Hello, friends! I’ve had a whirlwind two weeks! (I feel as though I’ve been saying that a lot lately…) I can’t wait to tell you all about my adventures – a wedding in Maine, my bachelorette, my bridal shower, a wedding in Newport, another week in Maine – but right now I’m focusing on the final big event in the near future – John’s sister’s wedding! It’s just five days away, and we’re all bursting with excitement. Fingers crossed for great weather on Sunday!!

While I get my thoughts and photos organized, I did want to share with you a post I’ve been working on for quite some time. It’s my take on the wedding day prep kit. I think it’s a great idea for every gal to have one with her on her wedding day – if you’ve hired a wedding planner/coordinator, it’s almost certain she’ll bring one with her, but if not, it’s probably something you should compile yourself. I know I’ll be bringing mine with me on Sunday!

Solid perfume | pain reliever | wipes | snacks (perfect for post-portraits, pre-ceremony) | water bottles | blotting film | bandaids | bobby pins | a lint roller | deodorant | safety pins | white chalk (for coloring over small stains on white fabric, like a wedding gown!) | a travel sewing kit | corsage pins | clear nail polish (for stalling snags) | travel tissue packs | a nice pen (for signing cards or a marriage license, or supplementing the guest book) | mints (not gum) | shout to go wipes | fashion tape

Would you add anything to this kit?

We have almost finished up John’s shopping for the big day! As you know, he’ll be wearing a classic tux, but we still needed to outfit it with a few accessories. The nice thing about classic accessories is that you can usually find options at a range of price points. To demonstrate, I’ve rounded up some options above – more expensive on the left, less expensive on the right. We chose from both columns for John. Happy shopping!

Suspenders:
J. Crew Drakes London 9/10″ wide suspenders for $70 OR The Grunion Run 1″ wide suspenders for $14

Bow ties:
Brooks Brothers self-tie bow tie in English silk for $60 OR Bows ‘N Ties self-tie bow tie in sateen silk for $20

Shoes:
Johnston & Murphy dress lace-up oxford for $175 OR Pronto Uomo patent leather tuxedo shoes for $70

One of the highlights of my crazy week was co-hosting a bridal shower for John’s sister, a topic of much discussion on this blog. Her wedding is coming up in just less than one month, so I figured it was high time to show you the finished project! To recap, I gathered inspiration here, shared our inspiration board here, and sent out these invitations.

See all of the credits on the original post!

One of Marget’s best friends graciously allowed us to host the shower in her apartment, and it turned out to be the perfect size for our intimate gathering – about 15 gals. The food table was the main focal point, and I have to say, I’m pretty proud of our spread! I designed a menu in Illustrator to match the invitations (I used the Love*Jenna clipart from this PDF for the frame – great resource!). The individual servings of fruit salad with washi tape-secured cocktail forks were a big hit! (I was inspired by this birthday party.) The plastic cups and forks were from Party City.

Rounding out the edibles were individual cups of cut veggies (we added the ranch dressing right before guests were scheduled to arrive), delicious cucumber sandwiches (we loosely followed this recipe), and deviled eggs. The veggie cups were also from Party City, and happily, we were able to save and hand wash many of them for use at a future party!

We did a really fun “mix your own mimosa” bar for drinks, with orange, grapefruit, and strawberry apple mix-ins.

Finally, for dessert, we had quite the spread: a fruit tart, a carrot cake, and a donut croquembouche! One note, if you’re thinking of making something similar: buy a lot of donut holes!! I think we used about 75 on this baby. The drink stirrers and flags were made by me.

For decor, we kept things simple: gorgeous pink peonies, and lots and lots of hand-punched confetti, including more gold glitter hearts.

We had two main activities at the shower, besides the usual mingling, nibbling, and watching Marget open gifts. As guests arrived, they each selected a little envelope. Each envelope had a date on the outside, and a blank card on the inside. We asked the ladies to write Marget a note appropriate to their date, and then at the end of the shower, we gave all of the sealed envelopes to Marget. The ideas is that she’ll have a sweet note to open every day for the two weeks leading up to her wedding! The cards and envelopes were from Paper Presentation, and the little stickers were from Martha Stewart’s Avery Line at Staples.

The second activity of the day was our version of the Newlywed Game! While M + S were visiting John and me earlier this spring, I distracted Marget while John filmed Seth answering a series of questions. We edited the short clips, then asked Marget the same questions at the shower, and compared her answers. Fun!

We of course didn’t send the ladies off empty-handed – favors were tiny bottles of Essie nail polish, tied off with cute “Live colorfully.” Kate Spade approved, indeed :)

We had so much fun putting this shower together for Marget, and I think she had a great time! I hope y’all enjoyed following along!

For my second NSS 2012 pick, I bring you new cake toppers from Figs & Ginger! I love how they broke out famous lines and quotes into multi-piece toppers – so different and meaningful. These designs don’t seem to be available yet in their shop, but keep an eye out!

Photo on left by Cyn Kain and photo on right by Nole Garey

Part 1