Celebrating the Bride-to-Be: Josie’s Special Day

Hello and welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday! This is a space where I share what’s on my mind and invite you to join in and link up with your own thoughts. Today, I’m reminiscing about the lovely time we had celebrating Josie, a beautiful bride-to-be, at her shower this past weekend! Let me share some of the highlights with you ~

Guests were welcomed with a sign inviting them to come on in. The porch was adored with hydrangeas flanking the door in our tall planters (HERE). I picked up a boxwood wreath (HERE). We added a white tulle bow to make it look more like a bridal veil. To round out the welcoming atmosphere, we had an Echo on the porch playing instrumental love songs. Tucked inside the bow on the wreath were cotton balls with the signature scent of the day, English Pear and Freesia (HERE).

As each guest arrived, I made sure to snap a quick photo of them with the bride-to-be—a special little keepsake for her to look back on and remember everyone who came to celebrate. We turned our dining room table into a welcoming station, creating a warm and inviting first stop for guests as they came in. We displayed framed photos of each bridesmaid paired with a short note sharing how the bride knows them. It was such a meaningful touch and gave everyone a glimpse into the special friendships that have shaped her life.

Once inside, guests were handed a small clipboard with all of the games attached, making it easy to keep everything together as they mingled, chatted, and grabbed a bite to eat. I’ve used these clipboards (HERE) for years at so many different events, and they’ve truly been such a great investment!

We kept the games simple and fun—gift bingo, guess their ages, and find the guest. Each one encouraged guests to move around, strike up conversations, and get to know one another. Our goal was to create a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere where everyone felt comfortable mingling, and I think it worked beautifully.

Planning the menu was so much fun! Here’s what we decided on:

Lemon Curd and Raspberry Tartlets

Caprese Skewers

Pimento Cheese and Hot Pepper Jelly Pastry Cup

Charcuterie in Tea Cups

Cucumber Canapés

Shrimp Cocktail

Amaretto Cake with Raspberry Filling

The mantel was beautifully styled with blue hydrangeas, soft candlelight, and a framed photo of the soon-to-be bride and groom. We carried that same look over to the staircase, weaving hydrangeas along the banister and adding touches of tulle to tie everything together for a cohesive, romantic feel.

Hydrangeas from Amazon (HERE and HERE)

In the kitchen, we set up the food on the table and placed the drinks on the island to keep everything flowing smoothly for guests. The banister was dressed up with a touch of tulle as well, adding a soft, elegant detail that carried the décor seamlessly into the space.

Each guest went home with a sweet little favor—a jar of homemade body lotion lovingly made by one of the bridesmaids, along with a tube of lip balm. It was such a thoughtful and personal touch to thank everyone for celebrating the bride-to-be.

It was such a beautiful day celebrating our bride-to-be! We’re all so excited and can’t wait for the wedding ahead.

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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Five on Friday - May 17, 2019

It's Friday!!  A few days off work is sounding pretty good right now!  And I'm excited to share my five with you today.  Here they are ~

1.  The SkinnyTaste Air Fryer Cookbook
Months ago I got an air fryer.  I was going to use it everyday and save thousands of calories and lose 50 pounds.  In reality, we've used it one time to cook french fries.  But I have high hopes that we'll be using it more after today.  The SkinnyTaste Air Fryer Cookbook should be waiting for me when I get home tonight.  Do you need a bit of motivation to use your air fryer?  Buy one of these babies and let's cook up the same recipes together.

2.  The Village

I don't know where I've been, but thank goodness my friend Linda asked me if I was watching this show.  Guys - it's good!  Do you watch it?  It's on NBC and airs on Tuesday nights.  I started watching and just couldn't stop.  Here's the description from NBC ~

Welcome to The Village, an apartment building in Brooklyn that appears like any other from the outside but is quite unique inside. The people who reside here have built a bonded family of friends and neighbors. Sarah's a nurse and single mom raising a creative teen; Gabe's a young law student who got a much older and unexpected roommate; Ava must secure the future of her young, U.S.-born son when ICE comes knocking; Nick's a veteran who's returned from war; and the heart and soul of the building, Ron and Patricia, have captivating tales all their own. These are the hopeful, heartwarming and challenging stories of life that prove family is everything - even if it's the one you make with the people around you.

