With all the wedding hoopla going on in my life I know I’ve been absent from the blogosphere way too much this last six weeks. I just simply couldn’t find the time to sit down and blog between my work load for a dozen or so clients and all that was going on leading up to the wedding. Literally every minute of everyday of the last few months and especially the last two was either work, wedding or rehearsal dinner “stuff”. But, now the wedding has come and gone and life is settling back into some sort of normalcy so I plan to do my best to catch up.
But, of course I can’t catch up without blogging about some of the exciting events we had going on in our world leading up to the wedding. One of these events was the amazingly wonderful shower some of my good friends gave the bride and groom. It started with these adorable invitations done by Nicole Page Designs. (I blocked the address and contact info with the little strips of black paper. Obviously it looks better without that stuck on top!) An Italian themed shower with the catch phrase “That’s Amore’” leading the way.
It was held at my good friend Connie’s beautiful home. If you’re a follower of my blog or read it frequently you will have seen her home before. It’s the place for many occasions in our group – the most recent being the baby shower we had which you can check out here.
Oddly, one consistent “issue” we’ve had with all the couple’s showers we’ve thrown for our kids – and there have been numerous – is that we’ve been almost “cursed” with horrible weather. We’ve experienced unexpected snap freezes where multiple heat lamps had to be purchased last minute, unexpected stifling heat waves where fans had to be added last minute, thunderstorms with torrential down pours (you can view that shower here) and even a tornado……yes….a tornado!
The last time we had a couple’s shower at Connie’s house a tornado blew through three days before the party. Yep – right after she and her husband had meticulously cleaned out, planted and groomed their lawn and gardens for the event – a tornado came roaring through and snapped 11 or more tree’s, ripped up flowers and all but destroyed their beautiful gardens. As well as knocked out their electricity! I was actually there when it happened – helping her to babysit her grandchildren so her girls (the kid’s mommies) could go out for some “grown up” time. We crouched in the bathroom with the little ones and her dog while her husband looked out the window counting as the trees came down. Crazy! It was unnerving and unbelievable, but, with the help of family and friends they whipped it back into shape within a couple of days and on we went with the shower!
But, fortunately for my son and his fiancé’ the “weather curse” seems to have been broken and we actually had picture perfect weather here in Texas for their big night. And, I mean picture perfect! Something right out of a storybook. Her gardens were immaculate, the weather was comfortable and crisp……the atmosphere absolutely magical.
All around the lawn were tables with checked cloths or toppers, Italian bread sticks, candles and later big bottles of Chianti.
All her flowers looked amazingly vibrant and colorful.
As did the hostesses….
Three of my oldest and dearest friends.
They used wine bottles and mason jars as candle holders and added little vases of roses for a sweet touch.
So quaint….
A great turn out with family and friends.
My daughter-in-law with two of my wonderful friends. Connie, an event coordinator by trade, and Barb, a fabulous chef and party thrower extraordinaire, brought their ultimate expertise to the wedding prep and helped me out immensely! You can see them at one of Barb’s awesome parties on my blog post here.
The adorable happy couple.
To create this long 16 foot table that accommodated twenty seats Connie and Craig set up three or four saw horses for support and placed two 8 foot boards on top. They covered the boards with white paper and added crayons for the guests to draw or sign the table top with. Great idea, inexpensive to do and worked like a charm!
More great friends who were there to support Daniel and Melissa. They’ve watched him grow up. Love them all! You’ve seen them before on several of my blog posts, too. One of the couple’s showers with this group – I blogged about last summer – you can check it out here.
As part of the fun Connie had them re-tell their “love story” in intermittent intervals throughout the evening and re-enact the proposal. You can see the real proposal here. While Italian music played in the background – every time the phrase “That’s Amore” was said they had to stop and smooch. Too cute.
Melissa said the evening was even more wonderful and magical than she expected and said it was the perfect prelude to the wedding. And, I must say, I couldn’t agree more!
Happy Decorating!
you are right, sheri, it was a PERFECT night!