Late Saturday morning, my mom and I hosted a bridal shower brunch for my sister! We had way too much fun planning the shower, prepping the food and getting a little crafty.
My mom and I really enjoy crafting and did as much as we could during the week or two before Leslie’s bridal shower so we weren’t too overwhelmed on Friday night. My sister’s wedding colors are peach and creamy whites, but my mom and I used mint green as an accent color for her shower since we know she likes that color a lot, too!
As everyone began to arrive, guests helped themselves to mimosas, peach sangria and citrus-infused water while we chatted away.
To make the peach sangria, I combined five cans of peach seltzer water, two bottles of moscato, 3/4 cup peach brandy and lots of sliced peaches. It was delicious!
I bought the mason jar mugs that served as everyone’s glasses at Hobby Lobby and the peach paper straws from TJMaxx months ago. I wrote everyone’s names on the mugs with white paint pen that could easily be scrubbed off after the shower so everyone could keep their mug and reuse it without their name on it forever and ever.
As guests mingled, they could take a moment to add a word of marital advice to the advice board!
I owe my contribution to the board to my mother-in-law who once said, “When in doubt, talk it out. If you can talk about everything you can work your way through anything.”
My favorite piece of advice on the board came from Leslie and Ross’ five-year-old flower girl, Ava.
When I asked Ava if she wanted to offer her advice to the bride-to-be and her groom, she said yes and I helped her spell her words of wisdom as she wrote them down. “Be nice to each other.” So simple, but I think we could all learn from that one!
We also had an informal game sitting out for guests to play that included old pictures of Leslie and Ross. I think everyone enjoyed looking at the throwback photos in this one!
Cutie pies!
After about 45 minutes of catching up, we were ready to eat.
($3 buckets from Target!)
Guests dug into an assortment of brunch food, including a yogurt bar, the most incredible quiche from Pie Heaven in Jacksonville (<— seriously unreal!), fruit kebabs, glazed doughnut holes, honeycomb and citrus goat cheese, whole wheat croissants and more.
We tried to label everything and keep a consistent look which was easy thanks to stickers we had made by my friend Allison who also made the adorable koozies for my sister’s bachelorette party. (Here’s her contact information, just in case any of you are in the process of planning a party and want some personalized items: portobluegifts@gmail.com. Allison is great!)
We had a few tables set up with super simple baby’s breath centerpieces. (We also had baby’s breath placed around the large room in glass lantern jars.)
The baby’s breath worked really well since we were able to buy it the day before and not worry about it wilting at all. Thank you to Michaela’s wedding for inspiring this idea!
While everyone ate, we played a trivia game where guests answered a series of questions to see who knew the most about Leslie. Three of her bridesmaids took the top three spots and claimed a prize from the basket of prizes my mom and I put together. Just incase you’re looking for bridal shower prize ideas, the most popular prizes in our basket included cookbooks, candles and stackable bracelets.
The next game was the hit of the shower: 10 Questions about Leslie and Ross!
My sister answered the questions along with everyone else and her answers served as the answer key. It was a lot of fun and we laughed pretty hard at some of her explanations.
Then it was time for presents!
My mom and I set up a cozy little area of the room where everyone gathered to watch Leslie open her gifts.
Mother of the bride + Mother of the groom! Random fun fact about Leslie and Ross: Both of our parents have the same first names!
I tried my best to fulfill my maid of honor duties and take down notes about the gifts Leslie received to make thank you note writing easy on her after the shower.
The first gift Leslie opened was a gift from everyone at the shower.
A personalized recipe box filled with recipes!
When I sent out the bridal shower invitations, I included a recipe card with them for everyone to fill out a favorite recipe to send back to me so Leslie and Ross have a solid collection of favorite recipes to enjoy together in the future. Leslie seemed to love flipping through the recipes and she received a great assortment of entree, appetizer and dessert recipes from the women in her life who love her most, including the women who couldn’t attend the shower for one reason or another.
