It was blazing hot that day, but it was perfect, and everything turned out the way I imagined. It was also good practice for our DIY wedding!
I chose a brunch, because who doesn't love brunch food, and 11am seems like a good time to hang out with friends, but also to get home with enough time to get stuff done. We rented a shelter in our local metro parks and it was very cute nestled back in the woods.
It started with the invites which I designed myself and I'm super proud of. I love bee themes, but didn't want it to be all black and yellow. I wanted color! I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, but in the end I just added things that I liked. A couple people suggested selling the design on Etsy, and with all the things that I made throughout the wedding process I'm seriously considering it.
I pinned a lot of ideas on Pinterest, so if you want to check out my Shower board and see how I modified things, go for it. Otherwise I'll jump right in.
The shelter door had 2 doors, but the first went right into the kitchen, so I wanted to let everyone know that they needed to head to the other side. I used 2 of the those giant balloons with tissue paper tassels and a chalkboard sign that I made to let them know.
Here's where I should mention that I have only iPhone photos. I was too engrossed in everything else, that I didn't take any photos, but my lovely bridesmaid, Anna, made sure to grab a bunch of detail shots.
The chalkboard says: 40 days til she's hitched (Please use other door) with an arrow.
Then around the building there was another chalkboard sign with another balloon (funny story - I only ordered 2, since they truly are massive, but they forgot to add that extra additive to make them float longer to one of them so they gave 3. They might have thought they were doing me a favor, but it was a bitch getting these in the car!).
"Old, new, borrowed & blue Mallory is ready to say "I do!"
Welcome to Mallory's Shower 7.14.13"
As you walked in, the first table had a little sign-in of sorts. I found this really cute idea sold on Etsy, but they no longer offered it, so I made my own using my Silhouette machine. It's called Dirty Laundry and the guests "air out your dirty laundry" by writing a funny story, memory, or just a hello on the cutout paper clothes. It was great reading them all when I got home, and just as I thought, some were funny, and others made me cry.
The tables were covered with white table cloths, decorated with tissue paper flowers, (great cheap way to bring in color!) and black and white stripped runners that I made from stripped fabric. The letter "M" was made by cutting the face off of a paper mache letter and filling with the little tissue paper flowers.
The tables each had a place setting with a pink napkin and a game sheet of "He Said, She Said" that I designed using the background from the invite. It also had a stripped runner, and some tissue paper flowers.
The favors at the settings were little honey jars that I added fabric tops to and a little tag.
The banner in the backgound above was made using coffee filters folded and then dipped in food coloring. I also made a banner with the Silhouette.
Between the words I cut little bees.
I knew there would be a fireplace and so this was where Mike and I set up and opened presents, it was also a cute backdrop for the photos.
"He Said, She Said" was the only game we played and the guests read the questions, then guessed how many Mike and I would agree on. We did horribly, something like 5 out of 12. But it was funny listening to us guess wrong. My sister videotaped Mikes answers and he was so cute and sappy and I looked like the schmuck because I thought for sure his answers would less thoughtful! The winner was our neighbor and she won a pint of of honey from our hive, (which coincidentally we extracted after I bought honey for all of those little favors), and a bottle of our favorite mead.
The food was amazing, and I take no credit it for it. I gave each of the bridesmaids some ideas/recipes, but they did all the hard work. You really can't go wrong with a spread that includes blueberry muffins, donuts, croissant sandwiches, fresh fruit, and sausage and cream cheese bites, to name only a few.
My mom's friend had a dozen or so cake stands she let me borrow and it made everything look so much fancier!
At the end we had a Kuerig station with a couple Kuerigs set up and coffees, teas, and hot chocolates available. We don't drink coffee in our house, so I figured this would be a good way to cater to everyone. I loved the chai latte! Not pictured, but equally amazing was the flavored water. My sister's boyfriend, Keith, always makes flavored water with fruits so I borrowed some large drink dispensers and he made a couple different kinds. I want to say he had a lemon and orange, and a berry and mint, but I was running around too much to remember!
I wish I would have ate more, but like a wedding, the honoree never gets to eat too much. Everyone said it was amazing though!
Since I had a bridesmaid gift that would be needed to be given before the rehearsal dinner I chose to give them their gifts at the shower.
I found a little make-up bag from Target that I added their initial with vinyl, and the earrings that they would wear for the wedding that I made, a gold bow ring, and a nail file. I gifted each girl a shellac manicure for the wedding since I do it myself at home, and the nail file was the only way I could think of to present this. I made all the tags and cards with my Silhouette. The earrings holder has an M&M, the ring card says, "Thank You for helping me tie the knot!" and the nail file says, "Wedding Shellac Manicure".
Mike surprised me with yellow roses when he came to help me open presents, and I cried. He's given me flowers exactly once in our 5 1/2 years together and it was weeks into dating and they were yellow roses because I made fun of him on one of our first dates for being very specific and describing something as "canary yellow". Sometimes he's super sweet. Only when he wants to be!
Overall I had a great time. My hair was frizzy from the heat and my feet were bleeding from wearing bad shoes, but it was still perfect. I had so much fun with all the details and it was fun planning something that I could make as girly as possible!
All my bridesmaids are amazing women and I was so happy to have them all there with me. Not to mention look how pretty are they all!
I think the real star of the show was Mike though, not only did he not bother me during my marathon crafting nights, or laugh at me when I came home with three 36" balloons stuffed into the back of my car, he also helped set up, clean-up, open presents with me, and even ran home to make a quick sign after a couple people had trouble finding the drive! Obviously, I said yes, so I knew what a great guy he was, but it made me even more excited to marry him!
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