"our favorite things" bridal shower! celebrating our brides! Part One
- Our Grand Lives
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
Monday, May 12, 2025
HAPPY MONDAY, FRIENDS!
We hope your weekend (and Mother’s Day) was GRAND in every way!
Yep! Today’s post is all about L•O•V•E!
May is often considered the official start to wedding season
and Laura’s family is celebrating TWO within the next month!
Our extended family was so excited when two of our nieces
announced their engagements last fall!
As you may recall,
in early January, my husband and I hosted a “Meet the Grooms” party!
At that time, most of Hubby’s extended family had the opportunity
to meet both of our nieces’ fiances as we officially welcomed them to our family!
We had a Chili Bar with all the fixings
and played a few games to get to know each groom better!
Our couples were such great sports and
we learned a lot about our grooms that day!
If you’d like to learn more about this fun gathering
(including our quinoa chili recipe and game details)
you can read more about it here!
Fast forward a few months,
and our attention turned to showering each bride
with our love and congratulations!
Future brides and love…
can you think of a better reason for hosting a GRAND celebration?
Today, I’m excited to share all the details
- the theme and decor, the menu and the games -
from our first bridal celebration with you all!
In late March, we celebrated Bride #1
who will be getting married in early June!
Our bride with her mama and her grandma!
I enlisted the help of my dear sister-in-laws
and got to work on a theme for this first party!
It was important to me to make each gathering unique
so each bride felt extra special!
THE INVITATIONS & GIFTS!
Our guest list included the bride’s family (both sides, including our extended family),
the groom’s family and the bride’s close friends!
It was so fun to meet so many people who were special to the bride!
I created the invite and insert on Canva
and I was even able to order them directly from there which made things super easy!
They were having a promo so I was able to get 50% off, too,
and they were at my house in less than a week!
(NOTE: I’m sharing a few links for items we used throughout this post…
Please know that we only recommend items we love - we are not compensated in any way.)
Our newlyweds will be moving to the southwestern United States for work soon after their June wedding. Since they will have limited space when driving across the country, the bride didn’t have typical gift requests for the shower. With that in mind, I added an insert to the invite, asking our guests to bring a few favorite things to shower our bride with!
Since our bride loves to spend time in the kitchen, I had everyone bring a favorite recipe and on the backside I asked each person to include a favorite bible verse. (The bride and groom first met at church and have known each other since childhood!)
I bought a little binder that held these 3 x 5 cards (I simply added a label as a cover). Then when our bride opened her gifts near the end of the shower, she read the title of each recipe card and shared the bible verse before opening each gift! So many yummy recipes were shared and the bible verses meant so much to everyone there!
This was a special touch
and provided a beautiful keepsake for our bride!
I also asked each guest to wrap and bring A Favorite Thing as a gift - small items they absolutely love and think our bride would, too!
Our bride received so many lovely things - a bracelet, a candle, kitchen gadgets, lotion and a journal to name a few. It was so fun to see what everyone came up with and this activity added a welcomed personal touch to the day’s festivities!
Finally, in the insert I included an invitation to bring an additional gift in the form of cash or a gift card. These weren’t shared at our gathering - the bride opened her cards and whether there was an additional gift included there or not was kept private.
Our bride was definitely showered with our love!
The bride and some of her cousins and our darling Little P!
THE DECOR!
I kept the decorations simple (you know me)!
Our bride loves bright colors so I went with that!
I filled white frames with photos of the bride and groom
and placed them all around.
I added some pearls and paper flowers in bright colors!
I used more pearls and a lace runner on our dining table as decor
and scattered a few snapshots of the bride as a youngster all around.
I created bouquets with a variety of colorful flowers
(thank you, Trader Joe’s)!
I used extra vases I already had from the dollar store!
I made enough bouquets that I set them all around (even in the bathroom)!
Our bridal shower began at 1:00 p.m. so we served a salad luncheon!
As our guests arrived,
we had punch ready as well as sparkling water options and ice water.
The punch was a simple mixture of equal parts white cranberry juice and limeade. Then we added Fresca to taste which gave it a refreshing flavor! I added ice cubes, lime slices and fresh strawberries that I’d sliced thinly… they looked like little hearts floating in the punch!
I’d also made a batch of my Bunny Bait which was the perfect combination of salty and sweet for our spring shower!
I served this mixture in a white basket for this gathering and provided little white cups for individual servings!
