Real Showers: Outdoor Garden Bridal Shower

Having a bridal shower in a garden is fairly popular.  Once you see this gem from fellow blogger RubyEllen you'll see why.

Decorations-When you host a bridal shower outside in a garden, you don't have to do much in extra decorations as this gorgeous outdoor shower found on Cakies will attest to.  The host  lugged some of her vintage cafe chairs outside and made some flower garland for decorations.

Tip: Want to make flower garland for decoration? Find out how to make it here.

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Games-Instead of traditional games by itself, the hosts made a pinata for the shower, inspired by this one. However, this pinata was made with pages of a vintage book with some saying "Linda loves John" (the bride and groom) on some of the pages.

The guests then played the "underwear game." To play the game, each guests were to bring a underwear/lingerie gift that matched their personality and then  (the bride) had to guess who each underwear/lingerie gift was from. She did pretty well, but she did have 18 wrong guesses. The penalty for each wrong guess was one spin before hitting the pinata.

Favors-The host  made some red velvet cupcakes in a jar and styled it just like Martha adding calligraphy to the top of the jars.

Tip: Learn how to make cupcakes in a jar with this tutorial. Cupcakes in a jar make a great favor for many reasons-they're easy for guests to transport home and can be kept outside without worrying about bugs and insects getting to them.

 

 Want to see even more of this shower-head to Cakies.

Real Showers: Sex and the City Bridal Shower

It's hard to believe that  Sex and the City has already been off the air for years because it remains our of our generation's favorite shows.  And of course it makes a great theme for bridal showers-fun and flirty.  This Sex and the City bridal shower looks like it was a ton of fun.

 

Set the tone-The invites asked everyone to dress as a character from Sex and the City to get the guests in the mood.  Then at the shower, stickers that said "I'm a Charlotte," "I'm a Samantha,"etc. so that the guests could pick and stick on the one that fitted them the most. For decorations, there were ZookHooks purse hangers scattered about, an official Sex and the City movie poster on the sliding door viewable from the outside tent and tables, bright flower table cloths, pink roses and pink, silver and black balloons anchored by sexy pumps and stilettos.

The Food-What else would you expect from a SATC party then cocktails and cupcakes? For drinks they had a fountain bubbling out pink lemonade and vodka, which looked like Cosmopolitan’s when poured into a martini glass. (They avoided actual Cosmo's since the shower was during the day.) Wine and liquor bottles were also out and  had flower designed Wine-O cards around their necks for added decoration.  For dessert, Magnolia cupcakes and ones from Sweet were featured.

The Favors-This bridal shower featured a ton of favors-what a way to make the guests feel special. The first favor-Cosmopolitan jelly beans in a cool tin from Beau-coup Wedding Favors.  Yum-jelly beans that taste like Carrie's favorite drink! Next up was the ZookHooks quality purse hangers that were used as table decorations.  The next favor was lip balms from Pin Up Balm which feature vintage designs with a glamorous retro pinup girl on it.  Then, the guests were lucky enough to get a mini martini gel candle and a chic leather stiletto key chain.Love how the favors incorporated the SATC's girls favorite things-alcohol, makeup, and shoes!

Thank-you Gifts-The bride used her shower to give her bridesmaids a special thank-you! The gift-personalized bow pads from Good Thoughts Paper Co with their names on it and a Thank You written by the bride.  What a nice gesture from the bride.

What a beautiful bridal shower. To see even more, see Tara's blog at When Tara Met. To find out how to do your own Sex and the City shower, read our guide.

Real Showers: Indoor Vintage Garden Party

Having a vintage garden party indoors in February in Illinois can be difficult to pull it off but this amazing bridal shower featured on Hummingbird Tales did just that.  

The invites-the invites really set the tone for the shower and these adorable invites from marta writes are just the ticket.  The invitations really display the couple's love of cycling (and are just plain cute too!)

The Theme-The perfect touches for a garden party-a new bike basket for the bride filled with spring flowers by Julie at growing grounds in Bloomington, IL. along with  multiple large mason jars all throughout the shower filled by Julie as well. 

Welcoming guests to the shower were two adorable easy DIY crafts: a welcome sign (inspired by the Gossip Girl bridal shower on  hostess with the mostess) and handwritten name-tags on punched scrapbook paper. Of course a happy picture of the couple also greeted guests.

The next sweet touch-mod podged mini clipboards inspired by m.writes with bridal shower notes to the bride that each guest filled out and read to the lucky bride and the rest of the attendees before the bride opened their gifts detailing their history together and offering support and marriage advice to the bride. Best of all, the notes are available for free in 4 different color palettes here.  

Tip: Activities like this help break up the monotony of opening up gift after gift while also being an excellent way to not only get to know the bride's friends and family a little better, but also allow each woman to reflect on her own friendship with the bride-to-be.Cute idea-save the notes after each guest reads them and put them in a scrapbook with photos of the shower for a cute souvenir.

Another personal touch for the couple-a congratulations banner written in Hawaiian since their destination wedding will be on Maui.  The DIY instructions: 

1) Cut hearts out of thick scrapbook paper

2) Print the letters in a font you love and cut onto smaller circles of paper, 

3) Glue the two together and mod podge over it to give it a little resilience

4) Punch holes in the top

5) String a ribbon through.  

