Bridal Shower

If you’ve been following for any length of time, you’ll know that I’ve been thinking (and writing, and podcasting) a lot about folk arts in the past year or so. I’ve found these sorts of “homemaking” crafts and practices to be the most wholesome way to connect with my heritage. It’s clear I come by a penchant for these mediums honestly. It’s in my blood!

So when my baby sister reached out late in February to let me know she’d be getting married in May, it felt natural and right to offer to throw her a bridal shower, to celebrate her with the mediums of our mother, aunts, and grandmothers.

And I can’t imagine a better season than early spring for this kind of project. My soul comes alive when the first flowers of the season start blooming (I am a little Aries fairy, after all).

After talking with Annie about a color scheme (we decided to match the dress she’d already purchased for the second shower she’d have in Arizona) and any foods/ingredients to avoid or prioritize, I got to work.

Of course, one of the best parts of project-ing is the vision stage. It lives in daydreams and Pinterest boards.

I knew I wanted to get every detail right for my little Annie baby—a beautiful, colorful ambience, delicious foods, the best energy.

And I want to tell you all about it!

THE CRAFT NIGHT

The whole thing started in earnest on April 10^th. I invited some of my sweetest friends over for a craft night! The whole thing had me reminiscing about going to Mormon “Homemaking” activities with my mom when I was a little girl – just making beautiful things with women from my community. Truly, some excellent magic.

We enjoyed Pizza (shout out to local business Summit Pizza Co.) and gorgeous pastries from my forever favorite Passion Flour Patisserie.

It was really such a special bunch. Of course, my true love Olivia Custodio;my mother-in-law Lorrie, and sister-in-law Megan; two of my wonderful students (and dear friends), Amy and Jada; lovely neighbors Erin and Kesha; my extremely crafty and creative friend Savannah Nicholes; and my friend and 10-years hair stylist + go-to HMUA, the one-and-only Shawna Turner! My soul is FULL of joy at this list of incredible women. I’m so grateful.

We had three projects…

Paper Roses & Tissue Paper Peonies:

Rose Template by Abigail Gillespie of Catching Color Flies, Peony Method by @Marvellous.mama.

**Note: Really my only regret from this whole project is that I didn’t plan ahead quite enough to order eco-friendly cardstock and tissue paper online. My in-store options were a bit limited. All things considered, this feels like a pretty tiny error! These flowers are so gorgeous.

And Party Favors! A little jar of Lemon Sugar Scrub (recipe by Sofia of DIY Beauty Corner) with a slice of dehydrated blood orange, a sprig of eucalyptus, and a cute little Kraft paper tag.

Everything turned out beautifully, and I really can’t say enough how powerful it felt to kick off Annie’s shower with some of my favorite women (and lots of help from Andrew, too!).

THE DÉCOR

I truly LOVED putting all of this together. I got to explore so many new mediums.

I wanted to create a main centerpiece for the mantle that Annie could take with her as a gift for her new home with Noah. Ultimately, I decided to make a pressed flower floating frame piece with one of their engagement photos.

Having never pressed flowers before, I got an assortment from Trader Joe’s to press myself, and also ordered a few from a professional (Aviana of Avis Florals and Gifts, I chose Style H) in case mine didn’t work. I ended up using a mix of both!

This was definitely one of the more nerve-wracking projects – so far from anything I’ve tried before! It was definitely an exercise in radical acceptance to assemble the whole piece upside-down. Luckily, it turned out so lovely! And I’m so happy that Annie and Noah will have something beautiful to display in their new space.

I incorporated more pics of Annie and Noah on the staircase and in the kitchen, as well. I loved using this eco-friendly chiffon ribbon (1.5 inch + 3 inch) and jute+burlap string. So springy and cute! And I’ve saved all the pieces for future gift-wrapping, etc. The photos are attached with mini clothes pins. And the paper + tissue paper flower arrangements are finished off with some dried eucalyptus. I’m so happy with how it all turned out!

I decorated the dining and gift tables with this beautiful table runner in marsala rose, as well as cheese cloth runners in Passion Peach and Canyon Clay.

This darling “Cards and Gifts” sign (as well as the front door Welcome Sign) are made by Erdem of DIY Printables Design (and printed by Jason, my trusty local Alphagraphics guy #goat). I LOVE how these signs look. The flowers almost look 3D! I’m also so in love with how these tissue paper flowers look on my regular front door wreath. Swoon!

I especially loved putting together the rest of the mantle design and Annie’s little throne. I already had most of these pieces around the house (I’ve been staging and decorating with these same silk flowers for YEARS now), and had so much fun arranging/sculpting this pretty combination of my tried-and-true objects with some more paper and tissue paper flowers.

For the banner, I cut the pieces out of kraft brown cardstock, and hand-painted the letters. And of course, I included a notebook+pen (for recording who gave which gifts, and for Annie to use as a journal during this first season of her marriage), and a personal stash of Cadbury eggs for my sunshine girl.

Savannah brought her cricut to the April 10th craft night and cut out Annie’s cute first+middle name. I’d originally planned to incorporate the letters into the pressed art piece, but ultimately decided to use them for a homemade card, instead. I finished it off with some of the extra pressed flowers. I love it so much!

A few other odds and ends… Some pink things from elsewhere in my home, finishing touches on the party favor display, and a wee little spring beastie:

THE FLOWERS

I have no official flower arranging training, but always love playing with flowers. This was definitely a stretch on my skillset, though! My precious friend, florist Kat Nix, gave me a little pep talk and directed me to local wholesale flower market, Ensign Floral.

