads, and chocolate kisses in black and white striped bags tied with hot pink ribbon. 

 There were little pink and gold cards for guests to fill out with shared advice for the bride for a happy marriage. After reading aloud what each card said, Annie took them home with her in a hot pink gift bag. 

And the guest who guessed the closest number of chocolate kisses in a big glass jar took the candy-filled jar home with her. 

I used my laptop screen shot app to gather photos of the bride and groom together from their Instagrams and Facebooks, then uploaded them to Costco to have printed. 

We hung them as a banner along the bookcase above the bride's chair.

 Our refreshments began with a Mimosa Bar in the kitchen (and I was so busy taking photos of the adorable guests, I forgot to take a photo of the Mimosa Bar!) We used galvanized buckets of ice to keep the champagne, orange juice, and peach juice chilled, and we had stemless wine glasses with gold stirrers and black and white striped straws.

 Our brunch fare was three different kinds of quiche, yogurt parfaits, bagels and cream cheese, cheese and cherry pastries, a vegetable platter, and fresh fruit.

Glittered heart-topped cupcakes and chocolates made a sweet dessert. 

No bridal shower is complete without some fun games! The favorite was pin the mustache on the groom.

 The large poster-size photo was also a digital upload/Costco print. We also played a match the romantic quote with its movie game - a real challenge for some of us, and a lot of fun!

Opening gifts is a highlight of any shower - so fun to watch!

And here are all our guests; friends and family who made Annie's shower so special. What a wonderful group!

 Me with my sweet daughter, creating a remembrance of a most special day.

Annie was married last Saturday, and I'm looking forward to sharing that beautiful day with you, too. Soon!

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