3.  Hunter Boots
I'm not sure if it was booking a trip to Ireland and seeing every packing list say to bring rain boots or all the rain we've been getting, but I pulled the trigger on getting some Hunter boots.   I'm not going to lie, they are FABULOUS!  Ian and Kayla even gifted me a couple pair of Hunter boot socks for Mother's Day.  Now when there's rain the forecast, I'm almost not sad!  Check them out HERE.

4.  Txix and Snickers Chocolate Lowfat Milk

Are you ready to take your chocolate milk to a whole new level?  Be on the lookout for these two new flavors - Snickers and Twix.  They should be showing up at convenience stores this month.  Looks like I'll be going inside to pay for my gas and then stalking the refrigerated section.

5.  Shopping List

Eric and I will be glued to the TV tonight watching the St. Louis Blues search for win number two in this round of the playoffs.  It's been too wet to get my flowers planted, so I'm hoping to knock that out on Saturday.  And I'm going to try very, very hard to whip up a recipe from my new air fryer cookbook.  Whatever's on your agenda, hope you have a wonderful weekend!  See you next week.

Linking up with:

The Peaceful Posse

Amanda at Meet At The Barre
Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks

Kate Spade Shower

Last weekend I had the opportunity to help two lovely ladies, Kaitlyn and Katelyn, host a bridal shower for their dear friend.  When they asked me if I'd like to help, I couldn't say YES fast enough!

After tossing around a few ideas, we landed on a Kate Spade theme.  There were so many great ideas on Pinterest and we had a few of our own.

One of the things the ladies wanted was a photo booth.  Nothing brings fun to a party like some good photo booth props!  We did a little personalizing and was set to go.

We lined up a couple fun games for the guests to play.  With the help of Etsy, we were able to purchase great printables.  Present Bingo has been trending for a while and it's a game that I love to include in any baby or bridal shower.  In a nutshell, you get a blank bingo card and fill in the squares with gifts you think the person of honor will receive.  It keeps the guests involved in the gift opening process, which can become boring if you don't have a reason to pay attention.

The second game was Guess the Age.  We had six pictures of the bride and groom from various times in their life and the attendees had to guess what age they were in the picture.  This game gets your guests out of their seats and shows a pictorial of the bride and groom as they grew up.  If you are ever around where this game is being played, get ready to hear a lot of oohing and ahhing.

All the games were neatly presented on small clipboards decorated with ribbon.  I have used these clipboards a ton of times and they are still going strong.  Great investment!  And they looked adorable on the tables!

Speaking of the tables, we kept it pretty simple by covering them with a black tablecloth and running a piece of black and white striped paper down the center, then sprinkling large confetti in pink and gold.   For centerpieces we used white Ikea frames with engagement pictures of the couple and white bud vases.  The flower in the vase gave the table a bright pop of color.  Add some baby's breath and call it done!

  

The hostesses served light lunch fare and had a mimosa bar.  Who doesn't love a good mimosa bar?!?  I fell in love with the champagne flutes that were used.  They were plastic with specks of gold.  Perfect for the Kate Spade theme!

Each guest got to take home a little memento of the afternoon spent showering Megan -- an adorable cookie from Heaven Bakery and a Kate Spade themed tea bag.

Congratulations Megan!  I hope you and Zach have a wonderful wedding and live happily ever after.

Shopping List

Black and White Paper

Pink and Gold Confetti

6" x 9" Clip Boards

Gold Specked Toasting Flutes

Weekending - August 12, 2016

I love weekends.  Especially this one.  From the moment I left work on Friday through today we have had the best time!

Friday night Eric and I went to the wedding reception for the daughter of the best man at our wedding.  Eric and David have been friends for years and it was wonderful to catch up with their family and friends.  I wish I would have taken pictures but I didn't take a single one all night.  The bride, Abby and her groom had gotten married on the beach in Florida a few weeks ago and held their reception at the Missouri History Museum on Friday.  She was absolutely beautiful!  Congratulations Abby and Matt!

Side story about Friday night.  I was sitting talking with some of Eric's friends and I heard someone say my name.  I turn around and there is a friend of mine from high school that I hadn't seen in years.  It was wonderful chatting with her!  Turns out her husband worked with the groom.  Small world, isn't it.

I had been out of town all week for work so Saturday morning I had a bazillion things to catch up on.  Did I get them all done?  Heck no.  Oh well, there was fun to be had and I didn't want to miss out.  So I got done what I could and will try to do the rest this week.  

