Tarra's Bridal Shower

***DISCLAIMER: This post is littered with pictures, but the day of the shower, my camera was MIA. All these were taken with my iPhone. I sincerely apologize for the craptastic quality.***

I am blessed that, being in the arts, most of the people I meet are also in the arts. Tarra, a good friend of mine, is an art teacher at the school I teach at, and her fiance is a glass blower. They are super awesome and interesting people. They are getting married at the end of June up in Maine, but we had a bridal shower down here to celebrate their upcoming union. My first thought was to do a nautical theme in keeping with location of the wedding, and I quickly went to work gathering ideas on Pinterest. The first invitations I wanted were these, but they weren't available when I went to order them.

Alana Grosse Designs-Etsy

I decided that I'd rather go with something a little less overt, so I went with these:

Party Darlin Designs - Etsy

Side Note: This etsy shop was fabulous to deal with...She was efficient, professional, and over all fantastic.


Most bridal (and baby, for that matter) showers that I have done in the past have been mid-afternoon and had just heavy apps. Since we had so many people traveling great distances for this shower, we opted for a 1PM lunch menu. The hubs has really taken to smoking his own pork BBQ, so I capitalized on his skills. (His pork took rave reviews-many people said it was just as good if not better than a local highly regarded BBQ joint.) The rest of our menu consisted of:

Appetizers: Cheese platter (Colby Jack, Cheddar, Marinated Mozzarella, and Pepper Jack), Veggie Platter (Carrots, Red and Green Peppers, Broccoli, Sugar Snap Peas, Radishes and Celery), and Spinach Dip with Crackers

Meal: Pork BBQ, Baked Beans, Macaroni and Cheese, Deviled Eggs, Caprese Salad, Cole Slaw
Dessert: Cupcakes!!! (White with Lemon Icing, White with White Icing and Strawberry Filling, White with Chocolate Icing and Filling, White with White Icing), Life Preserver Cookies, Yellow and Blue Jelly Bellies and M&Ms
 Drinks: Water, Tea (sweetener and lemon available), White Wine (Williamsburg Winery Governor's White-a local favorite) and Red (Williamsburg Winery Susan Constant Red). Since people have become notoriously bad about RSVPing, I had no idea how many people to expect. We had about 50 people invited, and about 25-30 showed up. The wine calculator I used said I would need 15-20 bottles of wine, but that seemed excessive. I ended up getting 3 bottles of red and 4 different 1L bottles of the white. We drank 1 bottle of red and 1 1/2 bottles of the white.

For Decorations, I stuck with the yellow and navy theme, with a few beachy accents. I already had a gold table runner for the dessert table, and used this as an excuse to buy a new navy blue table cloth for our dining room table. I stopped at Trader Joe's the day before the shower to pick up yellow flowers-my first thought was all daffodils, but they didn't have too many in stock, so I branched out to tulips and alstroemeria. While I love yellow roses, I didn't want anything quite that formal.

I also picked up a basket of beach shells and a few sand dollars from a craft store. I found these sailboat tea light holders (food table) and beach inspired lanterns (dessert table) online, and just had to have them. I could have done without them, but I really loved them.

You may have noticed I have a dining room table in front of my TV...I decided to do a drastic amount of re-arranging for this shower. The front living room and dining room were used for gift opening and socializing, while the family room served as the food and drink service. I just switched our (new) couch and the dining room table and things worked out perfectly.

 Overall, the shower was a fabulous success. I am so excited for Tarra and Sam's new life together, and I cannot wait to take the trip up to the northeast witness their wedding.