Showered with love {what to wear to your bridal shower}

While my bridal shower is a good four months away, and there will surely be white and cream-colored dresses a-plenty as the weather gets warmer, lately, I find my fingers wandering to sites like Nordstrom, BHLDN, and Anthropologie to search for the perfect dress to wear to my bridal shower. Requirements are as follows: 1) Effortless (no dress is ever truly effortless, but it'd be great if it at least looks effortless)

2) Chic

3) A little something extra (my mantra for all things wedding....sequins! Just kidding...sort of)

4) Bride-y (a bit hard to wear white lace on occasions when you're not being showered, no?)

What you wear should somewhat depend on the look and feel of the shower, as well as the attendees. Lucky for me, my most favorite ladies in the world know that I like to sparkle like it's my job. So, I don't think they'll mind if my dress is a bit much for a backyard ladies' luncheon in May. Here are some of my favorites so far:

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Take A {Bridal} Shower

This Saturday was my bridal shower! I love this wedding tradition--getting to spend time with your favorite women, drinking cocktails, eating good food and having wonderful conversation. Ok, I guess being the guest of honor don't hurt either. ;) My bridesmaids did an amazing job putting the shower together. Tissue paper poofs decorated the trees and pottered herbs served as centerpieces. We drank bellinis while playing games and opening gifts. Isn't it pretty!?

Chances are, you're not only a bride but a guest, or even host, at lots of showers as well. In fact, I went to a shower of a family friend on Sunday, so it was a shower filled weekend. At each and every event, I'm taking notes for good ideas, cute decorations or clever gifts. Here are some of my favorite ideas and tips.

I think a shower should feel special. It doesn't have to be over the top, but a few decorations and games really make the event feel important. And when it comes to decor, I say go girlie! The bride is probably trying to keep the wedding sophisticated, so let the shower be vibrant, feminine and fun!

Or, how about making it a unique activity. How cute is this picnic shower?

Picnic Shower

I don't know about you, but I'm always trying to brainstorm unique gift ideas. Registry gifts are great, but sometimes feel impersonal. For a shower, why not give the bride something that she can use at the wedding! How adorable are these personalized hangers and signs? Or Kate Spade's gorgeous "mrs." necklace. LOVE. (Full disclosure, these were not my ideas. My Co-MOH and college friend gave me both the hanger and the "mrs." necklace and I just love them so much!)

Kate Space Necklace, Embroidered Sign, Personalized Hanger

One favorite shower tradition is the ribbon bouquet. You end up with such a masterpiece to use at your rehearsal! As I guest, I think you should have fun with your wrapping so that the bride has an amazing bouquet. How about cute fabric flowers or colorful string?

Ribbon Bouquet,Ribbon Bouquet, Colored Ribbon Packaging, Paper Flowers, Fabric Flowers

Tell me about your wedding shower! Any good ideas to share? I have plenty more showers to attend in the future! :)

Garden Chic Bridal Shower + Going To The Chapel

Today I am in Sonoma, CA getting ready for a wedding :) July 15th has finally arrived and we are celebrating the marriage of Melissa and Clayton. I thought this would be a good time to feature her bridal shower we had a few months back. On a pretty warm night we all gathered outside and cocktail-partied it up in honor of our bride! Enjoy all the details, as there are so many that you are going to love!

Photos by our fabulous friend (and my cousin) Cooper Falk :)

(I didn't make it into any of the photos due to the fact that I was overcome with sickness during the whole thing and had to sleep for a while before coming back! :( Sucks, I know.)

{Inspiration} Garden Chic Tea Party

My most favorite thing is getting e-mails from brides about design and details. This one came from Allison (@burlapbride) about a theme for her bridal shower. She was thinking Alice In Wonderand inspired and asked for some suggestions about how to pull off the theme without making it look too corny and little-kid-ish. So here goes nothing! As for the wardrobe, I am still loving every piece of this look from a Michelle March Shoot I featured a while back.

As for the inspiration board, I put together a sort of garden party chic look.

Credit: Invite, cupcakes, table number, centerpieces, place setting, teacups, chair, drink me, garden setting, tea

I love the idea of adding in a variety of pinks from fuchsia to blush as well as some robins egg blue and some other bold color highlights. One detail that shouldn't be overlooked at a tea party is the tea. These heart tea bags are the way to go!

Adding in enough tulle, ribbon, polka dot, and sparkle elements will be the deciding factor on making it whimsical. I tend to lean a little more toward "garden party" because I feel like that this is the one time when a table in the middle of the woods would fit the scene perfectly.

What do you guys think? Any other elements you would think to add to her inspiration board?

Psst: want me to draw up a little something-something for you too? Just e-mail me your thoughts and I will put something together for you!

{Sweets} Dessert Must-Haves

First off, thanks to everyone who has entered the giveaway so far! Remember, there is a prize for one bride and one vendor! So get going with those entries if you haven't already! Now onto some devilish fun....as we get to sit and look at all these desserts that we want to be in our mouths! But instead, we are dieting until the wedding. Shucks. Well, at least we get to look at the amazing shots of yummy desserts, right?

