Carly's Bridal Shower

Good news! My youngest son has found the girl of his dreams {and mine}! They are getting married soon & I had fun throwing a bridal shower for our beautiful bride-to-be Carly. 

Since I have a full time job now, I had to throw in a few time-saving strategies to pull it off. {Click the blue bar below to read more!}


One way I saved time was {*ta-da*} AMAZON. I ordered things like the sash Carly is wearing, the little acrylic containers for the dessert & the gold "love" balloon. The next thing I knew it was on my porch like some kind of pixie magic. Lifesaver! {PS - the love balloon is filled up the old fashioned way. It isn't helium. I used little plastic sticks to lift it to the height I needed.}

I also called in reinforcements. When my dear friend Colette offered to help, I totally took her up on it. She put together a perfect fruit tray & helped in the kitchen. My sweet daughter-in-law Kaela made some delicious chocolate desserts {even though she just gave birth to my grand baby! They are both angels.

We kept the food pretty simple: grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup (served in the little vinyl cups again), fruit, salad & the sweets. I purchased the salad from Zupas & everyone loved it.

I had to go to Costco anyway, so I just went ahead & grabbed some flowers while I was there & threw them in a vase. Their flowers are always glorious. 

We saw this darling "ring" made from cupcakes on Pinterest & I just had to have one. My friend, Kathy, who is a wizard with cakes, whipped it up. I just loved it. It was almost to pretty to eat . . . but we did. 

There WAS a little "mishap" with the balloons. (#FirstWorldProblems)  I went to the grocery store the night before to get them so they would be nice & fresh. Uhhhhhh - not so much. See the ones on the table? That's what I woke up to. Oh dear. I dashed out to another store & grabbed some more. It did still look kinda cool to have balloons on the table though. 

And then, let's talk about Etsy. I heart Etsy so much. I found this beautiful artwork at the San Francisco Crafts shop. Thank you (whoever you are) for making me look good with artwork for invites & fun selfie frames {which matched - she has other colors too}.

And, of course, because my boys were around, there were going to be shenanigans! {See below}.

I think I stewed about the favors the most. I really wanted to do some succulents in little containers. But I just didn't know how to find itty bitty cacti & I was worried about the time it would take to plant them. I opted for these little white buckets {3 for $1 at the dollar store - here they are for a little bit more on Amazon} with gold wrapped Rolo candy in them. 

What a wonderful day to celebrate a wonderful girl.

Christian & Carly - may you be blessed with a lifetime of love & happiness. We'll be here behind you every step of the way.