#MarriedMaitlands: Bridal Shower - Fall in Love

 
Chris and I planned one last wedding planning trip roughly a month before the big day.  The main reason for the trip revolved around a bridal shower that my mom's side of the family organized.  Tricia along with some assistance from her sisters did an AMAZING job decorating for the event.  I had a great time visiting with various church and family friends on that September afternoon.

Tricia organized a few fun bridal shower games.  The most unique was the Bride Bag game.  As guests entered, they were instructed to study all the items on the table.  At the same time they were asked to guess which age I was in a variety of photos hung on a board at the end of the table.  A diversion, but also another fun little game. 

After everyone had a few snacks, Tricia handed out a more traditional bridal game that asks players to list from A to Z an item or aspect that relates to weddings.  After several minutes, time was called and answers for each letter were shouted out as we determined a winner.

Then, the results of the "Guess Andrea's Age" game were revealed.  And finally, Tricia asked everyone to think back to when they first arrived and list as many items as possible from the table.  She had already packed all the items into the bag and given it to me for the big reveal.  When time was up, I revealed each item.  Everything inside - magazines, candy, gum, travel size items - was meant for me to take on our honeymoon.  Such a nice surprise for me!  And you better believe, that Bride bag went all over the Mediterranean with us!

Right on cue, Chris arrived as we completed the games.  I had asked him to come for the latter part of the shower to be there to help open our gifts.  Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see him!  We took a few photos with the cake before serving it and delving into the gifts!

My mom ordered these fun wedding dress cupcakes from Sweet Sophia's Bake Shop.  My high school classmate, Sarah, owns the shop in McLean County.

We received so many thoughtful and useful gifts.  One of my bridesmaids, Michelle, was able to be there for the shower so she helped build onto my ribbon bouquet for the rehearsal.  She had started one for me at the bachelorette shower a few weeks earlier.  At both our showers, I managed to keep from breaking any ribbons....and there were A LOT of them!

We had such a wonderful day.  I was so grateful for all the hard work and effort that went into making my bridal shower such a beautiful event!  We absolutely loved the decor...and even kept the banner to use in our engagement photos the next day.  Everything was absolutely perfect!

Andrea :)