Two of Leslie’s girlfriends, Allison and Christina, were super sweet and transformed the bows from Leslie’s gifts into a bow bouquet for Leslie to carry down the aisle during the rehearsal the day before her wedding.
My mom said she read an article where Martha Stewart advised using the bows to make a bow hat for the rehearsal which made all of us laugh.
No thanks, Martha.
I think the most creative gift award went to my mom who put together this “woman” made completely of household supplies including an ironing board, a mop (for the hair), an apron and more.
My mom and sister made something similar for my bridal shower and I thought it was so unique!
I gave my sister a random assortment of gifts, but my favorite item was the cheapest of all of them. Go figure!
Isn’t that mug fun!? I ordered the “I <3 RC” mug (Ross’ initials, obviously) from my friend Allison after I saw a similar one pop up on Kaley Cuoco’s Instagram account a month or so ago. (Yes, I totally follow random celebrities on Instagram.)
After Leslie finished opening her presents, everyone was ready for cake and we all dug into vanilla, chocolate and hummingbird cake.
We initially planned to copy this sprinkle cake and use Leslie and Ross’ wedding date on four cakes in place of the number 5, but the pastel icing and white sprinkles made it really hard to see the numbers on the cake, so we scrapped that idea at the last minute. Oh well!
We weren’t sure how long the bridal shower would last and were pleasantly surprised when we still had guests hanging out and chatting away at 4:30 p.m.
The bride-to-be with me and my mom and her new extended family:
(Ross’ sister-in-law, Ross’ sister, Ross’ mom, Leslie, my mom, me and Leslie’s future niece whom I adore!)
It was such a wonderful way to celebrate Leslie and Ross’ upcoming wedding, which is now officially LESS THAN A MONTH away! The countdown is ON!
Reebok ZQuick Giveaway Winner
Congratulations to…
- Phyllis: “I would choose the Foggy Grey/Purple Vibe/Pure Silver/White pair. I’m a teacher, and I would love to have a casual shoe I could wear at work from time to time. Thanks!”
Phyllis has already been emailed. Hope you love the shoes!!
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It all looks stunning!!! If I’m ever to get married I’ll be asking you to come to Ireland to plan it all for me! Seriously, you could have yourself a third job!
Thank you! It was a lot of fun!
Wow everything looks so beautiful! Your mum and you did such an amazing job organizing it all. Love the idea of that advice board and of course love Ava’s advice, as you said so simple yet true. I also loved your mother in laws advice.
That recipe starter idea is so great too. I can definitely see myself using that idea if I ever have to throw a bridal shower for a close friend.
Ohh wow! This looks like such a great bridal shower! I love the recipe card idea and also the initialed mug! So much fun. It all looks so wonderful! CONGRATS LESLIE! 🙂
What a beautiful shower! You & your mom did a fantastic job!
What a BEAUTIFUL and most important: thoughful shower! You are such an amazing maid of honor and this shower seemed perfecto!
SO FUN!!! I love shower season 🙂 Looks like your sister LOVED IT!
How cute!! And seriously, looks like you guys had fun with the crafting and it sure made for a beautiful shower.
Looks like you guys put together a great party.
Wow what a gorgeous shower you pulled off for your sister! It looks amazing and I am sure she had a WONDERFUL time! You are a great sister and maid of honor!
Everything is so cute! That peach sangria is on another level though, I have to try it.
Hope you like it!! 🙂
Looks like a beautiful shower! Two of my best friends from high school getting married this year, so I am going to need a lot of inspiration for cute shower ideas! Bookmarking this. 🙂
Everything looks lovely. I love the personalized mug– very cute!
I LOVE the recipe box idea. Family recipes are so special and something that she can keep forever and ever and think of that friend/family member whenever she cooks up their favorite recipe! We just moved into a new place and I framed a couple of really old family recipe cards (in my mom and grandmother’s handwriting) in shabby chic frames and put them on the counter in my kitchen!
Leslie is lucky to have such a great sister and mom!
