Last few weeks, part 2

Another part of my vacation time was being a bridesmaid in my step-sister's wedding. My sister had the honor of being the matron of honor and enlisted my help with the bridal shower. We had the shower the day before the wedding because our family and her friends were spread all over the country...we thought it would just be easier that way.

A few years ago we went to a bridal shower that had a "traditions" theme and thought it was a very good idea. Basically, instead of random kitchen equipment or sexy panties, you give a gift that has meaning to you and your family so that the new couple can use it to make a tradition with their family. My gift was an ice cream maker with the idea that our family makes ice cream every 4th of July. My sister gave grilling equipment because her and her husband grill basically everything, get it?

Her colors were wine and gold, the wedding invites had mason jars on them, so my sister and I made these as decorations and party favors...

We wrapped mason jars with coordinating ribbon and put a chalk sticker for names...what a time saver!! I think if you had the time, painting chalk board paint on the jars would be cheaper. The stickers were very easy tho (but I'm not sure of the wash-ability...). The lips and mustaches were part of a game - we asked the bride and groom the same questions. The game was to say only one of the answers and the guests were to decide who said what. This game seemed to be particularly tricky for us as the couple had MANY answers that were the same...a testament to their compatibility but not so great for a game...if I were to do this in the future, I would asked different questions to the bride and groom and play it off that I asked the same questions...yes, I would cheat!!!

For these jars we used 2 ribbons and filled with rose petals. I think they turned out really nice.
 

Here's the overall look of the place...I think we did a great job!!

Another view. The cards on the back of the chairs were a game called "Who has the groom?"

Here's what the cards look like. I drew out the suit jackets on black paper and cut them out. The heads are from magazines. I got this idea from Pinterest, of course, but they had the celeb's name on them. This is the bride's shower and we are looking for her future husband, so I put her married name on all of them...also, these were greeting cards, so we had the guests write well wishes or advice on the inside. The groom's pic was from Facebook.

Here's another view of the decorations. We really were not sure what we were going to get in terms of the space, but it turned out wonderfully!! A big thanks to the mother of the bride (i.e. my step-mom), my sister and the friends and family that helped make this event such a big success.