

Mr. Peacock’s sister/my bridesmaid kindly offered to throw us a wedding shower. She wanted it to be unique and casual, since we will still be having two typical, ladies only showers. It was decided that both boys and girls would be invited, the gifts would have a theme which lent itself to less expensive or off the registry gifts and Mexican food and margaritas would be served.
After throwing around a few great ideas, his sister settled on “entertainment.” I love it because people could bring a bottle of wine, a board game or a movie. They could also bring our blender or wine glasses if they wanted to go the more traditional route. The goal was to come up with an idea that would appeal to both guys and girls and to keep the gifts on the less expensive side. I thought that some of the other ideas we came up with might be helpful, so I am going to share.
Stock the Bar: Guests bring things to stock your bar. Bottles of wine or beer, martini shakers or a personalized pub sign would be an appropriate gift. Opening and making use of the gifts at the shower is an option.
Never one to arrive empty handed when kids are involved, I showed up to my shower fully armed with 15 pounds of candy and some other goodies for the young girls to take home. I actively participate in bribery on a regular basis. What can I say… what I lack in child interaction skills I make up for in buying a lot of candy. The dilemma was that the ages ranged from 2-16, and I didn’t have time to run around town buying individual gifts. Also, if you don’t give everyone the same thing, it might be a little unfair, and I wanted to avoid that too. So here’s what I came up with:


Herro! I’m back from my 2nd wonderful Bridal Shower out in Long Lake, Minnesota! It was an afternoon tea, and we had a fabulous time at the shower playing games, opening gifts, and hanging out with Mr. Penguin’s extended family.

Mr. Penguin’s Mom (far left) and I (the Asian one) with my gracious shower hosts! Aunt Rita, Aunt Lisa and Aunt Janice.
On Saturday, Mr. Toucan’s and my sisters threw us a shower! Though neither have ever even attended a shower, I couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon!
The shower was held at our new place, which ended up being great for a few reasons. First, it was like an open house, and we could show our friends and family the new place!
This past weekend, my fabulous FMIL (et al) threw me a SUPER FUN bridal shower, which Mr. BG astutely dubbed “Becca day.” All the lady-folk from Mr. BG’s side of the family gathered to shower me with gifts (pun intended), clothe me in tissue paper, and ply me with baked goods – all the while enforcing my belief that I am just ridiculously fortunate to be marrying into such a wonderful family.
We started with the presents, which were – insane. I mean, I made out like a bandit. Here’s a shot of the haul:

I still can’t get over the amount of time and energy that was put into my bridal shower. Look at these details…
Cookie favors: I don’t even really like cookies, but these are amazing. I’m so glad we got sent home with about ten of the extras.
Tasty and well-endowed wedding dress cookies.
Last night, Mom H met up with her lovely friends to plan a date for my first wedding shower! My mom and her friends, who like to call themselves the Ya-Yas, have traditionally given wedding and baby showers to each of their daughters/daughters-in-law in the past. So they gathered, wine glasses in hand, to plan the date for sometime in July!
I was going to possibly give the ladies homemade aprons, but have now decided to give each of them one nice item, still undecided, and this:

This past weekend was a busy one - not only did we have our engagement photo shoot on Sunday, I also had my bridal shower on Saturday. Seven of Mr. Tiramisu’s mom’s closest friends hosted this most amazing event! I was a little nervous going into the party, and they knew it, so they did everything in their power to make the day perfect.
I was happy to see everyone was wearing their nametags! Although I had met everyone at least once before, I am so terrible with names. I didn’t need a nametag, however- there’s no mistaking the bride when she’s wearing a veil:
My maid of honor, Carolyn, and I. Carolyn had the hair trial for her wedding right before the shower - looks fabulous, no?
I’ve already mentioned it a couple of times before, but after recapping the rest of last weekend (what with a shower surprise, dress fitting, dance lesson and makeup trial), I feel like I can finally get to the main event of the weekend: my shower.
Since my bridesmaids live out of town (and don’t all know each other), and my extended family is not especially close knit, my mom, Mr. Dahlia’s mom and Mr. Dahlia’s mom’s best friend graciously hosted the event at my parents’ house. There were about 25 or so people in attendance for the afternoon tea, from some of the “kids” I used to babysit for 10 years ago, to the women from church who were like second moms to me growing up, to some of the women who played a significant part in Mr. Dahlia’s life. It was, in a word, overwhelmingly amazing.
When I was a little girl, I was very shy. In our old family videos, I am always hiding behind my mom or running away from the camera. I remember always feeling embarrassed for some reason. Over the years, I pretty much grew out of my shyness. For the most part, I’m a pretty social person, and in some cases I don’t even mind being the center of attention. But when it comes to this wedding stuff…well, let’s just say that’s another story.
My shyness about wedding-related attention mostly comes out when the topics of bridal showers or bachelorette parties come up. I am positively terrified of my bridal shower. Well, there are actually no plans for a bridal shower yet, so I guess I am terrified of my theoretical bridal shower.