.Bridal Shower Decor.

This past Saturday I had the honor of hosting a bridal shower for my dear friend Mandy. I was first introduced to Mandy through Adam's best bud in town, Kevin. The four of us clicked instantly and our friendship has grown tremendously in the past 3 years. Adam and I are truly blessed to have two great friends in town and we are excited to experience life together..

..have babies at the same time?! :)

Adam and I were able to witness Kevin and Mandy on their very first date and yes, we felt like total creepers. The four of us attended the same slam poetry night at a local college. We did not sit together but gave the hi sign to Kevin and sat a few rows behind them. We may have snooped occasionally on the 'almost couple' and every time we did, Mandy had the biggest sweetest smile towards Kevin. Kevin kept leaning in to talk and Mandy simply shook her head while smiling and repeated, "really..oh really," over and over again. Oh I how miss the nervous, excited energy from a first date.

The rest is history for the two love birds and on Saturday we celebrated their promise to God and each other. As one of her bridesmaids, I was eager to throw Mandy a shower and to make her feel loved. In this post I will be focusing on the "making it pretty" portion of the shower, the decor. I wanted the decor to reflect Mandy:

  Bright, Feminine, Fun with a side of Sophistication :)

Here is my Making It Pretty:

The details..

I shopped my house, my mother-in-law's house, and the Dollar Tree to complete the shower setup. From the Dollar Tree I purchased the table cloths (in Mandy's wedding colors), square paper plates, clear cups, doilies, styrofoam cups, and tissue paper. Total spent: $15.00. From my own home, I found my leftover wedding center pieces, twine, wooden chest, scrapbook paper, baskets, serving three tier dish, clear utensils, and an extra sterno serving tray leftover from our Christmas party. From my mother-in-law's house I borrowed a lot and ended up using her matching pitcher, creamer, and sugar bowl set as well as two of her silver serving trays and platters.

Setting up was trial and error and simply came down to practicality and what looked best! I used the doilies and twine to create the easiest bunting ever using only tape to hold it together. I hung the bunting in my large doorways as well as our hallway to create a nice backdrop for photos. Any extra doilies were used on the drink station, advice table, and under flowers on the main table. I usually tend to stay away from "girly" decor but I embraced it for this shower and surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it!

The lavender tissue paper was used to fill up my large clear vase topped with twigs from my yard and extra wedding flowers (another perk of using artificial flowers). It was also used to line the wooden chest and the utensil basket. I liked the lighter shade and how it popped against the deep purple table cloths. Scapbook paper was used to label the different foods. I copied the same technique I used here for my wedding. Adam printed photos of Kevin and Mandy (found on facebook) at his office in simple black and white and I arranged them in a heart shape for the photo wall. I am so pleased with how this simple project came out and the best part is it was free, just used double sided tape to stick them up! The "M" and "K" were created using one manilla folder, a pen, scissors, two large pieces of tissue paper, and hot glue. I wrote out the letters, cut them out, ripped tissue paper, glued the tissue paper onto the folder and voila!

I still consider myself young and a bit of a newlywed (when it comes to owning beautiful serving trays, platters, etc.) so I am thankful for affordable stores like the Dollar Tree and more for gracious people in my life like my mother-in-law. I mixed inexpensive with a flare of fancy and in the end, I feel like I successfully fulfilled my goal of creating decor like Mandy:

Bright, Feminine, Fun with a side of Sophistication :)

Tomorrow I will be sharing photos of the food, people, and the special bride-to-be!