Check out my haul!

I also added daffodils, lilacs, and hellebores from my garden. And made 12 total arrangements!

The Buffet Table Centerpiece:

Living Room End Table (this might be my favorite):

Lil Bud Vases (for Annie’s table + the bathroom):

These two sneaky cuties I tucked into the mantle display:

And 6 more littles for the dining table (3 per side):

THE MENU

And ohhhhhhh my heavens I truly cannot wait to tell you about the food. I am madly, deeply in love with this menu. I actually started by playing around with all of my existing platters and bowls to get the layout just right. Once I knew how many total dishes I’d need to make things look really full and beautiful, I dug back into the Pinterest board and narrowed down the recipes from there.

I knew I wanted three different sandwich options on the main platter. My heart was set on a typical Cucumber & Dill Finger Sandwich (so posh), garnished with fresh dill and celery spirals. Do you know about this trick? You just use a vegetable peeler to cut long strips of celery, then wrap them around a straw. Carefully remove the celery from the straw (while holding the spiral shape), and each piece in ice water for a few hours. Once they’re crisp, you can place them on some paper towels to dry. I think they’re so cute! It’s one of my favorite garnishes.

Annie was called to an LDS mission in Thailand (she ended up spending her time speaking Thai in Hawaii due to COVID travel restrictions), but I wanted to just give a little nod to that part of her life, so I got some fresh shrimp Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce from Sawadee Thai.

I sourced these gorgeous Mini Croissants from Passion Flour Patisserie (can you believe these are vegan?!?), and got this beautiful Curry Chicken Salad from Gourmandise.

The sweet standouts are this Blood Orange Cardamom Cake from Sweet and Simple Kitchen (garnished with dehydrated blood oranges and sugared rosemary), and these GORGEOUS heart-shaped Strawberry Shortbread Cookies.

The cake was actually so easy to make and such a showstopper. Of all the recipes, the shortbread cookies scared me most. I’ve never attempted a shortbread before, and the multiple components (dough, cookie cutting, icing, filling) really intimidated me. But the recipe was SO clear, and they turned out beautifully. They were soft and flaky, not too sweet, dreamy all around. I can’t wait to make both of these recipes again!

Note: I went to link the Blood Orange cake, and it looks like her website is down for some reason. But I have the recipe saved in a word doc. If you want it, I’m happy to share!

Let’s take a moment for this charcuterie board (officially “Charcuterie Board: Assorted Fruits, Vegetables, Meats, Cheeses, Crackers, Dips, Spreads & Nuts), shall we? I think this is my second charcuterie board. I’m still a little intimidated by them, but I do find it such an invitation for creative exploration.

This one features some long rosemary crackers on the far right and some date + rye crackers toward the top left; summer sausage on the bottom right, and some salami “roses” in the middle. There is also Tillamook sharp cheddar and some Blueberry Stilton (I don’t think I’d met a Stilton before, but this cheese was DELICIOUS). For veggies, we have rainbow carrots, celery, and sugar snap peas — just perfect for a spring-themed party. In the little bowls we have pesto, pistachios, dried apricots, sundried tomatoes, and fig jam. There’s a little row of sectioned clementines, and some celery leaves, parsley, dill, and blood oranges for garnish. I’m so happy with how it turned out!

And behind the charcuterie, you’ll see a little fruit salad (pineapple, kiwi, and pomegranate arils). I especially love this footed bowl from good ol’ Target. I think it’s so pretty!

Over on the other side, we’ve got some Melon Skewers with Mozzarella & Basil Vinaigrette, Green Goddess Cavatappi (I served mine cold, added peas, and topped with some grated parm and fresh basil…in retrospect, pine nuts would have also been a great addition!), Marinated Cherry Tomatoes, and Loaded Beet Hummus.

The “loaded” part is my original creation: olive oil, everything bagel seasoning, watermelon radish, roasted golden beets, homemade pickled onions, blueberries, avocado, goat cheese (grapefruit and fig), macadamia nuts, microgreens, and lime zest.

I also felt very abundant as I arranged the grapes and strawberries in front of the pita chips. Gorg!

And finally, drinks!

I made a Sparkling Blueberry & Lavender Lemonade. The linked recipe is lavender free, but I added 15 droppers full of lavender extract and froze some dried lavender flowers into these giant ice cubes. So pretty!

Of course, Annie got her own special mocktail in one of my FAVORITE pink cocktail glasses. I learned how to make this little lemon twist, and skewered some fresh bluebs on the cocktail pick for her, too.

And of course, an infused water! I used raspberries, blood orange slices, and fresh mint. And filled the dispenser with spherical ice cubes from my favorite little mold.

For serving, I got these compostable stemless wine glasses (made from corn!), these gorgeous napkins (the listing describes them as “degradable,” but doesn’t say anything specific about the ink…hopefully it’s eco safe, too!), these compostable utensils, and these compostable plates.

Since the shower was the day before Easter, I found it appropriate to include a little bowl of mini Cadbury eggs, as well.

Oh! And these beautiful menu cards are from Minty Paperie Shop on Etsy. These little details give me life. I love them so much!

A few more pics of the whole spread (they are all my favorite and I cannot narrow down further!):

THE PARTY

Finally, I want to give a shout out to Annie’s cute bridesmaids who handled invitations, games, and a playlist of Annie’s favorite songs (important). Oh! And also a little cluster of balloons for the front walkway so guests could easily tell which house to enter.

Here are some favorite pics of the bride (my little baby!), we two sisters, and a few other friends: