Weddingbee Blog

Last week, I told you about my fantabulous shower, hosted by MOH/sister and my bridesmaids. I had the easiest responsibility - just show up (I aced that one). But a lot of preparation took place beforehand, the details of which I thought might be helpful for you bridesmaids, brides and interested friends. So keep reading for Sister Hamster’s behind-the-scenes glimpse into planning a ham-tastic shower!

No, not that kind of Hamster shower, silly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sis Hamster: Hey, can we play toilet paper bride at my baby shower?

Miss Hamster: Um, if you want, but why?

Sis Hamster: Wouldn’t it be awesome to have five extremely pregnant toilet paper brides? And we’d get such good use out of those balloons we ordered!

Miss Hamster: **polite pause** I’ll think about it…

Thus began my planning for Miss Hamster’s own bridal shower, though 1) She wasn’t yet engaged, 2) I wasn’t assured the MOH position, and 3) I was due to deliver a baby in mere weeks.

Well, my gorgeous son arrived, as did Mr. Hammy’s perfect proposal/ring combo and my MOH offer (phew). Now all I had to do was build a bridal shower around a pregnant toilet paper bride.

My vision, realized.

I made two lists:

1. Things that Miss Hamster likes: Cheese, laughing, cupcakes, pretty paper. Easy enough.

2. Things that she doesn’t like: Direct attention, people in fruit or animal costumes, and publicly acknowledging anything risque or suggestive in front of family or strangers.

This put more of a hamper on bachelorette party planning, but still, what’s a shower without a grown man dressed as a banana?

Me at my bridal shower. No, just kidding. Me at my son’s Baptism.

The BMs and I ran through a few NYC restaurants featuring cheese and amenable to TP Bride.

We finally chose Bar Artisanal for a number of reasons:

1. A menu featuring Hammy’s favorite cheese, as well as a cheese that sounded like “Shabby Shoe” to me on the phone. I love French.

They might smell the same, but trust me, they taste very very different.

Source, Source

2. A location at a three-way intersection in Tribeca that renders it near impossible for cabs to find. (We didn’t want just anyone showing up. Just guests who can hail smart cabbies, please.)

Not this but felt like this

3. A menu that required changing 3 times at the last minute because the appetizer and desserts we had chosen became mysteriously “out of season”. Again, I love the French.

BM A took charge of decor, creating the fabulous photo ribbons -

as well as art gallery-worthy signs, and pointing me towards a balloon delivery service (Who knew? Balloon Saloon, for those who are curious. Yes, three-foot balloons are very very big. Here’s a photo of my toddler, in comparison.)

How am I supposed to weigh down a balloon that can’t fit in the picture?

BM I hand-picked and delivered two dozen of the prettiest, tastiest cupcakes east of the Hudson, as well as color-coordinated clothes pins.

BM K could only be there in spirit, but spawned the early incarnations of the recipe box idea, as well as some of the more outrageous of the bride themes. Dozens of emails and many staff-meeting daydreams were devoted to this party.

However, as frequently the case, some of the best ideas arrived on the fly. For example:

1. A three-foot diameter balloon holds 27 times more helium than a 1 foot diameter balloon. It’s a cubed thing, 4/3 pi, etc. This meant the giant balloons lifted the balloon weights with the ease of a body builder bench-pressing marshmallows (mmm, marshmallows). So we co-opted jars of ketchup, jams, and finally duct tape (thanks, mom!), to keep those pretty white behemoths in place.

2. The clothes-pin game, a shower classic, to be sure. But Hammy & friends are just not the type of ladies to be saying “wedding” this, and “bride” that. What was the one thing we could all discuss? Hammy herself!

She-who-must-not-be-named

Yes, our magic word was Miss Hamster’s name, putting a hamper on describing how we knew the bride, telling embarrassing stories about the bride, getting the bride’s attention… which leads us to…

3. How do we get the bride to lose her clothespins? Simply asking her name wasn’t working. (Believe me, we tried, but nothing’s more annoying than a smart bride…) So mid-game, right before the cheese course, we changed her magic word to “Cheese”. And she lost those clothes pins real fast.

“Whaaaattt?? No cheese?”

4. Oops, I forgot about the last thing on Miss Hamster’s Do-Not-Like list. I got a LOT of lingerie at my shower - and believe me, I’m about as blase about such things as Hammy is demure. I had meant to email our guests to ask them to save the scanties for the bachelorette, but I had forgotten. So the solution? Pray with each box opened that inside lay something to mix and bake with, instead of something to… well, you get the idea. It turns out Hammy was saying the same exact prayer as she de-ribboned, and it worked. That was one bingo square that no one crossed off.

“Please please please don’t be a leather bustier and lace-up corset.”

What were the ideas you were most proud of when planning a shower?