My daughter-in-law, Kayla, was hosting a bridal shower for her sister Alyssa Saturday afternoon and I was excited to attend.  Kayla and the other bridesmaids did an amazing job decorating.  

Kayla got a few signs from Vistaprint and they were perfect for the occasion.  She added some personal touches and the final projects looked great.

One of the activities at the shower was a wine tasting.  Loved the way they had this set up!  They had six bottles of wine in bags with numbers.  Each guest had a list of the hidden wines and you have to match the wine with the number (by tasting them of course).  I can't wait to do this at one of my future parties!  The little cups can be found HERE.  In the meantime, I need to practice identifying wines which means I need to drink more.  :)

I slipped out of the bridal shower early because we were meeting friends for dinner before the Paul McCartney concert.  Nine of my friends met at Rosalita's on Washington Avenue in St. Louis for a little preparty.  

Decided to do a little replay of the Beatles Abbey Road album cover on the way to the concert.  We just might be the next great singing group!

Sir Paul's still got it.  The show was a huge sing along with fireworks.  We loved, loved, loved the whole evening.

After the concert, we stayed in a hotel in St. Louis and our friends Debbie and Larry did also.  Sunday morning they joined us at church then we popped in Fezziwig's for a bit of shopping.  Afterwards we grabbed some lunch at Peel in O'fallon, Illinois.  We decided to share a couple of their brick oven pizzas.  Debbie chose their potato bacon version.  Oh my word -- it was so good!

I chose my standard -- the wild mushroom.  Both were delicious!

 The rest of the raining Sunday afternoon I spent catching up on Bachelor in Paradise.  Oh my - I missed watching Monday and Tuesday and there was so much to catch up on!  Just a few things.  Chad ~ trust me, your mother would NOT think your behavior is funny.  Evan ~ it's never a good idea to interrupt a girl mid kiss to ask her out.  Josh ~ you're cute but maybe you should really try to be a nicer person.  Amanda ~ some day your little girls are going to grow up.  Do you really want them to see you kissing some guy you just met for 24 straight hours?!?

Now we're staring at Monday and I'm headed back to work.  Hope your weekend was a good one.  Here we go into a new week ~ let's make it a great one!

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

More Pieces of Me

Bella and the City
The Quinntessential Mommy
How To Get Organized At Home
Over the Moon

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Weekending - March 11, 2016

I've had a full week of weekending and it's been fantastic.  Last week Eric and I headed to Spring Training for a little R&R.  I have to say, it was great to be away in the land of sun, sand and baseball.

I think half of St. Louis was in Jupiter to watch the Cardinals.  This was Eric's first trip and he had the time of his life.  We flew in to Orlando on Tuesday and drove down to the hotel we had chosen, Courtyard Hutchinson Island Oceanside/Jensen Beach.  We used this trip as an opportunity to stay by the ocean since we were so close to the waves. Best decision!  

The weather really helped made the trip that much more wonderful - sunny and high in the low 80s.  We spent our days at the ball field and the evenings strolling on the beach.  Man, I sure could get used to a life like that!  

I'll give you a full breakdown of our trip in another post.  For now, let me share what went down over the weekend.  We flew back on Saturday and stopped by downtown on our way home to have dinner with Kayla and Ian.  We went to our favorite pizza place, Pi.  Speaking of pi, today is National Pi Day!  You should definitely celebrate by having a piece of your favorite pie today!

Sunday Kayla and I attended the most adorable shower for our friend Amanda.  My son Ian and Amanda have been friends since high school when they were both on the debate team.  

Since Amanda and her groom-to-be both love to travel, they used that as the theme for the shower.  It turned out so charming!  

Upon arrival, you signed the world map print  and took your "passport photo" with the bride-to-be.  

Every table was adorned with a globe, books and flowers.  We also wrote words of advice for the couple and put them in the vintage suitcase.  Just adorable!

Being on Eastern time all week sure helped with the transition to daylight savings time.  It was a little rough loosing an hour on Sunday, but having the sun hang around later in the day will be so sweet!  

Anyone else excited to see what Ben's going to do tonight on The Bachelor?  I'm having a few friends over for a little viewing party.  Should be a fun time!  

Hope you have a great Monday and I'll see you back here later this week!

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

More Pieces of Me

Bella and the City
The Quinntessential Mommy
How To Get Organized At Home
Over the Moon
This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!