I’m interrupting our Paris adventure to bring you this past weekend’s big doing: Natalie and Joe’s baby shower! I loved this event so much that I just had to report in ASAP. My co-host for this shindig was the lovely Marget, Natalie’s sister and my sister-in-law. It seems like just last month we were planning Natalie’s bridal shower, so we work together like a well-oiled machine by now!

We knew family would be traveling in for the festivities, so we decided to make it a co-ed shower so everyone could attend. Marget had the idea to make it an adventure dinner party, and picked out the perfect corner of a Lower East side park, right on the water, as the location. Aside from the scenic views, there was easy road access just a few hundred yards away — always an important consideration when toting in chairs and tables!

We batted around a few aesthetic options, including red striped nautical and Liberty print, before settling on a perfect compromise — summer strawberry! We wanted something sweet and a little bit girly (they are expecting a girl!), but not too girly (it was a co-ed shower!). Here’s the invitation I designed:

Our first inclination was to rent chairs, tables, and linens, because we wanted to seat everyone at one long table. After calling around to many rental companies in Jersey City and Manhattan, we could not find a single one who would let us pick up our small order at their warehouse – and the lowest delivery fee was $250. This was a surprise to me, since my local rental company here in Raleigh will let me do this, but apparently it’s not that easy everywhere!

So, we regrouped and decided to buy slim Ikea stools (on Jordan’s suggestion) and folding tables from Target. We also purchased Ikea Tekla dish towels (perfect with the red stripe!) and planned to use white tablecloths I already had. Done and done!

Except that the day before the party, Marget decided to check the NYC Parks Department one more time to see if there was anything we missed. To our dismay, there was — the first time around, we had read that if you have fewer than 20 people in your party, you’re okay to have chairs and tables… but in the fine print, it said you had to have a permit — and you have to get permits 20+ days in advance! A quick call to a friend at the department confirmed that our park is patrolled frequently and they would definitely shut us down with no permit :( Agh! Several anxious texts later, we decided we would return the tables and instead group the stools around picnic blankets.

Friends, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When we arrived on Saturday evening to set up, the park was packed, and I think we might have attracted more attention than we wanted had we been setting up tables. The only thing that would have been nice would have been to have one table to arrange the food on – it would have been a little easier to serve if it had been higher up!

Alright, enough details — on to the photos! As you can see, we had the most beautiful day. The weather was perfect!!

Our menu: mild and spicy fried chicken (picked up from Popeyes and plated in a pretty baking dish!); grilled corn salad in mini mason jars (loosely based on this recipe); good potato chips and ranch dip; a cheese platter with fruit; pasta salad with cantaloupe and feta; homemade brownies, strawberry tarts, and strawberry ice cream; and root beer, sparkling water, and strawberry lemonade to drink.

Since we had a group diverse in age where not everyone knew each other, we decided to make conversation squares to grease the wheels. They were focused on childhood and parents — appropriate for a shower, and topics everyone has experience with!

We sent guests off with cookie treat bags – everyone got a sugar cookie shaped like a strawberry (the Gianna’s brand at Whole Foods!) and either a black and white cookie (in honor of New York) or a chocolate chip cookie (because everyone loves them).

It was so good to spend time with some of my favorite people. Just T-one month until baby girl arrives! (Hopefully!) Can’t wait to meet our new niece!!

You’ve seen the spring woodlands baby animals inspiration board, and now it’s time for the real thing!

We ordered this invitation from Minted in “tree moss.”

First, a little background: this was Nancy’s one big shower, and the guest list drew from all walks of her life — family, church family, childhood friends, high school friends, more recent friends, team members, and more. We sent invitations to around 60 ladies, and only received a handful of “no” RSVPs. To ease the strain on my house and on street parking, her sister Mary Lindsey and I opted to make the shower an open house, and encouraged guests to drop by between 10am and 1pm. This worked out very well! Guests trickled in for the first hour, mingled for the second, and we opened gifts in the third (we were playing the gift opening by ear, but it worked out great). Some guests stayed for the whole time, and some stayed for a shorter period.

You may recall our Christmas deer. Bucky did an excellent job greeting at the front door outfitted with a custom sign.

