Wedding Blog

Bridal Shower, Part One: A Ladies Luncheon
Bridal Shower, Part Two: A Family Affair

My third and final shower was hosted by my supremely spectacular bridesmaids. This bridal shower to end all bridal showers went down at my mom’s house, and all of my girlfriends were invited to celebrate with me. I knew the where and when, and I knew that it was a cocktail party shower—a shower “with a twist,” if you will—but that was all I knew. My ’maids did an amazing job of keeping the rest of the details top secret. Unbeknownst to me, my girlfriends had all received this flapperiffic invitation in the mail:

Guests were instructed to wear their “1920’s ritzy rags.” Invitation designed by the one and only SIL Cupcake

I was encouraged to wear my favorite little black dress (the same one that I wore to Momma Cupcake’s wedding back in February), but other than that, I was clueless. You may remember that the invitation I had received left many details a mystery:

When I arrived at my shower, I was greeted with a mysterious sign on the door:

I didn’t know the secret passcode, but luckily, they let me in anyway!

SIL Cupcake greeted me at the door as all of my flapperiffic friends looked on…

… Momma Cupcake immediately threw a bright pink boa over my shoulders…

And the party began! There were beads, boas, and headbands for everyone, although some girls came prepared with their own. The 1920’s theme was so perfect… in college I co-choreographed and performed in the musical Cabaret my senior year, so it was a nice touch that Liza Minelli (as Sally Bowles) was sitting atop my name on the invitation. I have a love for all things vintage and so many details of my shower reflected that!

I got my very own peacock-feather headband to match SIL Cupcake

Chatting it up with some of my favorite gals

me and FMIL Cupcake

There was quite the impressive spread of food…

…including a MASHED POTATO BAR!!!

I love any food with the word “potato” in it, so my MOHs Kelli and Nicole masterminded this fantastic idea. There were toppings such as bacon, cheese, sour cream, and scallions for the white potatoes, and nuts and marshmallows for the sweet potatoes. Lucky for me, there were also several pounds of potatoes to take home afterwards!

Matron of Honor Kelli found these great martini glasses at the Dollar Store! We used them for the mashed potato bar.

Me and my “mashpotini” (err, one of my mashpotinis that evening!)

As if the food weren’t enough, there were signature drinks, all named after little ol’ me!

There was even a bartender! I don’t have a picture of her but my mom found a bartending service nearby, and a fabulous woman named Coco made us scrumptious cocktails all evening. Coco made excellent Brook-a-politans and was very sweet and excited to be a part of the celebration.

Just a small portion of the liquor…. there was a lot

You’re probably thinking that that is enough food and drink, but we can’t forget dessert, now, can we? MOH Nicole made these scrumptious peanut butter chocolate cupcakes with chunks of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on top. Yummmmmmm.

She also made these sinfully sweet mini cupcake bites—the green ones are Oreo flavored and the white ones have red velvet cake in them. They were to die for!

And let’s not forget the chocolate fountain!

Would you like some chocolate with your chocolate?

In the background of the above photo, you can see an old black and white movie playing on my mom’s plasma… the movie The Roaring Twenties starring Humphrey Bogart played silently throughout the evening while we all enjoyed the party. How cute is that?! Those clever ladies thought of everything!

In addition to the movie, bridesmaid Chrissy had collected an impressive collection of music from the 1920’s, which played in the background throughout the night.

The fabulous Miss Chrissy

Old records served as coasters for the evening:
Of course, there had to be time for presents:

In the spirit of how gift-opening usually goes at my mom’s house on Christmas, I posed with many of my gifts, and even demonstrated how to use them:

Before my Nana passed away last month, she had given SIL Cupcake strict instructions to give me this handkerchief; it was hers back in the day and it was SIL Cupcake’s “something borrowed” when she married my brother. It will now be my “something old.”

And then, I finally got it… the KitchenAid stand mixer! A superb gift from my six bridesmaids.

Apparently I squeeled when I opened this

Somehow we got on the topic of old family wedding dresses, and my mom brought hers out for me to try on. Even though my parents got divorced 18 years ago, it was still pretty cool to put on my mom’s wedding gown! Believe it or not, she sewed this dress all by herself back in the 70’s. It was way less 70’s-looking than I remembered from pictures… perhaps because I didn’t try it on with the coordinating “veil-hat”?

Everyone took home these adorable favors — stacked envelopes filled with Prohibition era cocktails renamed for me, Mr. Cupcake, the town we live in, etc.

Created by SIL Cupcake, assembled with the help of Brother Cupcake. How sweet is he?

I truly could not have asked for a better evening with my girlfriends. I know I might be slightly biased, but it really was the best shower ever! My bridesmaids put so much thought and love into every detail, it just blew me away. Of course, I lucked out having a Matron of Honor who is an event planner and a SIL who is an event designer, along with such creative friends and an artistic mother, so that certainly didn’t hurt!

Here are a few more photos of some of the fabulous ladies who celebrated with me.

Friends and co-workers Maggie and CatMaid of Honor Nicole

Bridesmaid Chrissy

My oldest friend ever, Jill, and Matron of Honor Kelli

Bridesmaids Chrissy and Kim, Matron of Honor Kelli, moi, and Maid of Honor Nicole. Bridesmaids/cousins Michele and Coleen couldn’t make the trip from New Orleans but will be here for the wedding before we know it!

Special thanks to Kim/SIL Cupcake for most of the photos, and to my friend Maggie for being our resident photographer!