My Bridal Shower!

Well, it's official...the first wedding event has come and gone!

Saturday (June 20) was my bridal shower. I can't believe it's already come and gone, but it was so much fun! My aunt Terri hosted it, and probably around 15 or 20 lovely ladies joined us! I am so greatful that I have such wonderful family & friends! It was a great time, and I got an insane amount of awesome gifts. My kitchen will now be fully stocked!

All together Saturday was a great day. We started off going to Mama T's (my grandma) for lunch, like we do every Saturday. We were all so excited to set up and get ready for the shower! ("We" being my aunts, cousins, mom & I :) We have been planning this event together pretty much since last June :) After lunch, we headed over to my Aunt Terri's house to get set up...

This was Terri's gorgeous centerpiece. (If you can't tell - or couldn't have guessed - we had a gerbera daisy theme :)

Caitlin & Shelley both did a great job helping us set up. :) Shelley and I made the punch...it started out a little lumpy but luckily it ended up being really good!

This was the table set up...how cute was it!

And the fantastic cupcake tree...Handmade "G" toppers by Aunt Terri. :) I'm pretty sure this idea was Martha Stewart inspired...

Caitlin enjoyed some R&R while waiting for everyone to show up. If you look on the table you'll see the adorable favors.

Aunt Terri & I

Aunt Rhonda & IMom & I

We only played 2 games (I'm not a fan of cheesy shower games for the most part...) they were really fun! One was using this board, the guests had to guess how old I am in each picture. The winner was Cassady, one of my bridesmaid's little sister, with 4 out of 8 correct!The other game consisted of each guest asking me a question that had previously been asked to Matt, and I had to guess his answers. I was less than stellar at this one, but it was still fun. :) And the prizes were scratch-off tickets.I jokingly told everyone that all the winning tickets had to be given back to me :) but they all went for it! So I got like $10 in winners. (Where's that big $1,000 winner when you need it?!)

Like I mentioned, I got a ridiculous amount of gifts. I am so thankful to my friends and family...they spoiled me!! I couldn't possibly list everything I got with a picture (you would get bored..) but here are a couple highlights-

Matt's mom gave me a basket to "stock the pantry" with. What a great idea! It was full of all sorts of good stuff from spices to noodles to soups- all the essentials. I am ready to cook now! (something other than mac & cheese that is...)

I got the entire set of everyday dishes we picked out!! I can't WAIT to bust out those puppies. They aren't very exciting, but so much better than what we have, and nice and neutral. :)

The gifts I was most excited about came from my mom (not that I wasn't excited about all the gifts...they are fantastic!!!! I was red in the face and sweating by the time I got through them all...it was so much fun!). The reason I'm so excited is because they will get used at the wedding!

She got us our cake serveware set and toasting flutes that match our china pattern!!

Close up of the cake server...

Just can't hide my excitement over the toasting flute! :)

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the gifts I got. My kitchen is seriously stocked now...I have it all!! I sure wish I had a big 'ol brand new kitchen to put it all in...but ya can't have it all, can you?! :) Once we get back from our honeymoon, I will be doing a COMPLETE overhaul on my kitchen. All the old, hand-me-down, mix-match kitchen stuff is coming out, and I'm stocking up with all of my new fancy stuff. :)

Oh, and also of note - Matt's bachelor party was on Saturday as well! He of course took one whole picture, and it was of the golf course...go figure. But the guys had a busy fun filled day - golfing followed by dinner at Jack Stack, and then a short break before hitting the boats and the bars. It sounded to me like they had a great time! (But what would I know...) :)

So here we are, just a few more events and then it's the big day!! I can't believe we're less than a month away now...yikes! I'm getting really excited! I really need to finish up all these details so that I can enjoy the anticipation...rather than stress about it. :)

What a Weekend!

Well, this has been one successfull wedding weekend, let me tell you.

Just so I can gloat in all of my accomplishments over the past couple of days, let me share them with you... :)

1. Ordered the bridesmaid dresses. FINALLY!! I found them online at e bridal superstore for a pretty good deal (about $20 less than in the store) and went ahead and placed the order yesterday. So it's official...the bridesmaids will be wearing this dress:

(except the two bands will be chocolate to match the rest of the dress)

And my lovely maid of honor will be wearing this one:

I'm so happy these are finally on their way!! Now I just have to decide what the guys will wear...

2. Decided on Flower Girl Dresses. another FINALLY!! Jen and I have been going back and forth via e-mail for the past week trying to decide which dresses to go with. And we finally decided! The girls will be in Mori Lee style 533:

in coral, with an ivory sash (and it has an adorable bow in the back...at first I was weary of the whole bow thing...but it's grown on me :)

And just for fun...here are some pictures of the Cu-tee-pies just like I promised! :) This is them in a dress similar to the one we're going with...but not quite the same. Aren't they adorable!!!

3. My favor boxes came in!! Yay for craigslist!! As I mentioned the other day, I got 50 of these bad boys for $20. Not too shabby! They are a little tricky to put together...but I'm sure my MOH and I can figure it out! ;) Here's a (not so good) pic of the one I put together so far...

Seriously, aren't these the cutest little boxes ever!! I love them. And while I was at it...I took a fake Gerber I had laying around the house and made a make-shift favor box, going with the idea from earlier:Yes, I realize the flower is a million times to big...but you get the idea. These will be so cute for my shower!!

4. Mom is starting to go through old pictures for me, and scanning them onto her computer, so that they can be included in our Video Montage. It is so much fun going through old pictures!!

5. Last but not least, I ordered the first part of my bridesmaid's gift!! I won't post a pic, since I'm sure they'll see this post at some point...but just know that they are super cute, and I got them at a great deal! I love the internet. :)

So for once, I get to check a few things off the to do list. Now of course there are plenty of things to add in their place, but that's ok. Keeps me busy at work. ;) hee hee

Look what I got!

A while ago, I posted about these cute-as-can-be favor boxes that Sarah found and e-mailed to me...(if you missed that post, you can check it out here)

Well today I had yet another e-mail from my awesome soon-to-be-sister-in-law, of yet another great find! This time the find was on Craigslist, and it was these fantastic little chocolate brown favor boxes: PERFECT for our wedding's theme/color scheme. So I emailed the lady, and bought them!! 50 of these puppies for $20. I have no idea if that's a good deal or not, but at about 40 cents a pop, it sounded good to me!! We will probably use them at the shower (that my aunt Terri is SO excited to be putting together!). Honestly, I have no idea what they will be used for, but they were so cute and the perfect color, I just couldn't pass them up! There are enough crafty people in our families and in the wedding party that I have no doubt we will turn them into something FABULOUS!! :)

This was officially my first wedding impulse buy. :) I have held myself back thus far, telling myself not to purchase anything I didn't have a definite use for... let's hope I'm not starting a trend...

Cute Find!

Yesterday Sarah (Matt's sister) and I were emailing back and forth about wedding ideas, and she found these ADORABLE favor boxes that would perfectly match my gerber daisy theme...
I definitely think this is something we can DIY (do-it-yourself). Matt and I aren't thinking we're going to do favors at the actual reception, but I think these boxes would be super cute for a shower favor. :) Thanks Sarah!