My 'Build the Bar' Bridal Shower

Back in July, I mentioned that my bridal shower was coming up and i was picking out dresses. It was so so wonderful and I thought I'd share with you guys some of the details that made it so special and give some ideas if you're looking to host a shower of your own. Shower 5

My bridesmaids asked me at the beginning of the summer if I wanted it to have a theme. I do think that its nice to have a bit of a theme to streamline the gift situation so that a smaller group of close women to you don't have to sift through your entire registry. Plus, we were still 8 months out from the wedding so Erik and I didn't really have a good handle on our registry yet. So I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned she had recently been to a "Build the Bar" shower and I thought that sounded like a great idea! Long ago Erik and I decided we wanted a nicely designed and well stocked bar in our future home so this was the perfect way to let our friends and family be a part of that tradition.

Shower Main

This week I wanted to just share some of the beautiful images that were captured by our talented friend Rebekah Gough that showcase the details of the day along with some links to the resources that my girls used. Next week I'm going to round up some amazing gift ideas based on what I received if you're looking for something to help someone prettify their home bar. Perfect as we approach the holidays!

Shower 10

Danielle, my Maid of Honor, blogged about the invitations that Minted so generously provided here and here which gives you a pretty good idea of the tone of the party. Perfect colors for me and just that right touch of whimsey.

Shower 7

Shower 4

The girls decided to do small bite and cocktail pairings and they found an awesome book called Tiny Food Party that they used. They made sliders, crab cakes, and teeny tiny churros. So amazing! Danielle found milk bottles at Ikea that matched the invitations perfectly and filled them with flowers from our local farmers market.

Shower 3

They also used this download from Jones Design Company to make labels for 3 bottles of wine: One for the night we get back from our honeymoon, one for our first christmas, and one for our first anniversary. Such a sweet idea - the gift that keeps on giving (well, for the first year, at least!)

Shower 9

Oh, and my darling fiance stopped by the end of the party to bring flowers for the important ladies in his life (me, his mom, my mom). He's a keeper ;)

Shower 1

Shower 2

It was such a joyful day, and it really was nice to be able to capture that summer sun as part of our wedding festivities since everything else will be late winter/early spring.

Thanks to all my bridesmaids, friends, and family to helped make this day so special and to Rebekah Gough for the amazing photos.

 

Outdoor Brunch Bridal Shower

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A few weeks back we showered the bride with an intimate brunch, lots of mimosas and wonderful friends. I produced the floral and a lot of quiche but Liz of 346 Living and Melissa of House To Home Blog did the rest! Doesn't it all just look so beautiful? Michelle, our lovely bride is now in Denmark on her way to Italy for her Italian destination wedding. I've been working on this one for a long time and couldn't be more excited to see it all come together!

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Wedding Shower Wears

My bridal shower is this weekend! I know that seems crazy because I'm not getting married until April. But in Seattle, when you really only get 2 months of solid sunshine, you want to take advantage of it. This will likely be my only outdoor wedding event, so we figured why not have it early and just prolong the celebrating. My girls have put together what I'm sure will be an amazing afternoon - I can't wait to share. Since they haven't let me lift a finger, the main thing I've been focused on is finding a cute dress to wear for the occasion. Originally I was leaning toward finding a pretty white or ivory dress, because I figure this is the one time in your life you can unabashedly wear white. After sifting through a few options, though, i just wasn't thrilled with anything. I went back to the drawing board and noticed that there are a ton of styles right now to choose from in our colors. So, instead of traditional bridal white I'm looking to pick up a summer frock that mimics the motifs in the pattern we had designed.

Here are a few of the favorite affordable options I've found and loved:

Summer Bridal ShowerSources (Clockwise from top left): One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Whats your shower style? Does it have to be formal bridal white, or can you get into the theme of the big day a bit?

A Bubbly Bridal Brunch

IMG_2035-001 A few weeks ago my girlfriends and I threw a rooftop brunch for our friend who is getting married in August. One of the hosts has an amazing spot in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood, so the backdrop was taken care of.

*Note the bus/boat going into the water in the background. We got to watch it drive right into the water about every hour. :-)

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch3

Inspired by our bride-to-be's french roots, we served dishes like quiche,  and, of course, kept the champagne flowing. Fresh peach and strawberry purees (courtesy of my new Vitamix!) made for colorful bellinis. It was a hot day so we also served french press coffee on ice.

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch2

Homemade quiche, apple french toast, cheeses, fruit, and fresh beignets. Delish.

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch

We decorated with pictures of the bride and groom-to-be. We also had guests bring a few pictures of themselves with the bride so she could go home with a little keepsake. In our world of digital pictures, it's fun to have a good, old-fashioned photo book!

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch1

One of our guests got married last month and had collected assorted china and goblets for her big day, which we were lucky enough to use for the brunch. My friend whose rooftop it is is also a hobby florist and arranged this awesome centerpiece. We tied the napkins with lavender and billy ball sprigs.

It made for a really fun day in celebration of a great friend tying the knot with her sweetie next month!

I can't believe I'll be leaving for my wedding weekend in a week from today. It has really flown by. See you all here next week for my final post before the wedding!

The Bridal Shower {Evolved}

I honestly cannot believe how quickly time flies. I feel like I just got engaged and well now it's been over a year since that happened. This month starts all the really fun activities leading up to the wedding. First there's finalizing our menu (with tasting!), my first dress fitting, and my first shower. It's all starting to feel really real and I am anxious to get it all started. When my aunt called to tell me she wanted to host a shower for me, I was giddy with excitement. But then she asked, well what kind of shower do you want? Umm what?! I didn't even know there were different types of showers. Well little did I know..showers have totally evolved and there's so many fun options.

Brunch Shower

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 Garden Party

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 Bridal Soiree 

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