Tuesday, March 12, 2013

a pinterest-inspired bridal shower

I had the privilege of planning a bridal shower for a friend from church. Katie's story is similar to mine - we're both teachers, and we both waited a loonnnggggg time to find Mr. Right. I wanted her shower to have the same kind of special touches that my church shower had. (Sidenote: I get to be her honeymoon sub when she's whisked off for her first week of married life.)
So I began scouring pinterest back in January for ideas. You can see my board here. I kept the decorations simple, using her colors of purple and gray. I took her vellum-overlayed invitation apart and used the photo in a frame I had and bought the beaded stems and purple jar at Michaels on sale.
 I made the banner out of chipboard and cardstock.
The games were super cute as well as short and to the point: fun. (My kind of games.) We played "Who Has the Groom" which was hilarious. I printed out the tuxedos and then cut out faces of famous men, a few guys from church, and the groom, sealed them up in individual envelopes, and whoever found the groom won. Only problem was I made too many cards and after twice around the room with 30 ladies no one picked the groom, so I gave the prize to the bride. We also played a version of "Who Said It?" I made the little K & D flip stick things, read through the questions and answers, and the guests flipped it to the initial of the one they thought said it. I put my cricut to good use for this event. Note: there was a lot of prep time involved in these two games, but it was totally worth it. Seriously, the Who Has the Groom was absolutely hysterical. Someone ended up with Al Roker. Yeah for google images!!!
The prizes were hand soaps from Bath & Body Works. I made the tags that said, "From Katie's shower to your sink." That idea was totally stolen from my friend Jenny who made homemade soaps as a favor for one of my bridal showers. Her tags said "From Wendy's shower to yours." I've always loved that idea and I've had it tucked away ever since.
I really wanted to make cupcakes and try my hand at making this cute bridal dress pull-apart cupcake cake, but then I had to get real and tell myself it wasn't going to happen. I didn't have any cake decorating practice, nor did I have any cake decorating tips, tubes, and whatnot, and I was sick. So off to Costco I went to order a cake. I loved the design and it was really good, but I was less than thrilled with their interpretation of an initial monogram. Oh well, let it go.
 Other ladies from church helped with food and drinks, so I didn't have to worry about that part too much.
There were 30-35 ladies that came and she received lots of good stuff. . .
 like this super cute apron,
 and a beautiful handmade quilt from her mother-in-law to be.
We had the shower at the home of another friend from church. They live in a beautiful home right on the Columbia River. Here's the back of their house.
How's this for a view?

So all in all it was a beautiful day for a beautiful shower for a beautiful bride-to-be. I was happy to help pull it all together.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Schwen, you've outdone yourself! What a beautiful shower with so many fantastic touches! I'm going to have to steal your "Who has the groom?" idea. That is just too cute. I'm sure your creativity made your friend's shower a memory she'll never forget.

Dawn said...

Thanks for sharing this! You did an awesome job. What a lucky bride-to-be.

braddrew said...
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Unknown said...

Great! Bridal showers are special. I am planning to have a photoshoot that day as well. My friends helped me find one of the best wedding venues Los Angeles for my wedding and I really want to have a prewedding photoshoot with them. They made my dream wedding come true.