I know I have posted before about macaroons, and what can I say, I just can't seem to get enough of these babies. The colors, the shapes, the taste, there just isn't anything wrong with macaroons. I'm trying my hand at making home-made macaroons in a few weeks. I don't know how it will go, but I'll definitely have an update after I am done.

{Source} Macaroon Favor, Macaroon Cake, Macaroon stand, Macaroons

Whether you are making a macaroon cake, plan to use these as your favors, or are just offering them on your dessert table, french macaroons will just add that something extra for your wow-factor wedding. I should probably figure out how to add these into my wedding, or maybe my bridal shower??

{Source} Milk and Cookie Display, Milk Bottle, Milk and Cookie Glasses

Cookies and Milk. If you can make cookies and milk look like a gourmet dessert, then props to you. This simple, childhood dessert has really come up there to become such a unique idea for a wedding. Oh and milk bottles! You could do so much by adding milk bottles! So amazing :)

{Source} Small cupcakes, Tiffany's Treat, Cupcake Stand

And of course, cupcakes! These little mini cakes can be the most amazing thing ever! The options of decor are insane, and you could pretty much add them to any event and make them look epic. And is that "Tiffanys Treat" photo not the greatest thing ever?? It was for a bridal shower. The whole idea is just amazing!

{Bridal Shower} A Chic Brunch Affair

This board pretty much completes my life. I can't think of anything more amazing than a bridal shower brunch, I mean look at all the amazing options! I love the idea of mixing it up a little bit and doing a little brunch activity for the bridal shower. I feel like it is a little less-done and it gives a bit more of a reason for people to want to come. They know it is going to be an actual meal and even if it's boring (I am very much not a fan of bridal showers...) at least they will be able to eat :) HAHA. I want to create a classy little brunch with chic tablescapes and cute little favors. Nothing massive, but since I feel for all those that hate bridal showers just like myself, I am trying to create a scene that they might actually be excited to come to!

My Bridal Shower Must Haves:

1. Raspberry in each champagne glass full of orange juice {or any drink for that matter!}

2. My mom's homemade quiche {I'm obsessed!}

3. Crepes

4. Lattes with Coffee Stencils that say something awesome.

5. Lots of white and lightly colored flowers.

6. Box favors on each seat tied in a piece of light cloth as the wrapping.

I will have this list on my mind as the bridal shower gets closer and closer of course. And I will probably add a whole bunch more "must-haves" to it so I end up with the most incredibly {and probably way-to-fattening} brunch of all time!

What are your bridal shower must-haves???

{Treats} Desserts on a Stick

Remember the cake pops I made for my engagement party? Well, I made those myself! Turns out there is a whole slue of "pops" I didn't even know about! I was obviously quite excited for all the possibilities and all the new recipes I could try! Which ones should I try next? Since everything is better in mini sizes, these little treats are perfect for bridal showers, engagement parties, or just a Saturday night :)

{Source: Bakerella}

I happen to be a pie person, so I am super excited to make these pie pops. I think mini-macaroons would look just darling on sticks :) Definitely on my "to bake" list. Maybe I will expand out to all these items for my bridal shower, make it a continuation of the cake pops I did at the engagement party.

{Source: Bakerella}

Have you ever made any of these or tried them?? What flavors are the best and what did you make them for??

Psst: Let's connect up over twitter or facebook! I'm an April 2011 bride planning my Holman Ranch wedding in Carmel Valley. Thanks for visiting!

Bridal Shower Favorites

The bridal shower is an exciting time! Let's start with an amazing bridal shower invite such as the one I found from minted.com. You will need some toppers for your cupcakes, so try these from the pertyfultings Etsy Shop. If you haven't already, announce your bridal party to everyone and give them a cute "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" note like this from Print Your Party!

And finally, GAMES! I'm not the biggest fan of bridal games, but these new ones are amazing! A personalized crossword puzzle (from LoveSmartDesign) and games such as the Print Your Party printable version of the "purse game" (that I talked about playing at Lizzie's Bridal Shower).

Those are the basics of the bridal shower! All personalized and all inexpensive! :) Have fun-it'll be a fun day!

Lizzie’s Bridal Shower!

As you may know, Lizzie's bridal shower was this weekend! This is the first time all the Bridesmaids have been together in a very long time, so it was good to see everyone :) We had a little impromptu bridesmaid photo shoot which came out incredibly well!

Next up: Bachelorette Party! Then onto the wedding :)

She is so cute with all the details! She got the amazing sign and the cupcake toppers from Etsy along with a few other additions such as a strand of cloth flags. The whole space was beautiful.

Those cupcakes, which I fully made from scratch, were amazing! They had lots of coconut some chocolate chips and more coconut frosting! So amazing :)

And of course we did all the bridal shower things! We opened presents and played a few games. We did the game where you make dresses out of toilet paper, and we played a game called "what's in your purse?" I've never played it before, and it was super fun!

(How to Play: There is a list of items, if you have them in your purse you pull it out. At the end there is a points system with some items being worth more, and others being worth only a few points! At the end the person with the most points wins!)

All photos taken by the only guy at the bridal shower: Cooper Falk!!