Hi everyone! It has been quite a while since I wrote, but I am back and looking forward to sharing more about my thoughts, ideas, and experiences involving event planning.
Several weeks back I attended a bridal shower for our daughter’s college roommate. (My last post revovled around a bridal shower too – you might think that is all I do!) It was a great event, but who doesn’t enjoy spending time with a blushing bride to be. Now I only knew the bride to be and her Mom and I thought I would not really engage too much since I didn’t know anyone. This shower was different for several reasons. I want to share those reasons with you in case you want to incorporate something similar should you have the opportunity to plan a bridal shower or any other type of party like this.
One of the reason’s this shower was a little different is the wedding is out of state (not a destination wedding but where the bride and groom live and work – Mississippi vs So Cal). The likelihood of the majority at the shower attending the wedding is slim. For that reason there was a larger than normal number of women in attendance. The hope was to give both the bride and the guests more time to linger together since she lives so far away and people would not be able to attend the wedding. And she actually did spend quality time with each person either as they arrived or throughout the shower. The invitation had a start time of noon but no end time – and now you see the reason why.
The atmosphere was casual, elegant and engaging. The hostess had 6 large round tables that sat 8, set up on the backyard patio (and darn I always forget to take pictures!). We eventually all took a seat and I met the people at my table. What a wonderful time to learn about the others at my table. Following a delicious buffet, we all took turns introducing ourselves to the whole group and sharing how we knew the bride to be. The stories were funny, heartwarming and as you can imagine full of love for the beautiful bride. The bride’s 5th grade teacher traveled from Arizona, her sister from the bay area, some cousins came in from Utah and I hustled up from San Diego. We learned of long, long, loooong friendships of both the bride and her Mom (elementary school friendships for both). If that doesn’t speak volumes to the character of the bride and her Mom then I don’t know what does! I walked in knowing 2 and left knowing almost 50!
The other wonderful thing the hostess did was to suggest in the invitation that all gifts be sent directly to the bride’s home versus bringing them to the shower. Since the bride flew into the LA area from Mississippi, the practicality of transporting all those gifts back on an airplane – uhh – not going to happen. The hostess suggested that in our card we tell the bride what gift she could expect when she arrived back home. Some people were so creative! Some incorporated the ribbon that was on the invitation (see above) into their card or gift! A few not only sent a gift to her home but brought smaller presents like kitchen towels, kitchen utensils, picture frames, etc that she could easily pack in her suitcase (or a 2nd suitcase). I found the idea of sending gifts to her home to be so considerate and practical.
There were no games – and those of you who know how much I like to play games and how competitive I am, can only imagine my disappointment! The time spent talking with the bride or with your table mates or watching her open the cards and gifts, her tears, her oohs and aahs, by far, exceeded the need to spend time with games.
So should you have the chance to throw this type of shower, remember the value of conversation, community, time and consideration for the bride getting all her gifts back to her home – where ever that might be. And by the way – I left the shower after 4 hours!
Happy Planning!!! What’s your next party?
“Once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.” —Unknown Author
Here is the recipe I provided to the bride to be! Enjoy!
Banana Bread
1/2 c butter softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 sour cream
1/2 chopped walnuts (optional, but delicious)
1/2 chocolate chips (optional, but delicious)
2 bananas mashed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease either a 9×5 loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans. In large bowl, stir together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture. Fold in sour cream, bananas and walnuts &/or chocolate chips. Pour into pan(s). For large loaf pan bake for 60 minutes, for mini loaf pans bake for 40 minutes. Insert toothpick into the center of the loafs and it should come out clean. Cool in the pan(s) for about 10 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack.
I love the part of attendees sharing stories of how they know the bride-to-be. That must have been a blast!. What a wonderful way to honor the bride by telling cute stories of her and sharing her accomplishments. That would really help those attending to get to know the bride better AND having something to talk about with other guests as the opportunity arose.
Me, being a paper memory sort of person, I would have had paper, pencils, pen, colors, stickers, colored paper and scissors to let each attendee make a page (or part of a page) for a “memory book.” I might even provide a page with “fill in the blank” questions for those not feeling so creative. LIke you, Jill, I often forget to take photos, so this memory book would be a treasured for years to come.
Pat – what a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Love your writings, thoughts, ideas, recipes, and thought provoking messages. Please keep them coming, and nice to have you back. Thank you.
Thank you Helen. Thank you for your support!