Bridal Shower #2: Recap

Since I had a shower in Northern California, my mom and grandma wanted to throw a family shower in my hometown in Southern California. Rather than have another girly brunch, we opted for a couples barbeque to involve B, my brother, uncles and other significant others. It was a casual evening, but lots of fun and great to celebrate our upcoming wedding with my close family and friends.

My generous aunt offered to make the centerpieces for our shower. She purchased purple and pink blooms from Trader Joes and worked her magic. They were beautiful. Simple white chairs and purple linens completed the look.My grandma spoiled us with a beautiful cake from our favorite Socal bakery, The Bread Basket. If you are anywhere near Camarillo-it is amazing!

I'm so glad we ended up with two showers to accomodate all of our friends and family. So much fun.

Bridal Shower #1: Re-Cap

Memorial day weekend was completely full of goodness. My mom and grandma arrived in town on Thursday evening. We enjoyed dinner with B that night followed by a full day of shopping. Grams tried on a few grandma-of-the-bride dresses and I took them around to look at my top bridal gown prospects. It was so much fun to try on dresses for them. And by the end of the day-my dress was purchased! It felt amazing to cross that off the list! Big!***

bridal shower outfit: Ruby Rox Dress from Macy's paired with a short-sleeved, fuchsia cardigan from GAP and matching Glint peep toes from Nordstrom

Saturday I hosted a BBQ for B's cousin (and my BM) who just had her second child, an adorable baby boy. It was a beautiful day! Then Sunday we were off to my bridal shower in San Francisco. It was fabulous.

MOH's parents live in a beautiful home in SF that has a great party room downstairs with views of the ocean and part of the Golden Gate. The room was completely color coordinated to match the invitation MOH had picked out. MOH's father (who owns a restaurant in the city) was our chef. They served an absolutely yummy champagne brunch of eggs Benedict, potatoes, a salad, strawberries and cream and an assortment of sweet cakes and rolls. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture of the entire spread.

The decor was fabulous, but my favorite part of the shower were the games! MOH had delegated and two of my bridesmaids worked together to come up with unique games that I would love (I told them no toilet paper dresses).

The first game was a great ice breaker for our 20 guests. Since several of my SoCal friends had not met my NorCal friends, this was a great way for everyone to get acquainted. Bridesmaid A had made up little cards where she instructed everyone to write a piece of advice for us. If you knew B better, they were to write advice to me about him. If you knew A (me) better, you were to write advice to B about me. Then we went around the table and each guest read their little piece of advice. Lots of laughter and even a few tears ensued. I loved it. It was so sweet and so nice to hear such genuine things from my friends and family. So fun! I will always treasure those cards.

Next it was time for me to be quizzed. BM A had called and asked B a bunch of questions about himself. For every incorrect answer, I had to chew on a piece of bubbalicious. I was on a roll until the last few questions....has anyone tried to chew three pieces of bubblegum? It was pretty funny. The guests enjoyed hearing B's answers and I think B got a kick out of it as well (he texted me to see what I'd missed).


Then the guests were asked to divide into teams and become my wedding coordinator for the day. With piles of bridal magazines, each group was to make an idea board representing what they thought I wanted my wedding to look like. It was pretty great to see them working together and coming up with a collage of beautiful images. It was pretty hard to choose, but the winning team was pretty stoked when I finally decided they got it right.

This is a photo of one of the collages. This one was not the winner...

We played a couple more games planned my another of my bridesmaids and then opened gifts (got my all-clad set!!) and enjoyed some amazing cake. I wish they could do my wedding cake. Several of the guests went back for seconds (and thirds!) because it was just that good. It came from Mazzeti's in Pacifica, CA. I don't think I could recommend this place enough-just amazing!

Such a perfect weekend. I can't believe it came and went so fast.

** I thank you all SO much for the dress feedback. I am so happy with my choice and I can't wait for you to see which one I chose.

Shower Me!

MOH is hosting my first bridal shower! It's this coming Sunday at her parent's home in San Francisco. I'm so excited!

Initially, I was trying to plan my own shower. MOH finally stepped in and told me that as much as I wanted to, I was out of luck-she was hosting and would be planning and I was not to worry about a thing. She selected these lovely invites from Wedding Paper Divas. Love them!

I'm super excited to see so many of my favorite women all in one place! Since most of my extended family is in Socal, we will also have a shower down there so not everyone must travel! My bridal party (except for Doctor K who is about to graduate!) and B's family, along with my mom and grandma will be there. Almost 20 all together which is a lot more than I was excpecting!

The only thing I have to worry about it what to wear!

shower me

I've decided I want a themed bridal shower. My favorite theme so far: Alice in Wonderland. How bout Amy in Loverland? I could definitely go over board on the "___ me" ideas.
Love the interesting bottle used here! Can't you just see all the colorful mixed drinks? Photo: Jessica Claire

I realize that planning your own bridal shower is kind of overstepping, but I can't help but love the ever-popular Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter Tea Party theme. It offers endless possibilities of color, imagination and "eat me, drink me, marry me, shower me, gift me" labels. I think embroidered aprons (like the white one Alice wears) would be awesome favors! I know my MOH would be into it, even though we have different styles I know she knows how to work a theme.

This party was for three little girls. I think they were turning 6! Amazing. Photo: Jessica Claire

Loving this inspiration board from SMP

My inspirations really comes from this made for TV movie. I think it came out around 1985. My mom taped it, and well, I watched it a bazillion times. It was part of my cycle of movies I would watch over and over. Alice, then Annie, Ferris Bueller then Dirty Dancing (yea, I was like 5!) and Top Gun. I loved this Alice version SO much better than the Disney version. I used to make pretend "eat me" cakes and put them in my glass jewelry box that looked just like the one in the movie...

Does anyone else remember this classic? It was a two-part series circa 1985 photo from here

I found these perfect little cakes a long time ago. These were what reminded me of the "eat me" cake from the movie. Little did I know that this theme was extremely popular. The knot even has an article with ideas for a Mad Hatter themed shower. Read about it here.

I'm just loving this idea more and more! My MOH's family has an amazing home right in San Francisco with views of the golden gate and the ocean. It's the perfect party house and since it's right in the city, I would imagine most of my out of town friends and bridal party wouldn't mind coming out for a weekend in the city. I'm getting excited and wishing it wasn't so far away! At least now I have plenty of time to come up with even more cute ideas! adorable little cakes found here


There are so many possibilities for the invites. I've seen playing cards, a mad-hatter like poem. But I love the wording on these. I'd love to do something more colorful, but loved the detail.
A Mad Hatter Tea Party Invitation from Bird and Banner