Wednesday, August 25, 2010

“I do” Ideas: Bridal Shower

Z - I do ideasThis week, I thought I’d share a recent bridal shower I helped throw for one of my friend’s whose wedding I’m in in October. The shower was held at Cafe Nuovo in downtown Providence. (They also do weddings by the way, that are Gorgeous!)

Jess Shower

Since the bride loves Audrey Hepburn, we decided to do a Tiffany themed shower. For starters, we found Tiffany blue boxes from Accent the Party. We used them as both placecards and favors. For placecards, we printed out the names and table numbers of each guest and attached them to the top of the box. For favors, we put a pearl bracelet in each box.

 Jess Shower (2) Jess Shower (5)

On the placecard table, we filled oversized martini glass vases (you can get these at crafts stores like Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics or even Christmas Tree Shop) with Tiffany boxes / pouches and pearls to serve as decor. Those boxes are a great way to add a punch of color as soon as the guests walk in.

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At each table, we chose to display pearl & teal necklaces as the centerpieces. Along with each centerpiece, we framed a B&W picture of Audrey Hepburn along with a teal number to serve as the table numbers. Here they all are:

 Jess Shower (14)Jess Shower (15)Jess Shower (16)Jess Shower (17)Jess Shower (18)Jess Shower (19)Jess Shower (20)Jess Shower (21)

At each place setting, we put a “Bridal Bingo” for guests to play along while the bride was opening her gifts. The first guest at each table who won Bingo took home the centerpiece at that table. (Note to party planners: When making Bridal Bingo on your own, remember that EACH sheet has to look different. Something I had not thought about when starting to make them. You can use sites like this one or others that can make this game for you… much easier!)

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We also put a “Thank You!” bag of personalized M&M’s at each place setting. These are a fun way to add a pop of color to your table setting. You can order them from here and they are available in tons of colors!

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The whole table set up

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Some more Tiffany decor items we used to decorate around the cake table.    

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We had an absolutely fabulous cake courtesy of Sin Desserts in Providence. Besides making beautiful and delicious cakes, what’s so cool about Sin Desserts? Jennifer took pictures of the whole cake-making process so the bride could have the step-by-step pictures of her cake creation! You can see some of the photos on her blog.

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The bride wore teal and as her maids, we decided we would all wear black (like Audrey would) with pearls.

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The waiters at Cafe Nuovo served mimosa’s to the guests as they arrived.

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Cafe Nuovo also made menus for each guest (in our color scheme!) that said “Jessica’s Bridal Shower Luncheon”

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On the invitation, we asked all of the guests to wear their pearls to go along with the theme. Everyone participated; it was so fun!

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We did a game where we asked the groom a bunch of questions before the shower and then the bride had to guess what the groom answered. For every answer that she guessed wrong, she had to put a marshmallow in her mouth and keep it there! Since she did so well… After the game, we had a honeymoon bag waiting for her as her “prize”.

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We filled it with travel-size items she’ll need for her honeymoon as well as Mr. & Mrs. luggage tags and Bride & Groom passport holders! You can find all of these items at Michael’s Arts & Crafts Store.

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And that’s it; what do you think?! I’d love to hear any Bridal Shower themes you’ve thrown or seen; always looking for new ideas!