This was also inspired by m.writes and her diy party banner.

More finishing touches-vintage mason jars collected up by the bride's grandmother and stuffed with homemade cloth napkins cut and hemmed from cute vintage-looking fabrics. The easy instruction-just cut 18 inch squares of fabric and hemmed around the edges 1/4 inch. 

The shower favors-tiny tins filled halfway with potting soil and planed with daffodil bulbs just starting to bloom. They then put them in little plastic bags, stuffed some easter grass and candies in the bottom around the base of the tins, and tied a ribbon around the edge to finish it off with little squares of paper that had a little hand written note of thanks.   

Tip: Looking for ways to save money on favors? Take some tips from this shower-look for tins from local craft stores (here it was Hobby Lobby) and fill with flowers from the local grocery store. Or try our idea of a floral potluck from before and use the decorations for shower favors.

Food-a wonderful chocolate fountain station and homemade sugar cookies with the bride's grandmother's recipe, frosted in pink and red and hand piped with sweet little sayings for the bride and groom as well as white cupcakes with white frosting and white/clear sprinkles in sweet tulip wrappers found on etsy.com at Cupcake Social's shop.

There's even more to this beautiful shower including the creative gift given by the hostess here.  It certainly looks like it was a wonderful time and we can't thank them enough for sharing the shower with us. 

Real Showers: A "Chocolat" Chocolate Shower

Wow. This bridal shower that the author of the blog More than an Army Wife threw for her sister is great... and full of ideas for all of us.

The bridal shower was inspired by the hit movie Chocolat. Chocolate was the theme and they carried it out in every way.

The venue was Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery in Wrightsville, Pa. Look at the photo above to see the gorgeous venue. The winery describes its building as a "French Country Chateau" which really sets the stage for a shower inspired by a movie that is set in a "quiet little village in the French countryside."

The menu was chocolate inspired with items like:

Vegetable Display with Chocolate Yogurt Dip

White Chocolate Ambrosia Salad

Chocolate Soup with Mascarpone Brioche Sandwiches made with honey and cream cheese

Panini with Chocolate and Brie

Chocolate Fondue with Strawberries, Pineapples, Bananas, Pretzels, and Marshmallows

A chocolate candy buffet was a huge hit.

Even the games were chocolate inspired. They played four games: "How Well Do You Know the Bride and Groom?" quiz, "Guess the Candy Bar" taste test, "How Many Kisses Are In the Jar?" guessing game, and a version of "Don't Forget the Lyrics". Of course, the prizes related to chocolate and included a fondue pot, a chocolate making kit, and a chocolate spa set.

The highlight for most showers is the cake and this cake is no exception. Made by House of Claredon the bottom layer was chocolate cake with dalmation mousse filling (vanilla mousse with chocolate chips), the middle layer was french vanilla cake with chocolate mousse and the top layer was chocolate cake with Bailey's Irish Cream mousse. Sounds delicious.

For favors, the guests were lucky enough to get white chocolate covered fudge Oreo cookies with photos of the bride and groom, bride and groom chocolate miniatures, and copies of the movie Chocolat.

To top off the event, in addition to gifts, all of the guests were asked to bring their favorite chocolates for the bride. What a nice treat for the bride.

To see more of this shower, head over to More than an Army Wife.

Breakfast at Tiffany's Bridal Shower

The happy bride, dressed as Holly Golightly, proudly standing by her Tiffany centerpieces. Notice the little black dress, black gloves, and pearls. This shower looks like so much fun.
The cake-it looks too good to even eat. Classic Tiffany boxes with white ribbon frosting on the top. If anyone doubted before what the theme of the party was, this should clue them in.
The centerpieces-Tiffany boxes stacked on each other mixed with pearls and fake diamond rings.
Some more of the food plus a great photo of Audrey Hepburn. What a fun shower!

Real Bridal Shower: Mer's Baseball Bridal Shower

Ah, we are so excited to have our FIRST Real Bridal Shower. And what a cool theme it is. For this huge Red Sox fan, her twin sister (also her maid of honor) decided to throw her a baseball themed bridal shower. And judging by the photos, it looks like it was a great time. We think the baseball cakes above are a nice touch.


The happy couple showing off their MLB tumblers. Is this a rival marriage-meaning she's a Red Sox fan and he's a Yankees fan?
Even the drinks kept up the baseball theme. Love the cooler!
Possibly the highlight of the party-the cupcakes! These look too cute to eat. I can't believe the detail given to them-look at the red socks.

Thanks so much Mer for sharing your photos and your shower. It looked like so much fun.

We are loving this theme, even though we are Phillies fans. World Series 2008! Look for another post on how to do a baseball themed bridal shower for your bride.

Real Bridal Shower: Around the Clock

Elizabeth Anne Designs has a great real bridal shower of Emily's Around the Clock bridal shower. We love looking at real bridal showers and getting inspiration and ideas from them. If you want to showcase your bridal shower, e-mail us at realshowers (at) theperfectbridesmaid (dot) com.