Every girl dreams of her beautiful wedding day with formal invitations, lush flowers, elegant details, white dresses, and ever so helpful bridesmaids. But, would you dream that your bridal shower could be the scene stealer? Today we are pleased to share Daniela's "vintage tea party" themed bridal shower, exquisitely put together by her thoughtful and creative bridesmaids. From homemade Vanilla extract favors to handmade doily garland and paper pom poms, this is a shower is full of charming personal touches that helped to create an elegant and sophisticated day for the bride to remember.
We asked one of the bridesmaids to give us her take on how
they went about planning this event and here are some of the thoughts and
insite she shared with us:
Was
there an overarching theme for the shower?
Our initial thought for a theme was an elegant, soft, vintage
inspired tea party, but we didn't want to take it too literally and serve just
tea and put pictures of tea kettles and cups on everything. We wanted to keep
it as elegant and sophisticated as possible. Towards the end it had felt like
we broke pretty far away from our initial "tea party" idea but then
seeing it all come together and looking at the pictures now, I think it
translates as just that.
How
did you come up with the ideas for the theme/decor?
Most of the ideas stemmed from things we knew
Daniela loved and then we used our own ideas and inspirations found online to
embellish on that.
It
seemed there were a lot of little details. How long did it take you to plan?
It's hard to say how long it took to plan since
I'm sure we both had been thinking of ideas since before Daniela was even
engaged. But I believe our actual planning probably began about 6 months ahead
of time. For example, our favors (Homemade Vanilla Extract) had to sit for
4-5 months before being bottled and ready to use.
How did you choose the venue?
We knew we wanted to host it at a place where we had complete control and constant access so we could be planning and setting up in the months, days, and hours beforehand, so that is why we decided to host it in Sheryl's backyard. We felt having it at a hall or restaurant, although less work for us in the long run, would limit us.
How long did it take you to set up?
As for the set up, we did a lot of prepping in
the months and weeks before the shower and stored everything in Sheryl's
basement. We began setting things up in the yard the evening before (once the
tent was set up and tables & chairs delivered) and spent the day of the
shower doing the final touches. After the shower and the following day was the
clean up...which with a lot of helping hands was a breeze!
What
types of games did you play?
For games there was bridal bingo, a word
search, and a Pat & Daniela quiz. We also placed LRC (Left Right Center)
games along the table for people to play at their own will, but I think people
were too busy chatting, eating, and drinking to be bothered to play .
Did you do it all yourselves?
We (Sara and Sheryl) did all of the planning and coordinating ourselves and tackled the majority of the decor and details. Thankfully both Daniela and Pat's mothers were very eager to help and were very generous in their contributions (tent, tables, chair & linen rentals, catering, and tons of additional desserts).
Was it a surprise?
The date, time and location of the shower were not a surprise to the bride to be -- we actually even placed an invitation to her own bridal shower on her front steps spruced up with some flowers. But we didn't let any of the details slip.
Want to throw a shower like this? Check the links these ladies have posted on Ruffled and Craig's List if you are interested in purchasing the china, glassware, server ware, and other items for your very own tea-party themed event! Not all of the items are for sale, but it will certainly get you off to a great start!
Thanks to Sara and Sheryl for sharing these photos and detail with us and warmest congratulations to Daniela, the lovely bride to be!
XOXO
Jen & Saira
