We hosted, designed, planned, coordinated and catered a bridal shower for a very special bride-to-be.
The only thing we had guiding us as we started the planning
process was the fact that the bride wanted pastel versions of her wedding
colors and that somehow she wanted a mermaid in the mix. Apart from those
requests, we had full creative freedom to design to our hearts content. The
first thing that we made to help us get started with everything else, were the
invitations, which our creative director and captain, Rebecca, designed. We
wanted to incorporate a mermaid into her invites in a very subtle way that did
not scream “children’s party!” So Rebecca drew mermaids on Adobe Illustrator
using a charcoal pencil effect and then added some watercolor streaks throughout
the background. We used the font, Janda Elegant Handwriting (which is free!) in
the invitation and throughout ALL the signage we made. We lined the envelopes using some gorgeous
paper we found at Paper Source and were able to incorporate this same paper
throughout other elements we used in the party.
Something we get asked a lot is: how do you get started when
you are planning a party?
Whenever Rebecca and I are planning a party the first
decisions we make before moving forward with anything is the theme and color
palate. Then, the next thing we make before anything else is the invitations.
We find that for us, it helps us set the tone of the party and from there, we
can make sure to design everything else that follows cohesively.
The menu we put together with the help of the bride who
wanted a light mix of finger foods.
Drinks: We made delicious sangria – the recipe which we will
share in full detail in a later blog post – which we stationed in a dispenser
for guests to help themselves. We also served margaritas: mango, strawberry
& lime plus Pina Coladas & Mimosas. We had our bartender Eileen dressed
casually for this, she even wore a little mermaid blouse in the spirit of the
party – which the bride loved!
The Games:
We planned out five games for this bridal shower. We drew
lots of inspiration from Pinterest to help us narrow down what to do!
Here they
are listed:
You can’t say the bride’s name. We had rings out in a bowl
and told guests to put one on. If they heard someone say the bride’s name they
could remove their ring. At the end of the party, whoever had the most rings
won a prize.
How well do you know the bride? The classic questionnaire which
we modified a little to suit the bride’s personality. Highest scoring person
wins the prize.
Toss the Bouquet. This is basically hot potato. Rebecca
hand-made paper flowers and placed those on long wooden sticks we had from
Michael’s. The bride controlled the music with her back to the players and what
was nice is that she kept the bouquet after as a favor to use at her rehearsal.
Wedding Dress Design Challenge. A team game – we had teams of 5 people – where the challenge is to use one of your teammates as a model and make a wedding dress using only tissue paper and 1 roll of tape. We gave our two teams only 3 minutes to complete! The bride picked the winning group by selecting which dress she liked best.
What’s in your purse? We made a list of items and listed the
items for guests to hear one by one, at the end whoever had the most items from
the list won a prize.
DIYs we made for this party were:
Invites, Signage, From Miss to Mrs. banner, Bride-to-Be
chair banner, Crepe Paper Streamer Backdrops (Garage Door, Dessert Station, and
Photo booth Backdrop), PVC Pipe Photo booth, Photo booth Props, Floral
Centerpieces + Buffet Arrangements, Round Paper Fans, Tissue Paper Pom-Poms,
Party Favor Bags – filled with nail polish, Initial Wooden Letters (we painted
and glittered), Paper Flower Bouquet (for toss the bouquet game), Chocolate
Lollypops and Sea Shell Chocolates plus a How Well do You Know the Bride Questionnaire
to match the party. We are hoping to have some specific DIY posts for a few of
these elements as well as some FREE printables for your personal use soon!
A note about the centerpieces: We were inspired by coral reefs when figuring out a color scheme and flowers to use for this. We loved how they turned out!
To see the happiness on the bride’s face when she saw all of the details the day of her shower made it all worth it! That’s the most rewarding part of being in this business.
Vendor Credits:
Rentals – A Rental Connection
Decorated Cookies – Bella Donna Special Events
Fruit Tarts – Sarah J Pastries
Everything else…..Henri’s Exquisite Catering!
