B's Bridal Shower!!

Before I get to the exciting stuff, I first have to express my sadness.  Not for Whitney Houston (yes she was a phenomenal performer, but the second she went on record with "crack is whack" it was only a matter of time), but I'm mourning the loss of my Alienware laptop.  Hubby assures me that it MAY not be a total loss yet, but the screen keeps going black and we've determined its a hardware issue not software.  My laptop has been a faithful friend and photoshopper for 6 years.  You'd think it would be all excited- it got a new harddrive LAST WEEKEND!  But alas it needs some serious medical/it attention and the prognosis is bleak. On a much lighter note: B's bridal shower was Sunday!!!! It went off without a hitch :)  (what a relief)

We held it at the groom's parents' condo clubhouse.  It was a very nice space, but it needed personalizing and brightening up.  Here's what I had to work with:

It was a nice space with nice light and it worked out PERFECTLY.

It occurred to me as I was loading up the Jeep with all my supplies and decorations and food, however that I may have gone a tiiiiiiiiny bit overboard.  I also forgot my camera because I was running around like a crazy person, but luckily a friend and my mom came to the rescue (Thanks!!).  I just wish we had gotten a few overalls of the room before guests arrive, but I was shocked that they showed up early.  Who does that?!?! ;-)

We catered a few items and friends and family contributed the rest.  There was another table of food that I didn't get pictures of.  I should also mention, this shower was 100% gluten free.  B has celiacs disease and gets super super sick from anything gluteny.  She also blogs about her gluten free culinary adventures at glutenfreeboston.com.  I wanted to make sure that she could enjoy everything single thing at her shower, so I did everything in my powers to make sure Gluten knew it wasn't welcome there.

I think I've mentioned before, I do not enjoy cooking (that's what I have Hubby for), however baking is another story.  I decided to try my hand at gluten free cake pops

and creme brulee (since B isn't a big cake person).

They were both all gone by the end, but I got rave reviews for the creme brulee.  Playing with fire (to brulee the tops) was just an added bonus.  I also wanted to draw your attention to the food labels.  With so many food allergies of the guests (nuts, potato, crab, tomato, just to name a few) I like to make sure everyone can clearly see what they can eat or not.  I'm more excited about what I propped these labels up with: pieces of birch log freshly cut from my aunt's yard and spray-painted silver.  I kind of love them.  Maybe later in the week or next week I'll take a few and style them around my house.  For something so simple, they're pretty sexy if I do say so myself.

Paint sample confetti.  I think the guys at Home Depot were onto me though.

I'd be lying if I told you everything worked out perfectly.  A few of my decorations jumped off the wall and tried to make a run for it several times.

Oh well.  I really don't think anyone cared at that point.  (Notice some more silver birch logs snuck onto the mantel)

I'm the one perched on the arm of the loveseat- I was grabbing presents for the bride to be to open.

And here's the beautiful Bride-to-Be.  I hope you enjoyed the shower as much as I enjoyed planning it!!