Everyone should have a best friend in the wedding business. It always seems to result in beautiful bridal showers, like the pink and gold tea party Rachel of Blue Barn Photography threw in Raleigh, North Carolina, for her best friend Aly. The inspiration for the theme came from Aly’s love of vintage teapots, so Rachel borrowed delicate, colorful vintage china from her own mother and mother-in-law as well as Aly’s mom to create a cleverly mismatched set. Rachel found the fringed photobooth backdrop project on Pinterest and the other bridesmaids jumped in to assemble it the day of the shower. While the pink sodas and rosy teacups kept the theme undeniably girly, pops of gold and white throughout gave this tea party a chic moden spin. Venue: Pullen House
Sometimes a shower is all about simplicity…okay, simplicity and flowers. Because let’s face it, I’m getting all dreamy over the eye-popping purples, pinks and corals in the bougainvilleas used to decorate every inch of this Spanish-style shower in Southern California. The best part? Every single bloom was free, sourced from the homes of neighbors and friends. With the help of some DIY doilies and a burlap bride sign and the bold contrast of a black-and-white striped tablecloth, I feel like I’ve just stepped onto the patio for luncheon under the hot Puerto Vallerta sun. Salud!
Bridesmaid and photographer Jennifer Daigle shared how everything came together.
When we began discussing the decor for Elise’s bridal shower, we knew that Blue Agave would be catering. Knowing that there would be delicious Southwestern food, I had to stick to this theme. What is better than being poolside at a resort in good ol’ Mexico?
A number of ideas came to my mind…terra cotta, bougainvillea, papel picado, and fans were just a few ideas that fell into place that day. The terra cotta pots and glass vases were collected between my mother and I, and the bougainvillea snippets were gathered the morning of the shower (special thanks to a few neighbors). The paper flags and chandeliers were made from doilies and burlap string, while the fans were an at-home project made from paper bags, doilies and ribbon. The striped tablecloths were made by my mother and the candles and their holders were from the 99-cent store. We borrowed the black candelabras from a family friend and threw in a burlap sign above the bride, stamped with distressed ink. All in all, it took two nights to prepare all of the decorations and the morning of the shower we were all bustling like bees to make it perfect.
I’ve been trying so hard to sum up this absolutely stunning shower shared by Alixann Loosle Photography and finally I realized that it just contains too many things I love. Bride Maddie’s parents with the help of her friends pulled everything together in their home in Lindon, Utah. The decor is vintage classic at its very best, with heirloom suitcases stacked to display party favors, an old washtub re-purposed as a drink cooler and a weathered chest of drawers serving as part of the buffet. The ambiance is sugary sweet with rock candy, soft pink roses and a dainty fruit pizza bar, but the delicate lace panties strung up across the porch add just the tiniest touch of naughty at a shower that is oh-so-nice. From the ballooned bicycle welcoming guests to the backyard to the miniature potted plants waiting for each guest as they leave, this shower is utter perfection.
I’m always on the lookout for one-of-a-kind celebrations, but this one instantly caught my eye—a Renegade Craft Fair bachelorette party! Ica’s friends knew just what this DIY bride would love—a day of silliness and shopping at LA’s Renegade Craft Fair, followed by an intimate (and absolutely stunning) backyard celebration complete with pine-cone place-cards, wine-bottle centerpieces and lots of twinkle lights. Seriously, you’re enjoying the quirky-cool finds at the craft fair, day-dreaming about a lighted vintage ampersand of your own, and then suddenly you’re transported to a picnic wonderland.
A few words from the bride:
I’m a DC bride who’s blessed with a huge bridal party that lives all over the country. Two of my sweet bridesmaids from LA (Hope and Reinna) decided I should fly out to LA for my last “single lady” trip and threw me an unforgettable bachelorette bash. They know my crafty heart all too well, so the partying began at LA’s Renegade Craft Fair’s Holiday Market. As a DIY bride it was the perfect place to spend time with my ladies, get silly, party and even get some wedding shopping done. They dressed me up from head to toe and made sure I had a good time. While us ladies were out all afternoon, my dear groomsman Christian was setting up and styling an intimate dinner in his in-law’s backyard just for me. When we showed up for dinner I was so overwhelmed with all the prettiness, and all the love I was shown, I cried happy tears. The rest of my evening was filled with my favorite bubblies, my favorite candyies and cupcakes, a scrumptious dinner and countless giggle-filled bachelorette party games. It was such an intimate, one-of-a-kind celebration. I am one blessed and thankful bride.
