Bridal Showering

The best part about throwing a shower back home? Access to church's enormous TABLE CLOTH CLOSET. The weird ugly lace that wasn't cool 10 years ago is suddenly beautiful. Exhibit A.

We've been all over your Facebook with these photos, but that's partly because my mom was COMMENTING on all of them instead of CAPTIONING them, and for that I want to sincerely apologize.

However...it was one of the loveliest showers I've ever decorated thanks to my mom's huge collection of milk glass dishes; fresh greenery from Chicken Shed Primitives; and a group of ladies from my home church who I adore.

Here's what typically happens when there's a bride-to-be at our church.

A group of ladies get together. They pick the date, put the details in the newspaper, and divide up the menu. They pick a cute theme, make up a skit/dance/song for the 'program,' throw in a personal devotion by a beloved Sunday School teacher, and make sure the groom comes for the whole thing because this group of ladies...they are a rare fun breed. The groom's presence is required so he knows what he's getting in to.

Josh was so confused about why he had to come to our bridal shower. He was actually kind of annoyed about it because apparently this is not how churches in 'the big city' do things. The group of ladies who threw our shower dressed up like us (Mollie circa 2010 wore a lot of scarves) and did a hilarious skit where 'Pretend Josh' (ie: Mark Pearson) wore cut-off jeans + tank, work boots, an an obnoxious sleeve tattoo. I don't remember the content, but I remember everyone laughing. Hard. You bring a farmer in to play the groom at a bridal shower...and it's GOLD.

I've helped with a bunch of showers back home, and this is still the typical pattern that is followed. It's a system that's worked for 30 years, why mess with it?

I've messed with it. But only a little.

Jamie walks in, sees this massive table and goes, 'Ohhh that's why she was so stressed last week.'
In my defense...wedding doesn't stress me out nearly as much as BLC does...together, it's not been a great combination this spring. Creating this beautiful table was actually the easiest thing about my week.

We used to give corsages to the bride/groom/mom's/grandma's. This was actually still the practice for our shower nine years ago. Something about corsages feels sooooo painfully 90's to me...when I help plan the shower, that part of the budget goes toward something else...like framed pictures of the couple, a creative 'guestbook' or toward a more expensive present from the committee.

The first time I was part of a 'shower committee' at home, I suggested the 'no-corsage' idea and I swear...there was literal pearl clutching. Bless it. Now everyone sees me coming and just assumes ridiculous ideas will ensue.

Ideas like using real dishes to serve everyone at Jamie's shower.

The collection of dishes my mom has started with my G'ma Lottie. It continued with my G'ma Rose, and then they gave their collections to my mom shortly after she got married. I remember this collection of white dishes rattling in our china cupboard for my entire childhood. A couple years ago when my antiquing obsession took off, I found that adding to the collection was really fun. The hunt was fun, surprising my mom with the new things I found was fun. Researching the different brands, styles was fun (hers is all a grape vine pattern, but there are many different kinds of that pattern!), and my dad even has fun scavenger hunting for more when he's with us. It became our new goal to amass a collection so large that it could someday be split evenly between Jamie and I. In the meantime, we try to use the dishes as often as possible, decorate my parents' whole house with them, and we have a lot of fun searching for new pieces!

Using them for this shower seemed like a really beautiful and unique idea. So we went for it.

Guest Book Table Requirements: Pictures of the couple, something creative to sign (we used the engagement Shutterfly book for the third time!), and blank envelopes to save the bride some time on thank you's.

It's always my goal to do something NEW when I plan a party or shower. I don't want it to be like I'm just repeating the same ideas over and over with the same stuff. That wouldn't be special at all. I do use the same stuff from my entertaining + decor collection but I'm always trying to think of ways I can revamp things to make it all seem new and unique. Or I borrow a couple things to add to what I have.

I start by thinking about what the couple likes/dislikes/enjoys...once I planned a 'camping' themed shower because that's what the couple getting married loved....once I planned a vintage-cowboy-themed baby shower because that's how the new baby's room was being decorated. There was the vintage-pinup-girl-themed bachelorette party and the book-themed baby shower. And then Mav's birthday parties...Woodland Creatures, Top Gun, and Train (and this year I'm thinking Dr. Seuss!)...all totally unique and perfect for the honored guest.

Did I empty my actual kitchen cupboards to haul these mason jars to the shower so the cute floral straws would look perfect on this table? Yes. Yes I did.

I like to over-plan things so then I can leave a little extra time at the end to kill myself with unnecessary details. While my mom and I were rinsing an insane about of dishes the day before the shower, we noticed 'Rose' in old masking tape on the bottom of two plates and quickly decided that should be some kind of contest. Whoever flipped their plate over and had the ROSE label won a cute little brown bag with a pink candle + kisses. Funny enough, the real Grandma Rose had her name on her own plate. We didn't even know where we put the plates and we also didn't know where G'ma would want to sit. What are the odds.

I also spent a couple hours sifting through Jamie's Instagram and screen-shotting every single picture she and Adam have ever taken so I could email them to myself, put them on a Word Document, and have my mom print them on cardstock. It cost next to nothing to accomplish and look at how cute the beverage table was.

Thank goodness the rest of the committee handled the food, because as we all know, THAT is not my department and mom helped me behind the scenes. I started the shower with a video of Maverick talking to Nana about Jamie and Adam, their jobs, and his ring bearer duties at the wedding, which was super cute. Then Donna, Jamie's godmother (and our 7th + 8th grade Sunday School Drill Sargent) did the devotion. Julie Maley came up with this idea for Jamie and Adam to bake a cake from scratch without a recipe, without help while we all watched! It baked while they opened gifts and then they had to eat it.

It was terrible, but my guess is, Weston Keil spent the better part of his week making sure it didn't go to waste.

This shower was probably the hardest I've ever had to work to pull off exactly what I imagined...and I wouldn't do it for just anyone. But Maid of Honor and Sister Best Friend are not titles I take lightly...so it obviously had to be the prettiest shower I've ever decorated. 

MmB

I've never used fresh greenery + flowers before and I AM IN LOVEEEEEEE. I couldn't stop taking pictures of how pretty each centerpiece was.

And then at the end of the shower, each centerpiece became a bouquet I wrapped in brown paper and sent home with mom's, G'ma's, etc. Just a more updated way to accomplish the old corsage idea. 

That Smallwood picture came straight off our bedroom wall to become shower decor. I also loved using the mugs we gifted them right after the engagement because they're adorable and perfect to drink coffee out of during brunch.