Category Archives: Bridal Shower

A Love Is In the Air Bachelorette Party

This inspiration shoot from the lovely ladies of Little Miss Party is modern romance done oh-so-right. Inspired by their love of Valentine’s Day, Michelle and Seri created a “Love Is In the Air” theme around a few traditional symbols of love—hearts, red roses and, of course, champagne—but added a completely modern twist by incorporating pops of metallic and crystal and lucite serving vessels, like this silver-banded punch bowl. Even the refreshments add a sweet pop of pale pink, from the red hot cinnamon popcorn to the sparkling pink champagne and Izze soda cocktails (easily made virgin for the superstylish mommy-to-be in attendance). My favorite detail has got to be the “LOVE” sparkler cake topper (talk about a cute photo op). Plus, you’ll never guess how they made that killer gold table runner—it’s metallic sheeting from Party City, sold in 15-foot rolls and perfect for making affordable look chic!

Styling: Little Miss Party | Photography: Raquel Bianca Creative | Cake: Empire Cake

Tropical Beach Bachelorette Inspiration

So I don’t know how things are where you live, but I’m about done with this freezing, snow-filled insanity. Winter, please stop. Naturally, I’ve has been longing for warm-weather things—sunshine on the sand, citrusy cocktails and a refreshing dip in a crystal clear pool. For a little escape therapy, I’m bringing you a tropical beach bachelorette party inspiration board. I’m digging the retro bikinis from this poolside party and had to share my favorite new summer decor idea: faux presents floating in a pool! A pair of neon shades, a travel-size bottle of sunscreen and a mini-bottle of booze in a kraft box with neon trim is the perfect start to creating your own party welcome boxes. For refreshing treats, try these raspberry and lime sangria popsicles (yep, they have alcohol, folks!) or a classic paloma—a grapefruit, lime and tequila cup of sunshine. For more tropical beach party ideas, check out our Pinterest board.

Image credits: Poolside bachelorette, paloma cocktail, presents in the pool, bachelorette welcome box, beach umbrella pose, raspberry lime popsicles, heart sunnies, palm tree love.

Ultimate Bridesmaid Census 2013: Maid Stats and Bridal Showers (Part 1)

I am so excited to share the results from our first-ever Ultimate Bridesmaid Census! Thank you to all those who helped spread the world and who took the survey. First up, who you are and what you think about bridal showers. I’ll be sharing info on bachelorette parties, bridesmaid duties and the traditions you love and hate in the coming week.

What I learned and/or found surprising: I suppose I shouldn’t have been, but I was a little bit surprised that tea party shower pulled so far ahead of the other shower theme categories, with 53% listing it as one of their top three themes. Some found the idea of having a theme at all totally unnecessary and a few left comments suggesting that cheesy shower party games be nixed. I also loved some of your suggested themes, like wine tastings or a charitable shower with donations instead of gifts.

I also found out (as we’ll see again in later infographics) that cost is a big factor. You want to dream big in terms of planning a shower for a friend, but budget rarely allows you to splurge on a photographer or event planner. 45% did say they would take care of most of the details themselves, but might bring in help the day of, like hiring a caterer. I was surprised that as high as 16% would host a shower for 40+ guests—that’s a huge party! Not surprising: We’re all addicted to Pinterest (well, at least 52% of us).

I was a little sad to see that the bridal shower doesn’t seem to be something you look forward to. While it only showed up a few times in the free answer section on what you most dislike about being a bridesmaid, 21% did say that planning it was one of the hardest parts of being a bridesmaid. I should have listed “attending the shower” as a choice to see if it wasn’t just the planning that gets to you. And only 7% listed it as one of their favorite parts of being a bridesmaid.

To me, this is a little bit sad. Why are we spending time, energy and money on a party that we’re really not looking forward to? I’m seeing this as a call to reimagine what a bridal shower can be. I’ve always felt that the true potential of a shower is wasted in its rigid structure. A bridal shower reminds me too much of a kid’s birthday party—now it’s time for games, now it’s time for presents, now it’s time for cake. Grown-ups rarely throw parties like this. We like talking, mingling, laughing, eating—we even like games if they are funny and, most importantly, seem natural and unforced. I’ve always tried to bring you real parties that are unique and fun, but going forward I’m going to try even harder to help you create bridal showers that you’ll actually enjoy.

Also, for those who are interested, I made this awesome infographic using a free site called Piktochart. It is amazing!

