Donut’s anyone?

Hey you! Looks like you came back for more.

Great!

We are talking all things Bridal Shower in this post. If you have ever thrown a Bridal Shower, I am sure you understand when I say… These things are a way bigger beast than they seem at first. My mom and I threw a shower for my sister Steph, and it ended up being BEAUTIFUL! But that was not without a lot of meetings, and errands…and errands… and errands.

The theme of the party all started with this donut wall? I mean honestly look at how effing cute it turned out. But let me back up..

Steph was super fortunate enough to be thrown two showers. One by Jeff’s side, (Steph’s fiancé) and one by her side of the family. Being that it was my mom and I throwing her this shower, I wanted Steph to have full input on decor and activities, food and everything else. I tried so hard to hold back on my micro-managing,  but I wanted Steph to be able to have full say about everything being done. I have realized this about myself throughout this shower process (the micromanaging), and I am already sending out major forewarnings to all family and friends that my wedding planning will be a lot more meticulous. Steph is so laid back and easy going… I’m gonna need a cup of whatever she’s having to be that way for my planning.

I also should probably let you all know, that my mother.. or “Mama Deb” as we call her, is genuinely one of the most crafty, artsy people I know. I mean, she made the center pieces herself… and they were STUNNING! I like to think she is where I get my artsy-ness from. I am not so much crafty, but that’s what she is for! She makes our dreams a reality… moving back to the donut board!

When coming up with how this shower was going to go down, I channeled every other shower I have personally been to, and I took the things I loved about them, and the things I didn’t enjoy as much about them… and I created this shower.

Let me explain.

So let’s go through this step by step.

Typically when entering a shower, the first 20 minutes or so… there is an awkward lull of silence and standing around while waiting for all guests to arrive. I got you covered. Two words… Mimosa’s and Donuts. We needed conversation pieces! Everyone relaxes a little bit more with a Mimosa in their hand, so we of course had a mimosa bar with assorted fruit and juices. No brainer. But if you’re struggling to mingle with random shower guests, (and let’s face it, we have all been here) then enter a donut board. If you can’t find shit to talk about, talk about donuts? This worked like a charm.

It started with an idea, a white elephant gift, and an old frame. Boom! Success. My mom had an old frame in her slew of random shit at her house that she painted white. We went to Home Depot and bought peg board, and hooks. We found a garland at Hobby Lobby to accessorize our board and had a custom sign made! If you do not know anyone to make you a “Donuts” sign, have no fear, I have you covered. I found a couple on amazon, but specifically… I thought THIS one was adorable. We got ours made by The Henn House , along with the rest of our signs and shenanigans we had at the shower.

But before I show you what else we had custom made, I must tell you. Stephanie made every donut…. herself. SHE INSISTED! Trust me, I was willing to shell out some cash and buy donuts… however, Steph randomly won a donut maker YEARS ago in a family White Elephant Christmas exchange. This is random… I know. She felt it was in her duty to stay up past midnight the night before her own shower and bake over 60 donuts, with champagne frosting and edible glitter and pearls. I guess this is the culinary school student in her. Better her than me.. they were DELICIOUS!!

If you need a conversation piece for the arrival of guests at a shower, or any girly party in fact… a donut board is a must. Trust me.

Let’s move on to all of our signage. It was great! I didn’t want toooooooo much, but we obviously had to direct people. So we stuck with a Mimosa bar sign, and the donut sign. We also did a custom Mirror, that we bought from Home Goods to direct people towards the shower as they walked in. Such a fun idea, and super girly. Duh!

As our parting gift with the shower guests, we kept it very pinterest’y if ya know what I mean. We did custom, stemless Champagne glasses with the Wedding Hashtag. (Hashtag created by me, btw) #GettingCrazyWithMatesi (if you read the last name as Ma-tay-zee then it rhymes) and filled the glass with a nail polish. What girl doesn’t love nail polish? Okay thank you. It read, “Mani Thanks.” Like…. mani, pedi? Get it? Ugh! I know… I hate us too.

I guess we shall continue with elements of the shower that I found very important. Like;

NO GAMES

NO PRESENT OPENING.

You see… these are the two pits of any shower that I have ever attended. I cannot stand going to a shower where I have to be active, and wrapping someone in toilet paper to make a dress… Even though let’s face it, I would get competitive as shit in a toilet paper dress making contest. But NOBODY actually enjoys the games. At least nobody that I have spoken to. I felt very strongly that we keep the cliche games OUT of the shower. We did play a game between Steph and Jeff, it was exactly 6 minutes long and it was hysterical. It was the shoe game. Ever heard of it? Let me tell you in a nutshell.

Bride and groom sit back to back and take off their shoes. They each hold one of their shoes, and one of the others shoe. They are asked a gamete of questions, and if they think it applies to them, they raise their own shoe, or the other persons shoe if they think the question applies to them. It was really cute. I attended a shower for a good friend of mine, and they played this game.. I thought it was so cute and quick and funny. If you’re curious, HERE is where I found some good questions for this game.

The reason we played this game too, was because we did a “Sip and See” shower. This meant that Steph DID NOT open gifts.

THIS WAS THE TALK OF THE SHOWER!

Another element of showers, that I do not personally care for…… is the 3 hours of gift opening. AND EVERYONE AGREED WITH ME ON THIS ONE. It is so so so lovely that Stephanie was showered with so many amazing gifts.( No seriously, my mouth was watering over how many fun kitchen gadgets she received.) We simply put a little message on her invite, asking guests to not wrap their gifts, so everyone could “view” what she received without having to sit for hours, watching her take the bow off of spatula’s and glassware sets.

” So our time can be spent with the Bride-to-Be, please brings gifts wrapped to see. Clear paper works fine, or you could even wrap it with twine! We’ll put them on display in the most classy way!”

Bada-boom bada-bing! Sip and See success. So basically, we needed to fill the time when Jeff arrived to the shower, with our “shoe game”, being that he was not sitting with Steph opening gifts. I can tell you, Jeff was also very appreciative he did not have to sit and open kitchen gadgets for two hours as well.

Obviously, we wanted to bring in a Sentimental element into the shower as well. Something that people could do while visiting at their tables. On each table, we left a small piece of cardstock with pencils and a dish. As seen above, we did “A Wish in the Dish” and it turned out soooooooo cute. I loved what people had to say, and this is something that they will have forever to look back on.

I should probably mention, with having a destination wedding… MOST of the guests at Steph’s shower will not be in attendance at the wedding. We wanted to make sure they felt very involved in the wedding as much as possible. So in this case, where people would typically sign a wedding guest book on the big day.. we felt that this was VERY similar.

So there ya have it. A breakdown of the entire event! It truly was so beautiful. It was also so nice to see how excited everyone is for Steph at this time and how the families are coming together to celebrate Steph and Jeff!

But before we go, did you really think I would get all the way through this post without mentioning some Bridal Shower fashion?

Now see, there is good news and there is bad news. Bad news first…

The ombre lace romper I wore, is no longer being sold. It was from Vici Collection and I guess it was a hot item… because its gone. Poof!

HOWEVER! I have found some super fun lacey alternates. Have no fear, Kylie is here.

Steph’s Polka Dot wrap dress is from LuLu’s and it is so flattering!

(Let’s also scroll back up and have a mooooment for Grandma’s ostrich feather sweater. GOD! I just live for her.)

If you would love to hear how Jeff and I planned Steph’s surprise…. and I mean…. SUR-PRISE engagement, then comment below!

For now, I am off to start writing my Maid of Honor speech. (Gulp!) I AM SO NERVOUS to speak in front of 20 people… I know its pathetic..