This blog has been a long time coming! I just recently threw a bridal shower and bachelorette party for one of my dearest friends, who is marrying an amazing guy in July (yay!). I love planning parties, especially when it’s wedding related, so I started buying items and planning out for this party weekend way back in January. I’ve been dying to post updates on my progress but couldn’t ‘cause I know she reads and I didn’t want to spoil anything for my lovely bride!
Now that the weekend has come and gone, I get to tell you all about it!
I decided I didn’t want the bride to know anything about her special weekend, it’s always more fun that way (and, as a former bride, it’s definitely better if you don’t know about any of the planning, or stressors, that pertain to the parties). So the element of surprise was definitely a fun part of the planning!
We started out on Saturday with a Mad Hatter-themed tea party bridal shower. It got really fun and crazy with giant pink flowers (her wedding colors are ballerina pink, ivory, and black) hanging from the ceiling and pink and white balloons littering the floor. Really gave it a fun, topsy-turvy look. Plus, some of the flowers totally looked like strange chandeliers. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the flowers, but if I find any I’ll post them later.
We also had a weekend-long theme of “tiny food” (something I knew the bride loved). Since it was a tea party, wee appetizers were definitely the way to go! We had the following on our menu (find all recipes at the bottom of this monster post):
-tea sandwiches
-shots of tomato soup with mini-grilled cheese sandwiches
-mini sirloin sliders
-mini stuffed tomatoes w/spicy chicken salad
-mini lettuce wraps
-lemon tea mini muffins
-“J” cookies (the bride’s first initial)
-pink Whoppers (can you believe they make them!)
-chocolate cupcakes (decorated with J’s, of course)
-champagne and Chambord cocktails
-and, of course, an assortment of tea!
Our dessert table all decked out!
Lemon Tea Mini Muffins (recipe below)
Sugar "J" Cookies (recipe below)
I got the amazing chocolate cupcakes from Culture Cupcakes. I highly recommend this baker! She did a fantastic job on the cupcakes, and delivered them to the shower location, too. Yum!
As for other décor, I printed off several of the bride and groom’s engagement photos, framed them, and strategically placed them around the two rooms we used for the shower. We also made personalized stickers for water bottles, teabag favors, and plastic cups (for a shower game). I also spread out lots of pink flowers, black wooden J’s, and other various fun items. We even filled a pink, white, and black ceramic teapot with a beautiful arrangement of flowers for the bride to take home.
The supercute penguin water bottles and table decor!
The party favors: personalized teabags!
One of my favorite items that I found was an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea set, a la Lewis Carroll, complete with two dainty cups and a teapot. Perfect!
I also made “Eat Me” and “Drink Me” signs to place among the food and drink and lend a hand toward our Alice theme.
I also found a print particularly sentimental for the bride and groom and had it framed with a signing mat, which each party guest signed with marriage advice for the blushing bride-to-be. This was one of my favorite ideas!
We collected a wide variety of fun and crazy hats and the bride picked one out for each guest to wear for the duration of the shower, thus completing our Mad Hatter tea party. Here's the bride with some of her bff's in fun hats!
Phase Two of our fabulous party weekend took place at the local Rancho Bernardo Inn, where we had a hotel room for the night and 10 crazy girls to party with. We had more “tiny food,” cake, cookies, drinks, fun party games, and lots to kick off our bachelorette evening. Unfortunately, most of those photos really aren’t appropriate to share, so you’ll have to make do with my written recaps!
We had a fun dinner of Italian tapas (tiny food!) and champagne and set out on a very successful pub crawl for the night.
The next day we spent relaxing poolside (with tiny breakfast food and bellinis, of course) at a couple of prerented cabanas at the Inn. But first we walked the bride down to the spa for a surprise massage/pedicure spa package! This was something I’d thought of last year and was so excited that we pulled it off for her! If you haven’t been to the RB Inn yet, definitely check it out! It’s a beautiful property, and you don’t have to be a hotel guest to use this fabulous pool or spa. It’s so worth it for a fun girls’ day!
Recipes!
Deviled Egg Tea Sandwiches
3/4 cup soft butter or cream cheese
20 slices bread of your choice
4 or 5 hardboiled eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
Spread 1 side of each slice of bread with butter or cream cheese. Place all the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Whirl until a spread is formed, adding reserved oil and/or mayonnaise to bring it to spreading consistency. Spread the mixture evenly over 10 slices of bread, top with the other 10, remove the crusts and cut into tea sandwiches. Makes 40 quarters or 30 fingers.
Almond Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches
Spread:
Combine 3/4 cup butter, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves or 2 tablespoons dried basil.
Filling:
1 cup finely chopped cooked chicken meat
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
20 slices bread, your choice
Combine the filling ingredients. Spread each slice of bread with a thin layer of the butter mixture. Add the filling to half the bread slices and top with the other half, buttered sides in. Remove the crusts and cut the sandwiches as desired. Makes 40 tea sandwiches.
Cucumber and Arugula Tea Sandwiches
1 seedless cucumber
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed baby arugula leaves, coarsely chopped
16 slices very thin whole wheat or white bread
Spread a thin layer of the cheese mixture on each slice of bread. Arrange cucumbers in a single layer on 8 of the slices. Place remaining bread slices over the cucumber, cheese-mixture side down. Using a serrated knife, carefully trim off and discard the crusts. Slice each sandwich in half diagonally and then in half again; each large sandwich makes 4 triangular tea sandwiches.
Ham and Cheese Tea Sandwiches
16 slices very thin whole wheat or white bread
8 to 10 ounces very soft Brie, room temperature
8 thin slices ham, about 4 ounces total
Unsalted butter, softened
Using a serrated knife, carefully trim off and discard the crusts. Slice each sandwich in half diagonally, and then in half again; each large sandwich makes 4 triangular tea sandwiches.
*All tea sandwich recipes were a combination of other recipes I found on the Web so I can't credit them to any particular place since I made up most of it in the end!
Sugar Cookies
(Recipe from: A Taste of Home)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash salt
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until easy to handle.
On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters of your own choice. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
Lemon Tea Mini Muffins
(Recipe from: A Taste of Home)
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Topping:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
In small mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until light and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in yolks. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with lemon juice and peel, stirring just until combined.
In another small mixing bowl (and with clean beaters), beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter.
Fill greased or paper-lined miniature muffin cups 2/3 full. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 for 16 to 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.
Note: Batter may be baked in 8 regular-size muffin cups for 20 to 25 minutes.
You are so awesome Jennie! xoxo
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