If you are wondering why I have not been blogging as much lately, its because I have been party planning for my newest bride!  I was honored to be invited to stand up for one of my dearest friends as a bridesmaid in her June wedding.  Being a bridesmaid means many things, and of the many my favorite is throwing a fabulous party for the blushing bride! And this season’s bride-to-be is southern, preppy and extremely creative. So I had to work double-time to plan the bridal shower of 2010 for my girl.  While I find that cooking fun food comes natural to me, I struggle in the decorating department.  Just ask @brnwltrs he is better at making our home look nice and put together than I will ever be.  At least he is well fed.  I digress.

Over the past few months, I have been spending my free time researching everything I could on pretty & preppy bridal showers.  Our girl is a fan of Lilly so her sister smartly suggested a Taboo themed event which translated into dreams of pink and green for me.  Since I admittedly failed my pretty and preppy class in the school of the south I turned to my party planning partner in crime – Mrs. Patra – for ideas and advice.  I know that Mrs. P loves a party, and can plan one too, as in our single gal days we may have been behind a soiree or two around Capitol Hill, particularly on Valentines Day, but that’s another story.

So with a little help from my friends, and a menu in mind, I set out to organize a shower my friend would never forget.

What I love about the bride-to-be is her sense of southern charm that weaves in and out of all her creative flare.  This is a girl who love Creme Brulee and the Cracker Barrel, so I wanted to be sure to include a few Tastes of the South on both the menu and in the decor.

For food, we went with French Onion Torte, Crudites and Georgetown Cupcakes (classy); BLT Dip, Virginia Ham sandwiches and Shrimp-n-Grits (country).

For drinks we went with pink lemonade and limeade, served in mason jars (country) and a fancy big-girl cocktail, the High Cotton, which is basically a cosmo served over… wait for it… cotton candy (courtesy of Mrs. P)!

For flowers, I went to Whole Foods for hot pink ranunculus, yellow tulips and lime green button chrysanthemums. For vases we used simple tall cylinder vases and mini-glass bottles of Limonata San Pellegrino.

For fun, we played “How Well do You Know Your Groom” where we had the groom answer a bunch of questions and made the bride answer them in front of the group, to see how many she could answer correctly.  She did pretty well, correctly answering 18 out of 25.

For favors, we made mix-cds of love songs that reflected the bride and groom’s story and style.  Since the shower occurred in April, we titled the mix “Love in Bloom.” We also had pink and green Hershey kisses and green apple and watermelon Jolly Ranchers as sweet take aways for the guests to enjoy.

And for the personal touch, we hand-crafted colorful hanging photos of the bride and groom and had plenty of colorful Lilly P party accessories, including Taboo cookies baked by the lovely MOH and big-sis of the bride.

At the end of the day, the bride was pleased, and that made my day!  I was really happy with how everything turned out and discovered how much fun I had learning more about crafty-cool handmade touches that really personalized the shower.  At some point between cutting ribbon and chopping veggies I began to wonder if I had missed my calling!

If you want me to plan your next intimate gathering of friends please let me know, I may start doing this for a living! 🙂