Gals&Wine: Emily's Bridal Shower!

Have you ever had the perfect party in your brain?

Along the way details get changed, there's too much to be done, wrenches get thrown into your plans, and a little thing called ~~poverty~~ conscious budgeting creeps up on you; It all leaves you wondering if the picture in your head will ever become a reality.

In a recent post about a Bridal Shower Gift, I mentioned that I'd been busy planning
a bridal shower for my friend Emily along with a very crafty-resourceful-fun-ambitious group of ladies: Jena (MOH), Carissa (Bridesmaid/photographer extraordinaire),
& Debbie (mother of the bride). And what a beautiful picture we had in our heads for the way we wanted Emily's shower to be! Her wedding colors are coral pink and espresso brown and Emily picked out brightly-colored vibrant flowers to really liven things up!

Here's how the shower turned out along with some tips along the way! Everything we did is incredibly DIY-able and for the most part budget-friendly; We couldn't be more thrilled with the way it turned out! (All photos courtesy of FABULOUS Carissa McClellan Photography! Visit her website here, and check her out on facebook here)

We went wit simple white table clothes (the paper ones with the decorative edges & plastic lining) and plain brown table runners (ALSO paper table clothes cut into four strips lengthwise! These runners were super simple, streamlined our decor and got a lot of compliments..). White flower and coral heart confetti broke up the plain brown runner, and we centered a large and small, ribboned mason jar of flowers on each table.

Side Note: Flowers are crazy expensive. We may or may not have used premade bouquets of pastel and neon daisies from Walmart (thanks Aunt Belva for scouting that out!). We also may or may not have torn said bouquets apart and picked our favorite colors. Additionally.... someone may have picked up some filler sprigs and already-opened roses (for a fraction the cost of a rosebud stem) on her way to the shower that morning. The same person may have also cut fresh peonies from a neighbor's yard while a certain maid of honor raided her mother's flowerbed.

Only one thing can be said for sure--YES that was me picking those purple flowers on the side of the road on my way to the church hall...

For favors, we bridesmaids spent many-a-night ~~guzzling wine~~ handcrafting these homemade bath fizzes. A pin paved the way to this helpful tutorial, and Martha Stewart showed us how to wrap it all up. The tags read:

From My Shower to Yours

Homemade Bath Fizz

Emily and Mike

2012

Em's not a huge gamer so we made many of the games optional, and included other things to do like bringing along a recipe card and writing a piece of advice or special message to the bride-to-be.

Each of us girls made up a basket to give away as a door prize... Lottery, Herb Garden, Italian Cooking, Home & Bath.

A lovely shower for a lovely bride. And the best part is that the party turned out exactly the way we wanted it to! And we managed to keep it all (well...most of it) a surprise from Emily.