As guests arrived, we encouraged them to pin on a pink or blue clothespin based on whether they thought Baby Ray would be a girl or a boy. I proudly wore one of the few pink ones, and was delighted a few months later when my guess was confirmed!

Our only other “game” was a prediction sheet, which we encouraged everyone to fill out before they left.

For decor, I picked up a few bags of moss at World Market and used that to fill in terrariums and cake stands. Callie was my terrarium queen – her loaners made all the difference! I also purchased spring flowers in white, green, and lilac from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s the day before. (I was hoping they would have loose ferns or greenery at Whole Foods — I had seen both there before — but no such luck.) Lastly, I purchased a few potted ferns and repotted them in white pots. Tip: don’t buy them too far in advance, because ferns are notoriously hard to keep alive :)

The little animals are actually Christmas ornaments! I just folded their hanging loops under.

For the linen on the table, we used a few yards of Minted’s Branch Toss fabric. As a memento for Nancy, I had a pillow made from a piece of it for Baby Ray’s nursery post-shower!

Though I contributed a lot of the decor, thankfully, I had almost nothing to do with the food! Nancy’s mother-in-law and friends were amazing, and brought scones, sandwiches, donuts, parfait ingredients, veggies, muffins, and more. We did not want for delicious eats.

The tent cards are from Minted, too — here.

Another very special friend, Ashley of Ashley Cakes, helped us out big time with a beautiful dessert spread. Aren’t those deer cookies the cutest thing you’ve ever seen??? They were delicious, too!

The rest of the shower was simply spent loving on Nancy! Toward the end, her sister led everyone in a really heartfelt prayer, and others got the chance to join in and offer encouragement, too. I know that was a gift for this sweet mama-to-be — probably the best one she got that day!

Love you, Nancy!

Many thanks to the wonderful Elizabeth Tate of Nancy Ray Photography for all of these photos! It was such a joy not to think about taking pictures while getting everything ready!!

I have been working overtime the past few weeks, making and sending piles of tinsel stirrers for sparkly NYE parties and weddings! I don’t usually get to see photos of these beauties at their final destinations, so when my friend Maddy sent me photos from an editorial she asked for my assistance with, I wanted to share! I love the navy, gold, and silver together.

You can see much more on Green Wedding Shoes. Hugs to Athena Pelton for these lovely images!

And with that, I’m signing off until after Christmas! My family is here and I’m excited to hunker down and be cozy and lazy :) I’m not really much of an NYE celebrator myself, but I’ll meet you back here for my 2014 in review post on December 31st – one of my favorite traditions. Until then, I hope y’all have the merriest Christmas!! xo

Usually I like to make a fun little graphic showing how the voting on potential Christmas card designs panned out, since y’all are so generous to give us your opinions! This year, however, there was a landslide winner, and it was the favorite in our household, too…

We chose the Snowy Love and Joy card by Tuleppe from Minted. We don’t get too many flakes down South, and I just couldn’t resist adding a few flurries to our card!

Thanks again to our dear friend Meredith Perdue for this lovely photo of us! And thanks to Natalie and Joe for having a wedding in 2014 and making us look good :) (By the way – stay tuned for a peek at their celebration in January!)

I love creating our newsletter because it gives us a chance to look back on our year and share our favorite parts. Unsurprisingly, our California trip took pride of place in 2014!

Thanks to Minted, however, I feel like the scene stealer this year was the envelope! I LOVED their new designed options. Though I didn’t take advantage of their free (!) addressing service this year, I can guarantee you I will in the future!

Though I enjoy hand-addressing our envelopes at the moment, it’s not a deal breaker for me. There are two things, however, that are. First, it’s important to us that our Christmas cards are not all about us. We send them out at Christmas to share our joy at the birth of our Savior with the people we love the most, and we want to remind people of that in a personal way. That’s why we include a few thoughts on what Christmas means to us, and a favorite piece of scripture.

Second, I refuse to send cards out without a handwritten note. I know a lot of folks do so, and I can understand why, but I view our Christmas cards as a touchpoint for friends and family that I don’t get to see or talk to as much as I would like, and I want it to be a truly personal one. And don’t worry, I didn’t forget y’all :)

Hope you love them!

P.S. Our 2013 and 2012 Christmas cards