Wedding shower

Sunday was our wedding shower!  It was awesome!  Twenty-six people came, plus six kidlets.  My aunt hosted it, BBQ style as we discussed.  I think the guys were far more comfortable than they expected to be.  Successful co-ed shower!

There were so many cute touches, from my aunt’s towel cake:

(…which contained two wash cloths, 2 hand towels, and 2 bath towels!)

…to the sweet sign (containing a pic we have no recollection of ever being taken, lol):

…to the ADORABLE Beau Coup favors (BBQ sauce and chocolates!):

She really outdid herself.  My bridesmaids led the group in a couple of games: make as many words as you can from Simon’s and my names, and a wedding word scramble, and gave out prizes to the winners.  They also had an egg timer going while we opened presents, and whoever’s present we were opening when it dinged, got a prize!  So cute.

My aunt’s house is right on the water and made for many great photos, like this one:

We also practiced our wedding cake cutting!

We had a blast.  It was such a perfect day.

I just have to share my latest DIY projects, my wedding arch:

…and my old family wedding gowns:

 

 

The wedding arch is something I had been dreading, because I do NOT sew.  I finally buckled down and did it, pricking my finger about a dozen times.  But it’s done!  And I love it!  We will have to disassemble it for transport, but the cloth all stays attached thank goodness.

The wedding gowns idea I got from some bride on Twitter (I forget who, sorry or I’d give you credit!).  I have my mom’s gown from 1975 and my great aunt’s gown from around 1940.  I called Simon’s mom and she says she has her gown (but it can’t be found at the moment, which may be a problem).  Display them on mannequins at the reception, and voila! Instant conversation pieces.  I just recently got the idea to make some “displays” at the reception, as it IS in a museum!  I have old pics of Simon and I and our siblings, and our parents’ wedding pics:

Each will be accompanied by a little display of facts about the picture or gown.  I love how it ties into the venue; it’s the little touch I’ve been searching for to make our wedding unique!  Plus, my ever-present problem of how to entertain people with no dancing.  I’m also displaying the scrapbook I mentioned last week.  I think that’s enough at this point. I’m trying not to add any new projects, since the wedding is just over FIFTY days away! OMG!

Also, happy 3-year anniversary to my sweet, handsome, wonderful fiancé Simon!  I love you baby, this has been the best three years of my life!

Which bridal bouquet do you like better?

I worked long and hard on my bouquets recently.  Ran out of ribbon and had to buy more.  Each bouquet took about 3 yards of ribbon to wrap the stems!  So here are the three bridesmaid bouquets:

The yellow one is Beth’s, the orange one is Allie’s, and the red one is my sister Katy’s, as maid of honor.  I put the white rose in the middle of hers to make it more distinct.  So I can’t decide whether to have a little burst of those colors in the middle of my bouquet:

…or keep it all traditional bridal white:

Thoughts?

Simon and I are casual people.  I enjoy the occasional fancy get-together, but in general we’re very laid-back.  I knew when my aunt asked me about my shower that I wanted it to be co-ed, as it’s Simon’s wedding too!  And with guys there, you don’t want anything too frilly, so I requested a BBQ.  I received the official invitation recently, and it’s super sweet.  So of course I needed a new dress, even though it’s casual, because that’s me!  ;)  I went shopping at Kohl’s with a cute pair of new shoes to match it to: aqua wedge espadrilles.  I ended up with this adorable number:

It’s far trendier than my usual style, so it was something fun and different.  It was $60, marked down to $45, then I had a $10 coupon.  Woot!  I love it.  I even bought Spanx and a bandeau bra to go under it so it looks even better, lol.

In other news, I’m officially down 30 lbs. total, woo hoo!  Hoping for another 10 by the wedding.  My first gown fitting is Thursday, so pretty much while you’re reading this blog.  I can’t wait!  I miss my gown!

Oh my...that's a lotta wedding stationery...

Last Thursday night, I sat down to this monstrous pile of stationery:

I had invitations, their envelopes, RSVP cards, their envelopes, museum tickets, inserts explaining the museum tickets, their envelopes, return address labels, guest address labels, and stickers to seal the back of the whole thing. Whew!

It took a little while just to get myself organized, then I went at it. It took me that evening and part of the next day, but I got them all together:

All neat and pretty. I mailed them out Tuesday, July 6, so they'll arrive just about 3 months before the wedding. I know I'm pretty early, but I have so many out of state guests that I want to give them plenty of time.

My aunt asked me the other day what I want to do about my shower. I decided on a co-ed wedding shower, rather than an all-girls bridal shower. I always thought that was a bit silly, to leave the groom out. It's his wedding too! So we started debating dates, but then I remembered Simon's mom is having her other hip replaced in August. She has to be there! So I called her and found out it's August 16. To make things more complicated, Simon's dad works in PA for 2 weeks, then works from home in CT for 2 weeks, so we need to try and do it while he's home. We need to call him and confirm, but it looks like the only weekend we can do it is August 14-15. We're just going to do a simple BBQ at someone's house. My aunt is taking care of all the details, which is a relief (and a bit obvious, as we can't throw it ourselves!). I just emailed her a list of names and addresses. And the best part is, that's right before our 3 year anniversary, August 18! The last “dating” anniversary we'll celebrate. How time flies!