NY Recap Part 3: Laura’s Bridal Shower!

After a wonderful graduation party for Connor on Friday night, I was up bright and early to get ready for Laura’s “Breakfast in Bed” themed bridal shower! If you recall from the handmade invitations, guests were asked to bring gifts for either the bedroom or kitchen to fit the theme! DIY name hanger and nightgown in hand, I got their early to set everything up at an apartment complex’s community center room.

Not only did we have hand-painted (by Laura’s incredible sisters) breakfast in bed trays, we also had gorgeous slippers for every guest to take home (or wear if they wanted to get comfy!). On every table we put a glass with a single flower in it (remember when you used to do that for your mom with a dandelion?) as well as a few candles that were handmade by my coworker. Naturally, we served breakfast/brunch food including mimosas, a make-your-own parfait bar, and an amazing vegetable frittata made by the mother of the bride-to-be!  Here are a few photos of the setup before the madness began:

When the guests arrived at 11am, we had them drop off gifts on a gift table and then make their way to a little entrance table.

Here, we had them self-address an envelope for Laura’s thank you notes (an incredible idea from the groom’s family) and fill in a blank or two on a secret MadLibs sheet. The shower started with mingling and once all guests arrived, we popped some champagne and breakfast began! Once everyone got seconds and thirds (yes, we all pigged out!), we decided to move on to gifts.  Laura’s sister passed out handmade bridal bingo cards to each guest, which contained items from Laura’s registry.  As she opened each gift, guests would mark off the item’s square if it was on their cards.  We had a bunch of winners, three of whom won breakfast in bed trays and the rest got to bring home the handmade candles.

With one hour to go in the shower, we brought Dave (the groom-to-be!) to the party for a modified version of The Newlywed Game.  Keeping things PG, we had prepared questions in advance and placed them into a bowl.  Passing the bowl around, we had guests take turns reading them out loud to the couple (like “Where was your first kiss?” and “Who is more likely to lose their keys?”).  Laura and Dave, who were sitting in chairs back-to-back would both write down their answers on a clipboard and would earn a point if they matched.  Simple and fun! They did a great job and won the fourth breakfast in bed tray (although we gave them first pick of course)!

To finish off the shower, we had secretly written all of the MadLib words the guests had suggested into a cute template I got from Make Merry Events.  I downloaded the template, brought it into Photoshop, and created his & hers versions of their vows! Since each sheet was populated with different words, we had a good laugh listening to them read the vows out loud to each other to wrap up the morning. So perfect and so so hilarious!

After some more mingling and cleaning up, I kidnapped Laura and a few girls and headed out to her secret bachelorette party!  The final chapter tomorrow… ;)

 

P.S. I love this girl.  A little history on the dynamic duo: Laura and I have been best friends since we were 2 years old.  Her mom was my babysitter all week and she spent weekends playing at my house! So we were literally raised like siblings. Throughout the years, we have always had separate interests and groups of friends but have managed to stay incredibly close regardless. I hate having her 3000 miles away but better that than not at all! I wanted this day to be so special for her because is truly a beautiful person (inside and out) and has done so much for me over the years. You’d better take good care of her, Dave! I love you guys and congrats on your bridal shower. :)