Beautiful shower! I feel like name similarities are more common than people realize. My boyfriend has 3 older brothers (all married) and all of his sister-in-laws’ parents’ names are some variation of Jim & Rebecca. Then I came along and my parents’ names… James & Becky. It’s so crazy!!
Love your dress, and love the game ideas too!
Congrats to Leslie!
What a beautiful shower you and your mom threw for your sister!
Where is the I<3 RC mug from? I love it!
My friend Allison made it. Her contact info is detailed in the above post when I talk about the stickers she made for the shower. 🙂
The recipe box idea is so much fun! What a great way to remember everyone that was at the shower and try out some new recipes.
You and your mom threw a beautiful wedding shower! I love the little mason jar mugs and the color scheme!
Absolutely stunning party! I’m filing this away for future use….hopefully for my own baby sis in the next year!
I cannot say enough how awesome you are at party planning! The shower looks like it was fun, beautifully decorated, and made with lots of love 🙂 I’m seriously going to be looking back at all your posts like these when I plan for other peoples’ bridal showers in the future.
Leslie is one lucky sister, and she is just glowing! Your green dress is also stunning!
Oh my gosh, that is the PERFECT bridal shower! I hope I’m lucky enough to have a shower like that in the next few months!
I love all of the crafts!
Looks like a great time! My wedding shower will be this May and am looking for ideas to help with the planning. Thanks!
What a beautiful shower!! I love the color scheme! Crafting is my favorite…I am sad that I am not in any weddings this year because I love planning showers!
It looks like a fantastic shower!! I am soo thankful that you shared the details, I am hosting my friends in a couple weeks and felt utterly lost! Now I have a few good ideas 🙂
You guys are so thoughtful! The details in this all are perfect <3
Seriously, what a lovely shower! You’re right that mug is brilliant!
The recipe idea is SO cute. I’m stealing it!
You did an amazing job! I am hosting my sisters in April. What else did you give Leslie?
Y’all did a great job planning! I’m stealing a few of these ides for my best friend’s bridal shower next weekend. Your other posts on Leslie’s bachelorette were also really helpful. Thanks for all the ideas and thanks for sharing!
Now this is a bridal shower! What an amazing job! And all you ladies look stunning. I can’t get over how adorable that recipe box idea is…. Brilliant and so very sweet. I also need to replicate that white peach sangria for my next get together! That sounds way too good.
How gorgeous! You are so crafty and adorable. I am getting marries March 8th and love reading all about what other brides are doing 🙂
Adorable and full of love!
Where is your pretty green dress from?
Everything is adorable! You can certainly tell that lots of thought, hard work, and love went into this shower!
What a sweet bridal shower! And my mother-in-law and mom both have the same first names too!
Wow what an awesome shower! You and your mom did a great job 🙂 That peach sangria sounds AMAZING!
Such a beautiful and fun shower! I love all the little details 🙂 You are such a little party planner!!
Absolutely stunning!!!! You really need to be an event planner!!!! YOU have such great talent!
Love!! Everything looked perfect!
You guys did a great job with this!! I love that she got personalized recipes, that is a great idea!!
Everything is so organized and beautiful! The colors, the decoration, the food, the gifts, all the ideas are so gorgeous!! I hope my sister do the same for me when I get married 😀
the whole shower is so adorable- so Southern Chic! 🙂
Thank you!!
Everytime I’ve been a bridesmaid we use the bows and ribbons to create a bouquet (instead of hat lol) for the rehearsal, so that way when the bride is walking down the aisle at the rehearsal she gets to hold a “bouquet” it’s fun!
What a great shower…it’s clear you and your mom put a lot of thought into it! I love Leslie’s dress, do you know where she bought it? I’m getting married in June so I’m on the lookout for cute white dresses for wedding events!
Everything looks great…love all the details and special touches you added! Where did you get the glass lantern jars used for the centerpieces and tables? thanks!
what a beautiful shower ! I usually hate shower games but that photo game looks really cute and fun- very different!!
Your mom looks stunning! So do you, the bride, and all the guests, but your mom looks so great!!
Where did you get your green dress? It is very cute!