You can see more images from the special day on her blog, Ica’s Images.
Uhm, these people are my heroes. After attending what seemed like a million bachelorette parties with the same theme, Sara decided to throw a different kind of party for her sister Melissa—a zombie bachelorette party. The boys got in on the action too, and the two groups spent half the night apart and reconvened at Minneapolis’s very own zombie-themed bar, Donny Dirk’s Zombie Den.
Sara shared some of her tips for creating your own zombie a-party-lypse. (Admittedly not my best pun.)
To start the evening, everyone got ready together at my sister’s apartment. All of the females dressed up as “Zombie Bridesmaids” by using old bridemaid dresses we thought we’d never wear again. Everyone destroyed their dress in their own unique zombie way—spray paint, shredding, dirt, fake blood, etc. All of the males dressed up as “Zombie Groomsmen” and similarly, they took old tuxes, suits, dress clothes and destroyed them in their own way zombie way. My sister and her (now) husband, dressed up as a “Zombie Bride & Groom.”
Everyone went all out on the zombie makeup. Most of us painted our faces with grey paint, had dark eye makeup, spray-painted grey hair, fake wounds and fake blood.
Here is Zombie Makeup 101:
I very rarely get to share real bachelorette photos, so imagine my joy when I saw these colorful, sassy images from an Arabian Nights theme bachelorette party held for twins Aa’isha and Aneesa by their older sister Raihana at her Cape Town home. The twins’ weddings are only two months apart, so she decided to combine the parties for double the fun. Candlelight and sequined pillows set off the gorgeous jewel-tone scarves and carpets draped into a hideaway to enjoy cakes and a hookah. The best part? For me, it’s a toss-up between the bellydance lesson and those silly and surprisingly sexy fake boobs. Those girls know how to rock a look!
Host Raihana dreamed up the Arabian Nights theme for her sisters and pulled it together with the help of her whole family:
We wanted the theme to be very sensual and sexy—my bachelorette party’s theme was “sexy exotic dancers” and we had a pole-dancing tutorial. We wanted the twins’ party to be as fun and it only made sense to have a belly dancing tutorial. My husband, father and uncle helped me decorate our living room area, and our cousins brought along some sweet treats. I found the fake boobs at a party shop in Kenilworth Centre, Cape Town.
Photographer and friend Shafeeqa captured all the action during the bellydance session…and the surprise dancer who showed up later:
The bellydancer was performer and teacher Tenille Lindeque (Feminine Divine Studios), one of the finest in Cape Town. I did photography for her previously and also joined her dance studio for a while so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Raihana had asked her for the evening. Tenille gave us a memorable performance followed by a tutorial, having us collapsing in laughter, pain, and breathlessness from her difficult moves! Snake arms, shimmies, hip circles, and more. About an hour later when everyone finally recovered, there was a knock at the door. Surprise, twins! It’s the next dancer, and he means business…
I’m so excited to share this beautiful backyard shower, complete with vibrant greens, pastel blues and plenty of chalkboard paint. I especially love the idea of personal photos with each bridesmaid commemorating the year you met! And I’m super-impressed with the newspaper bridal gowns. All of the bridesmaids pitched in to help pull off this DIY garden shower for bride PT, with plenty of personal touches—even a batch of adorable fondant pups.
Bridesmaid Kathy describes some of the preparation, much of which included finding creative ways to use thrifted pieces or items they already had on hand. (Kathy is also behind the amazing desserts!)
The bride and I drove around to various thrift stores and bought vintage frames to paint and turn into chalkboards days before the shower. She had the idea to add chalkboard frames to the disposable cups too, so that guests could write their names on them—luckily I even had cups available from a previous party. The cake stands for the dessert table were also thrifted. Another bridesmaid, Grace, provided flowers that were leftover from a friend’s wedding from the night before. I used those to fill my milk and sugar jar (also thrifted). PT had wanted a dog-themed cake and I thought, why not have her own dogs, Belly and BamBam, on it? Shih Tzu’s are not easy to sculpt from fondant! I also added sugar flowers to the cake since the theme of the shower was a backyard/garden style. Her wedding theme color was Tiffany blue, so I added a fondant bow in that color as well as in the trimming for the cake.
Venue: Pullen House
