A DIY Bridal Shower

8/1/2013

A DIY Bridal Shower

Last Sunday, I hosted a bridal shower for my wonderful friend Sierra who is getting married in September. When us bridesmaids were deciding where to have the event, we thought it would be so nice to have it in my parents' backyard in San Diego, where we could make it really homey, personal, and perfectly tailored towards the San Diego-bred bride and all of her favorite things. It was so much fun putting together all of the details for the shower, and I must confess, now I'm a total believer in DIY/Do-It-Yourself events! I loved the creativity that went into the event - planning the whole menu, decor, drinks, music, etc! With 8 close friends getting married within about a year (ahh!), it's a great time to perfect my DIY skills! I couldn't wait to share the pics and deets with all of you, so here it goes . . .

The Menu

We decided to go with an assortment of salads, some caprese salad skewers, and an indulgent baked Mac & Cheese (the bride's favorite food). Luckily, I had just learned how to make a gourmet Mac & Cheese a couple weeks earlier in cooking school and thank goodness no one knew that about 20 minutes before the shower, I clumsily spilled almost half the cheese sauce all over the kitchen floor. Despite losing a decent amount of saucy cheesiness, no one seemed to notice!

Sierra and her beloved mac & cheese :)

These salads were all delicious, light & fresh, and perfect for a ladies lunch . . .
> Kale Salad with golden raisins & currants - the trick was marinating it overnight in the dressing!
> Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Shrimp & Orzo Salad (we added some heirloom cherry tomatoes)
> Watermelon, Feta & Mint Salad with olive oil & balsamic vinegar
> Our recreation of Bandera's Macho Salad - so yummy! The cornbread croutons make it!

My friend Hillary is a baker-extraordinaire, and her and my sister whipped up Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Chunk Cookies, mini red-velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting (omg!), and mini individual cheesecakes! Bite-size treats are great for showers since the girls aren't as quick to dive into a jumbo-sized cupcake!

The Drinks

We served my friend Gaby's Stone Fruit & Strawberry Sangria from her delicious blog What's Gaby Cooking.  It was amazing, packed with all the best fruits of the season, and was perfect in our mason jars tied with lace and coral bows. Side note, I added kiwi to the sangria for an extra pop of green, and oddly, they sank to the bottom of the sangria instead of floating pretty like the rest of the mixture. Good to know for next time! We also served some refreshing "spa water" with cucumbers, lemons, and mint. A necessity for a hot San Diego day! One of my favorite little personal touches was the polka-dot paper straws with a little flag attached reading "S (heart) C" - the soon-to-be Mr. & Mrs. initials!

The Decor

Decorating for the event was one of the most fun and creative parts of the planning! We bought the flowers at Trader Joe's - great flowers for cheap! My mom added some lace around the vases for a cute, girly, touch and it tied in the lace from the mason jars. Since we served everything on glass plates, we printed out several different pictures of the adorable Bride & Groom, cut them out in circles, and placed them under the plates. It was a nice personal touch and was fun to check out each picture on the tables!

The Party Favors

Sierra and her fiancé spend a couple weeks each summer picking cherries with Sierra's family in Montana. We wanted to come up with a party favor that would be close to Sierra's heart, and what better than some delicious cherry jam for all the guests to take home!? Thank goodness for Etsy! What ever did we do for party favors, cards, and goodies before it existed!?

With lots of hard work, planning, and organizing with all the bridesmaids, it turned out to be a great, girly event, and I'm super excited for the (many!) festivities yet to come!

Don't blame me if this blog starts to be a mix of healthy cooking videos and DIY event planning over the next year! :)

The bridesmaids/hostesses

Co-MOH's with the bride

Cheers! Have a great weekend!