I know what you're thinking, "Didn't your sister JUST get married?" The answer is yes.. but that was my baby sister. Kelli, the middle child (heehee) announced her engagement a few days after Thanksgiving 2010. I think we were all a little shocked when she said the wedding would be February 11th! Tooty and I immediately started planning for the upcoming bridal shower in January.
We decided on a country vintage theme. Burlap, mason jars, and soup was featured at the shower! Here's a peek at the Desert table:
The "Sweets" table featured an ice cream bar with three toppings: M&M's, chocolate syrup, and crushed walnuts. Yummy sugar cookies topped with vanilla icing, strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries, along with white & dark chocolate strawberry cake pops were also served. Kelli's favorite candy is a sucker so we set up a cute dish of strawberry suckers.
I began collecting the pewter serving dishes from Mistletoe Market five years ago. I was so excited to find the same seller here at Christmas Jubilee in Alabama! I added a chips and salsa server to my collection at Christmas last year!
Don't you just LOVE that juice server!?!! Christmas gift from my MIL!
Don't you just LOVE that juice server!?!! Christmas gift from my MIL!
Keeping with the country vintage theme, the food table consisted of Homemade Chicken & Dumplings (thank you Momma!), buttery dinner rolls, cream corn, and a strawberry stand.
L to R: Flowers from my wedding in a large pewter vase (Goodwill $1.99). Pewter dinner roll stand- Gift from Tooty to add to my collection!! Large soup bowl with serving spoon wedding gift from Mamaw Tullos. Plate stand borrowed from my MIL's amazing collection. Serve ware stand from Hobby Lobby for $7 filled with baby food dyed mason jars!
The strawberry stand was my favorite piece of the night!
Topiary stand and kabob sticks (and patience) is all it takes. SO easy!
Much thanks to Tooty for having enough patience to make this perfect! ;)
Vintage Decor
I'm kind of in love with burlap right now and these "Sweets" and "Cards" signs I just adore. First create your desired font on the computer and print. Next, use an exacto knife to make a stencil of each letter. Last, center the stencil on your fabric and color in with a permanent (or fabric) marker. If you are creating a banner, simply place your twine along the top of the letters, pin and sew closed. That's it!
Tip of the day: you can use a Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon to buy fabric (that's not on sale) by the yard. I bought five yards of burlap at 40% off!
Dyed Mason Jars
I've been saving random size mason jars for MONTHS for this very reason! Using a couple drops of blue and green food color mixed with mod podge, paint the outside of the jar and turn upside down to dry. Adorable, right? The flowers were from the arch of my wedding FIVE years ago! I bought a pack of tea light candles at Dollar Tree and voila. Super cheap and chic centerpieces!
Games
#1. Mystery Toilet Paper. Ice Breaker.
Who knew toilet paper could be this fun? As your guests arrive, hand them a roll of toilet paper and ask them to tear off whatever length they think they’ll need. When your guests ask why they are tearing off sheets of toilet paper, give them a cute answer like, “We’re super short tonight and just want to make sure everyone has some before we run out!” Toward the middle of the bridal shower, announce that you need to borrow some toilet paper. Take each guest’s length of paper and try to fit it around the bride’s body. Whoever has the closest length of tissue to her bust wins!
There was A LOT of laughter as people joked about how they THOUGHT they would have enough, but didn't realize just how big...... ;) VERY fun. Kelli was DEFINITELY blushing.
#2. How well do you know the groom?
Poor Kelli. When she heard the title she was overly confident. She had no idea what the consequences would be when she got the answer wrong!
Double Bubble
If you don't know already, this is the BIGGEST piece of gum you can find. It's very hard to chew. With every answer she got wrong, she had to add ANOTHER piece of this massive gum. Poor Kelli. She got 3 out of 35 right. HA!!! Every time she answered wrong the room exploded in laughter. Mid game her mouth was so full she had to start over. She says we set her up, and admittedly some of the questions were meant for her to not know the answer :O. I would recommend this game to everyone. So much fun.
#3 Pass the Teddy.
Guests are in instructed to sit in a circle. Three wrapped boxes are dispersed around the circle. Then, tell the guests to listen closely as you read them a special wedding story (feel free to customize the example we’ve posted below). Each time they hear the word “right,” the guests must pass the gifts one person to the right; when they hear “left,” the gifts move one person to the left. The key to this game is to start reading at a normal storytelling pace. Then, as everyone starts to get comfortable passing the gifts, speed up! The faster you go, the more frenetic and hilarious the gift passing gets. At the end of the game, the bride will pick one person holding a box and they will have to go into the bathroom and come out modeling the TEDDY inside the box. Everyone will IMMEDIATELY get very nervous and try to leave the circle. *The room will explode when she comes out of the bathroom holding a teddy BEAR!*
Here's the story:
“[Insert bride’s name] knew RIGHT away that she had found Mr. RIGHT and the RIGHT date was set. Now seemed to be the RIGHT time to start so she LEFT RIGHT after lunch and went RIGHT to her mother’s house. She LEFT in such a hurry that she LEFT her to do list RIGHT on the living room table. But there was no time to turn back. She knew she needed to get started RIGHT away to make sure nothing was LEFT undone.
With only 24 days until the wedding day, there seemed to be little time LEFT to spare and so much LEFT to do. She asked her mother to WRITE down a guest list because she knew mom would make sure no one was LEFT out. [Insert bride’s name] LEFT to find the RIGHT invitations. On her way, she LEFT a message at the florist and then RIGHT into the bridal shop she ran.
RIGHT in the window was the perfect dress. “Oh no, I LEFT my checkbook RIGHT in the car.” “Hold that dress, I’ll be RIGHT back.” With that accomplished, she called Mr. RIGHT and LEFT him a message to call her RIGHT back. She LEFT to meet the florist who had LEFT her a message that they had the RIGHT flowers for her. Mr. RIGHT called her RIGHT back and said he LEFT a message for the preacher RIGHT down the road to call them RIGHT back and that he had just LEFT work and would be RIGHT over. She LEFT the florist and ran RIGHT over to meet Mr. RIGHT. RIGHT away they discussed what was LEFT to do. “Who will be the RIGHT best man?” She LEFT that up to Mr. RIGHT. “I’ll get the RIGHT maid of Honor.”
RIGHT away they started shopping for the RIGHT rings. With that done, the next stop was to order the RIGHT cake. Mr. RIGHT could clearly see his future Mrs. RIGHT was on the RIGHT track. After a long day, they were both LEFT exhausted. All that was LEFT to do was get RIGHT home to see if any messages were LEFT while they were out. Sure enough, Mom had LEFT a message that the church RIGHT down the road was available so she requested it RIGHT away. Now that was not LEFT to worry about. “Lets call it a day.” “Whatever is LEFT to do, can be LEFT until tomorrow.” They agreed and with a kiss, he LEFT and she went RIGHT to bed…”
People are still talking about how much fun this game was! Definitely recommend!
We had a GREAT night of fun, fellowship, and lingerie gifts! Thank you to everyone that made it a huge success for our future Bride!
I have a passion for party planning. I absolutely love planning, designing, and decorating for an event. Everyone keeps telling me I should do this as a career and I am seriously considering it! Again, thank you to everyone that helped me! It was such a fun night and we made some great memories. Love you so much Kelli. Can't wait until the wedding day to see you walk down that aisle!
Thanks for reading!