An Orange and Aqua Backyard Bridal Shower

Two creative bridesmaids turned the DIY factor up to 10 to put together this handcrafted backyard shower in sunny California, beautifully captured by Alex Rapada Photography. Almost every element was handmade, from the Chinese buffet to custom “He” and “She” signs at each table. Fluffy white china mums and sunset-orange roses pop in the hand-painted aqua Mason jars and set off the delicate lace tablecloths. And I’d take a scrapbook and a shower gift over a blender any day—it’s such a thoughtful keepsake that will last a lifetime. Each guest left with fortune cookies dipped in chocolate and coated in sprinkles—such a cute modern twist!

A Southern Country Couples Shower

As a woman who spent her college years in the South, my idea of a great party still hinges on backyard BBQ and lawn games (please also have biscuits). So I have been dying to showcase a wedding shower with a bit of Southern charm and country flair and I at last found the one: this Tennessee couples shower photographed by Sara Tallent. Taylor and Kate celebrated with an evening of trick roping, mechanical bull riding and a savory summer BBQ with plenty of iced tea to wash it down. Cheerful sunflowers, burlap sacks and antique cans transformed into planters added charm and color to the decor. And have you seen the wooden moose head? Please send him to me! When night fell, Sara snapped the most stunning sparkler pictures I think I have ever seen—you will simply LOVE them! (Plus, Sara’s tutorial on how to take sparkler pictures like these yourself!)

A White and Peach Zen Bridal Shower

This zen bridal shower from JKB Young Photography is such a breath of fresh air! From the delicate origami butterfly garland to the pastel peach cotton candy, everything about this shower is serene and sweet—a perfect antidote to the stress of wedding planning! Guests enjoyed mango sushi bites, thai coconut tomato soup, smoked salmon and apricot mocktails before indulging in whimsical desserts. And bride Clara just looks so confident, beautiful and empowered in her yoga poses. The soft color palette and zen decor create the perfect atmosphere for relaxation and serenity—an ideal setting for the bride to recharge with the women in her life before her big day.

Photography: JKB Young Photography | Event Planning: Lady Blue | Catering: Lavender and Gold Lace | Florals: Shoots | Hair/Makeup: Jessica Young

Wine Basket Bridal Shower Gift + Printable Poem Gift Tags

Today, I’m so excited to bring you a series of printable poem gift tags, perfect for a wine basket bridal shower gift. This is a great gift to team up on with a couple friends. You can split the cost of 8 bottles of wine (at least one should be champagne!) and then add a poem gift tag to each bottle so the bride has a wine collection ready for the milestones of her first year of marriage.

When I decided to embark on this project, I knew my friend Amanda was the perfect person to collaborate with—she is absolutely the master of writing cute little poems. (When I was in her wedding, she wrote a poem for each bridesmaid, talking about how special our friendship was to her.)

We looked at similar projects around the web and both agreed that we didn’t like certain events that were commonly used for this gift. We thought First Fight was weird (“Yay, we’re married and we fought!”) and we agreed that Christmas and New Year’s were kind of lame, especially since it’s likely you’ve already spent a few of these holidays with your significant other before you get hitched. We liked the idea of celebrating the first baby, but didn’t like how most poems for this event were designed so that the lady didn’t get to drink anything! We decided that we could get around this by reserving the baby bottle of wine for right when you decide to start trying to get pregnant or for after baby is born! We brainstormed different life events that merited a bottle of wine and came up with a list of eight options: Wedding Night, Honeymoon, First Anniversary, First House, First Baby, First Dinner Party, New Job and Just Because!

For the tag design, I experimented with some of my favorite color palettes—some sunset-inspired shades, then neons, and finally metallics paired with warm neutrals. But when I tried them on wine bottles, I really didn’t like how the colors clashed with the shades of the glass. I finally decided to pull colors from the bottles themselves and landed on four shades of green and violet that would complement the natural colors of wine. (My color choices are also inspired by Pantone’s shades of 2014.) I added a geometric triangle at the edge for a bit of a visual pop. What do you think?

IMPORTANT NOTE: To print these to make your own bridal shower wine basket, you should download the PDF from the link below. It will give you the best resolution and most clear type—the jpegs used throughout this post are just to show you the design, but are too small and will pixelate if you print at full size.

Print from this link for the best results: Wine Basket Printable Poem Gift Tag PDF