Author Archives: Caitlin Kenney

A Lingerie & Painting Party Bridal Shower

For this unique painting party bridal shower, bride Jordynne and her guests started the day off with a painting class at Olive’s Mud Puddle, a sip and paint shop in South Carolina, where they each created a personal “Tree of Love” paintings. When Jordynne got home, she found a secret shower set up for her—Victoria’s Secret, that is! The house was decorated in pink and black everything, including plenty of bags filled with lingerie and a stunning custom cake topped with a stiletto. Phylicia of Posh Moments Photography was there to capture every special moment of the day.

An Antiques and Ivory Rustic Bridal Shower

The theme for this rustic bridal shower was antiques and ivory, incorporating lots of vintage pieces like typewriters and hat boxes with ivory letters, flowers and a stunning white cake. Bride Ali’s bridesmaids went above and beyond with their DIY decorations—her bridesmaid Nicole created all of the calligraphy chalkboard signs for the party, including a welcome board and a sign on the succulent favor table. My favorite special touch is the white roses Ali’s fiancé sent her, each with a tag on it sharing one thing he loves about Ali! Avonne Photography was there to capture this stunning rustic bridal shower.

Photography: Avonne Photography | Makeup: Nicole Padgett | Cake: Suárez Bakery | Chalkboard calligraphy signs: Joely Lane Lettering

Travel Bridal Shower Inspiration

A travel bridal shower is one of my favorite themes—it was even the theme of one of my showers. It’s a unique way to celebrate an interest of the couple, and can supply lots of great gift ideas, from honeymoon essentials to travel accessories to experience gifts like concert tickets or a weekend getaway. Start with your tagline…you’ll find three great themes below: Traveling from Miss to Mrs, Adventure Awaits and You’re My Greatest Adventure. Highlight important places for the couple, like where each was born, where they had their first date, where they took their first trip together and other important destinations in their story. Of course, globes and suitcases are obvious decor essentials. We especially love this idea of putting the cake inside a vintage suitcase—the effect is so chic. Check out more ideas for a travel bridal shower below, or on our Travel Bridal Shower Pinterest board.

Traveling From Miss to Mrs chalkboard sign, globe table decor, Adventure Awaits dessert display, bon voyage paper lanterns, map print cake, You’re My Greatest Adventure photo wall, succulent party favors in vintage suitcases

A Yacht Club Nautical Bridal Shower

Bride Colleen’s bridesmaids threw her a gorgeous nautical bridal shower at the Pine Beach Yacht Club. The shower included so many personal touches, from a hand-drawn cocktail sign (created by one of Colleen’s bridesmaids in a nod to her previous California address) to gorgeous florals from another bridesmaid’s family flower shop. The airy space on the Tom’s River in New Jersey was decorated with chic gold-lettered banners and each table toasted with a bottle of rosé featuring a custom bridal shower wine label. And we are fully stealing this gift idea for the football-loving bride: a jersey with her new last name on the back! Kelly of Kelly Sea Images captured this modern and bright event.

Bridesmaid Gifts Under $30 (That She’ll Totally Love Too)

Bridesmaid Gifts Under $30 (That's She'll Totally Love Too)

Staying on a budget with bridesmaid gifts can be tough. You have to buy x-number of the same item, which means the item itself can’t be that expensive. But you still want to get your girls something thoughtful, personalized and fun. These bridesmaid gifts under $30 (and most are under $25) will make your maids smile and keep you on budget too.

This personalized tote comes in black, pink, blue and gold, and you can even customize the lettering style. I love the rope handle detail, and how spacious they are. You could definitely fit a lot in this bag! $24.95 each.

You can honestly never have too many cosmetic bags. They are just so handy! In addition to cosmetics, I store jewelry, pens, and even tampons in mine when I’m traveling. I love the gold details on this personalized cosmetics bag, $21.50 each.

Guys, I’m kind of obsessed with these personalized sleep masks from Sleepy Cottage. This version says “SHHHH, Sleeping Off Tilley’s Bachelorette,” which you can obviously personalize with the bride’s name and the color of your choice ($22 each). But they have so many other adorable options! Can I suggest the Wake Me For Mimosas version ($15 each)?

Perfect for a bachelorette party favor or to stuff in a beach wedding welcome bag: flamingo and swan drink floats, set of 2 for $12.99!

This sweet botanical travel set ($29) has so much going for it. The bag itself if adorable, with a tropical fern print, and it comes stuffed with a soap and lip balm of your choice, lavender detox salts, and a skin rescue balm.

These personalized champagne flutes are perfect for mimosas as you’re getting ready with your bridal party! $16.95 each.

This post contains affiliate links. Ultimate Bridesmaid carefully selects our affiliate partners to only work with companies and promote products we 100% love. Thank you for supporting Ultimate Bridesmaid!

A Rooftop New York City Bridal Shower

For this New York City bridal shower captured by Jessica Frey Photography, bride Ariana’s friends decorated this New York apartment in chic style and treated the guests to a bubbly bar and a decadent charcuterie board. We love the pops of gold, like the fun metallic LOVE balloon that made the perfect photo prop, and the sparkly Future Mrs. cake topper. The ladies toasted on the rooftop with a view of the New York skyline, and Ariana’s fiance joined them for a few sweet engagement shots.

Our Honeymoon in Spain: Gava

We’re finally on the last installment of my recap of our honeymoon in Spain, and this will be a quick one. We spent our final day in Spain in the seaside area of the small town of Gavà, right outside Barcelona. We were only there for 24 hours, so you might wonder why I’m taking the time to devote a whole post to Gavà. Well, I felt it deserved it since Gava really surprised us! We seriously only booked this stay because we had an early international flight and were looking for a good hotel near the Barcelona airport. I found the AC Hotel Gava Mar, a partner of Marriott hotels, and saw that it was located right on the Mediterranean with what looked like a nice swimming pool. I thought, “Done. Even if it’s a crummy little town, we can hang out by the pool.” But Gava was not a crummy little town—it was gorgeous! Little did I know it’s a popular suburb of Barcelona where many of their soccer stars own beach homes!

The hotel was lovely, with a beautiful view of the Mediterranean, and the pool was aces. We spent some time both on the beach and at the pool, then ate lunch right off the beach at Coco Beach Bar—the food was OK, but they made a great mojito. We later walked literally right across the road from our hotel to an excellent restaurant called Torreon, which was maybe one of the best meals we had in Spain. So if you’re looking for a place to spend the night before or after your international flight, this is perfection.

Want to read about the rest of our honeymoon in Spain? You can find all the posts here:

Three days in Barcelona
Two days in Córdoba
Two days in Ronda
Two days in Granada
One day in Gavà