Here’s what else we served!
We served three salads - a sampler of sorts!
You'll find the links to the recipes I used below,
including a few personal adjustments.
(I either doubled or tripled each recipe for the number of guests I served.)
Chicken Salad -I made this salad the day before. I used rotisserie chicken as a shortcut, omitted the nuts (in case of food allergies) and then used equal parts of mayonnaise and Greek yogurt when making the dressing.
NOTE: I made some extra dressing that I stored separately. Then, on the day of the party, I was able to add a bit to the salad to moisten it before serving!
Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad - To make things easier, I used packaged coleslaw mix (shredded cabbages and carrots). You can prep the dressing ahead of time and keep it refrigerated but don’t mix the ingredients until you are ready to serve! The salad will get soggy! I always make extra of the crunchy mix, too - it’s so good!
Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad - This salad I make the day beforehand, as well (and I also make a bit more dressing, as described above). However, I used grape tomatoes that I cut in half and I added them (along with any extra dressing, if needed) just prior to serving.
I also made these charcuterie skewers with the help of my daughters!
They turned out so cute
and were a great addition to the menu!
We used mozzarella balls, basil leaves and these pearl toothpicks.
On some of the skewers we added salami roses
and on others we cut a grape tomato diagonally to form a heart!
One of my sister-in-laws lives nearby and she was able to come over the day before to help with all the prep! She brought fresh fruit the day of the shower - strawberries and pineapple garnished with mint. My other sister-in-law, who traveled a few hours, brought pickles and olives! Both were great additions to the menu, as was a bowl of cashews our guests could sprinkle on their salads, if desired!
A dear friend made fresh focaccia and dropped it off the morning of the shower...
Both an Italian one and a pretzel variety!
What a treat!
I had butter and a homemade maple mustard dip to go with these!
Later, after gifts had been opened, it was time for dessert!
We served a lime poke cake (I thought our niece would enjoy this retro recipe).
The colorful sprinkles matched our wildflower bouquets
and I wish I’d taken a photo of how we served the cake…
We topped each slice with a chocolate heart!
Everyone left with full tummies!
Our family loves games
so I definitely planned one or two (or perhaps four) to include!
Again, I used Canva to create the graphics for each game.
PUT A RING ON IT!
When guests arrived, they were invited to Put a Ring On It!
I had a bowl filled with diamond rings and the game directions waiting!
The person who had collected the most rings
by the time gifts were opened,
won the game!
THIS OR THAT?
This popular game provided the perfect opportunity for all our guests
to get to know our bride better!
We played this game and the next one soon after the party began.
I printed these two games back to back and had clipboards and pens
ready to pass out, when needed!
I had this set of clipboards from my years of teaching!
They’ve been a great investment! We use them at lots of gatherings!
A GRAND Tip!
If we had more than one winner,
the person whose birthday was closest to the bride’s
(or the furthest away)was the ultimate winner!
This worked for every game!
WEDDING A TO Z!
Since our bride is graduating with a degree in Elementary Ed this spring,
we played Wedding A to Z!
I allowed 10 minutes for guests to complete their list
(during this time we finished prepping and then setting out the food).
When everyone finished we talked through the sheet,
with people shouting out answers not shared by others!
(NOTE: I had created a “cheat sheet” with ideas for each letter ahead of time…
What can I say? It’s the teacher in me!)
THE APRON GAME!
As I’ve mentioned, our bride loves to spend time in the kitchen!
This game was the perfect one to include!
Earlier in the week, I had gone to our local dollar store
and purchased 22 fun kitchen utensils and gadgets.
(These then became gifts for the bride.)
I attached a ribbon to each item and then safety pinned each
to an apron we also gifted to the bride!
After our meal, the bride modeled the apron,
walking among the guests for a few minutes.
Our guests weren’t quite sure what was going on!
Then, the bride left the room
and we passed out those clipboards once again!
Guests had 5 minutes to write down as many items as they recalled!
(While they were doing this, the bride and my daughter
were taking all the items off the apron in another room.)
When time was up, the bride held up each item
as guests kept track of their correct matches!
The prizes for each game?
Do you remember those flower bouquets?
They were the perfect gift for our winners (and the three grandmas, too)!
It was a GRAND celebration, indeed!
Later this week, I’ll be back with Part Two…
with details about our second bridal celebration,
“Through The Years” Bridal Brunch!
We hope you’ll join us!
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