ellyn's bridal shower

the purpose of our trip home was to host a bridal shower and bachelorette party for my darling sister who is to be married in may.  as her maitron of honor, i wanted to be able to do this for her but am about at the end of my allowable travel timeframe (you know, since i'm due in 74 days and her wedding is in exactly 74 days).  everything turned out just lovely, thanks to the help of my mom, aunt, cousin and grandparents, not to mention ellyn's future-sister-in-law....they all made it possible and perfect and i was so overjoyed to see her face shine on her special day surrounded by her very best girlfriends and family.  thank you to everyone for making the day of celebration so special for my sister!  as promised, here are the details of the shower:
first, the darling invitations from marta writes
she came up with just the perfect little invites to send to all the guests-you can check out her design website here for your graphic design/paperie needs! thanks marta for the photo on your website- the shower had a lot to live up to starting out with these sweet little invites...

now onto the festivities ~ i got the vintage garden party theme from joyful weddings and events, you can see the post here.  since i was planning a shower for february in illinois, i had to make it feel garden-y while keeping it indoors...

the beautiful bride-to-be and her maitron of honor, her beloved beach cruiser and her new bike basket, filled with spring flowers by julie at growing grounds in bloomington, il.  there are multiple large mason jars all throughout the shower filled by julie as well. the perfect touch for the garden party.

in the entryway:  a fun photo of the happy couple on a bikeride, and two of my crafts: a welcome sign (inspired by a post on hostess with the mostess) and handwritten nametags on punched scrapbook paper.

 in the dining room:  mod podged mini clipboards inspired by m.writes (get a tutorial in her online shop) with bridal shower notes to the bride (that each guest read to her and the rest of the attendees before she opened their gift) detailing their history together and offering support and marriage advice to the bride. so sweet! free download of these notes in 4 different color palettes here at 100 layer cake!

also in the dining room: a tiny basket to drop off each guests' favorite recipes as a gift to the bride

a congratulations banner, written in hawaiian (their destination wedding will be on maui in may). i simply cut hearts out of thick scrapbook paper, printed the letters in a font i loved and cut onto smaller circles of paper, glued the two together and mod podged over it to give it a little resilience (am nervous about paper tearing but didn't want to laminate), then punched holes in the top and strung a ribbon through.  again inspired by m.writes and her diy party banner which i also made earlier this year - she is such a crafty gal!

and in the nook of the kitchen - vintage mason jars collected up by my dear grandmother and donated to the cause stuffed with homemade cloth napkins i cut and hemmed from cute vintage-looking fabrics. just cut 18 inch squares of fabric and hemmed around the edges 1/4 inch.  my cousin tied ribbons around the edges of the mason-jars-turned-glasses with leftover napkin scraps.  next to the jars and napkins are the shower favors - tiny tins from hobby lobby filled halfway with potting soil and planed with daffodil bulbs just starting to bloom from meijer.  we purchased little plastic bags to put them in, 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 my cousin alison cut out and stamped up for us like a pro. just added a little hand written note of thanks and there ya go!

and onto the food!

beverage dispensers from crate and barrel filled with lemonade and tea. we added fruits that went along with the flavors of the beverage to cute things up a bit.

there was a chocolate fountain station as an appetizer that lasted long into the party. unfortunately our chocolate fountain didn't cooperate so it ended up as a chocolate fondue station, but still delightfully delicious. oh those strawberries were divine! 

 the main food table which is only partially filled up at this point in time pre-shower.  (you can see a little table top square of fabric i made in a coordinating fabric with the napkins under it all)

on our menu:

mini turkey club sandwiches on hawaiian rolls

tuna salad sandwiches on mini croissants (awesome recipe for tuna salad jazzed up with cilantro and lime juice from pioneer woman's tasty kitchen here!)

fresh green salad

homemade macaroni and cheese (from the good old betty crocker's cookbook, but with velveeta-so yum!)

fresh veggie tray with mom's delisch ranch veggie dip

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and for dessert: homemade sugar cookies with grandma jan's recipe, frosted in pink and red and hand piped with sweet little sayings for the bride and groom.  white cupcakes with white frosting and white/clear sprinkles in sweet tulip wrappers found on etsy.com at Cupcake Social's shop (you can see the vintage table runner under the server i made in a coordinating fabric with the napkins).

now onto the fun!  my sister is such a doll and her friends are just darling. the day was made even more special by having a some family around to help celebrate her special day!

my sister's family and new family - the sisters, mothers and grandmothers, and there's the beautiful bride in the middle

ellyn and her four best friends - they go waaaay back and i know she was so happy to have them all there with her that day!  some of them brought photos from way back in the day and it was hilarious to watch them all rummage through the pics and laugh and tell stories and remember all the things they've done together through the years.  what a gift my sister has in these gals!

isn't she a doll? on the left she's listening to one of the guests read her shower note to the group.  my sis said that was her favorite part of the shower it certainly broke up the potentially awkward monotony of gift opening and made it all the more personal to reminisce about times gone by and receive blessings as she transitions into married life.  on the right, one of my gifts to sis - i found that sweet houndstooth apron at anthropologie on the sale rack. what a find!

here's the vintage suitcase i purchased on etsy.com from full circle home's shop.  the case is a place for her to keep all her cherished wedding keepsakes.  I found some stickers depicting the places my sis and her man have traveled together, including the destinations of their engagement and soon-to-be wedding to spice up the outside and covered the handle in thin purple ribbon i found at joann's to brighten it up (and the dark purple is a coordinating wedding color).  inside i recovered the top half of the case in the exact green fabric from j.crew that our bridesmaids dresses are made from.  added a few embellishments like an embroidered bit in the middle that says her new married name and their wedding date (thanks jen for making that happen), added the shower invite to the upper left corner with some paper flower details and inside there are also components of their wedding shower glued in.  what a fun project to gift to a girl who loves to travel.

after the shower her friends stuck around for a few hours of chatting and reminiscing before a limo picked us up and whisked us off into the night for some fun bachelorette party festivities.  thanks to all her wonderful friends for such a fun night!