{DIY} Michelle's Bridal Shower

So you saw the decorations and towel cake I made, now here's the final product!

We were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get everything set up before people showed up and we still started half an hour late. Oops! Running between the parking garage, apartment, and party room while also waiting for the elevator really sucks up a lot of time! Next time if I were to use a condo party room again, I would definitely allocate more time beforehand in the party room to set up.

Aside from that, I think it went pretty well and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

As guests walked in, they were greeted by a little pom pom.

Sparkling Citrus Punch, Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (with my paper flags), and chips & guacamole.

Angus Beef and Chicken Sliders with the food picks I put together. And there's one of the three large green pom poms. I didn't have time to fluff them properly...

Yay, food!

The guests waiting for the party to get started! You can see how badly I fluffed the green pom pom on the left...

We asked the guests to write a message or leave Michelle some advice which we would use to compile a little book for her new life as a Mrs.

The first activity.

Guests filling up their plates!

On paper I felt like we had no food. In actuality, there was A LOT!

We came up with a list of questions and sent them to both the bride and groom to answer on their own. Then Mandie picked the more ambiguous answers and guests had to guess whether "He" said it, if "She" said it, or if they both said it!

"He Said, She Said".

It was hard getting the moms and aunts to pay attention! They're a chatty bunch!

The young crowd paid attention!

For the second game, a list of items were allotted points and if you had that item, you got the corresponding points. The person with the most points won. And you bet Mandie did surprise "audits"! We had to make sure that they actually had what they claimed to have! Some people (Michelle) claimed to have a hair brush but couldn't prove it because it wasn't there!

Tallying up points for the "What's In Your Purse?" game.

The girls checking what they have in their purses.

Some of the resulting advice/message cards. No clue what that says...

For the little "photobooth", the original plan was to use a white table cloth behind so that the blues and greens would pop... buuut, the plastic of the table cloth kept sliding out from the tape so that was a bust.

The paper dot garlands hung up!

Bridesmaids with the bride! We've known each other for half our lives! (Well, Fi and I have known each other longer...)

Michelle and her bouquet of gerber daisies.

Group shot, though we did lose some people before this.

Gift time!

Kathy monkeying around with the paper dot garlands.

I love this picture. Michelle's grandma is watching Kathy play with the garlands, probably wondering who the crazy girl is!

Michelle and the two moms.

Forget the veil and floral bouquet, I think this is the look to use on wedding day!

Now that both the bachelorette and bridal shower are done, it's time to get cracking on some of the stuff needed for the wedding! Only two months to go!

What about you? Anyone else helping out with wedding festivities this year? Or attending many weddings?

{DIY} Bridal Shower Prep

After all the bachelorette fun, it was time to get working on the bridal shower for Michelle. She wanted a simple gathering with family and close friends so I got started on the decor to jazz up the party room.

A few months back I saw Oh Happy Day's Jordan's tutorial for Paper Dots Garlands and loved them, but wasn't sure where to buy crepe paper folds so I thought nothing more of it. Then I was browsing the aisles of Dollarama and spotted these 10 metre rolls of crepe paper in the green theme that we wanted (they also had packages of pinks/purples and yellow/orange/red). They weren't stretchy like regular crepe paper but they were already pre-cut and they did the job.

I followed these steps and it probably took me about an hour (in front of the tv of course) to do each roll.

Paper Dots Garland tutorial and images by Oh Happy Day.

My finished garlands!

We planned for a little photo op with the bride-to-be and these garlands were to be the backdrop.

Up next? Tissue paper pom poms! Seriously, these days you can't have a bridal shower without some tissue paper pom poms! I consulted the millions of tutorials already online to make 3 large green pom poms.

Tissue Paper Pom Poms tutorial and images by Martha Stewart.

These are so easy to make, I'm always so curious as to who buys the pre-cut packages. Aside from Martha selling them, I was at Michael's and saw another company's package of 6 in the bridal aisle selling for $29.99! That's crazytown! Our green pom poms were essentially just $1 each for each pack of tissue paper and I used other materials I already owned - instead of floral wire I used twist ties and just used some thread for the string.

I made two smaller blue ones with tissue paper I already owned since we had three large bright green ones and I figured it'd be nice to break up the colour a little bit.

The view from below. I used 8 sheets for the dark blue pom pom and 10-12 sheets of tissue paper for the light blue pom pom. I like the fuller pouf a lot more.

We planned to serve some sliders and needed some toothpicks to keep the buns and meat together. We tried looking in stores for some pretty toppers but couldn't find anything that wouldn't break the bank so I decided to make my own.

Food Picks tutorial and images by Studio DIY.

I used a similar process as Studio DIY. Instead of tissue paper I used a roll of crepe paper I already owned. Because the crepe paper was 2" wide, I cut 3-4" inch sections and folded the crepe paper in half so they would be an inch long, cut the fringe, and then dabbed beads of glue to wrap around each toothpick.

Crepe paper food picks.

We also wanted some cupcake toppers and I wanted different ones from the sliders. I wish I had washi tape because this would've been so much easier. Instead I cut up some blue-ish paper I already owned (thicker than printer paper but thinner than cardstock) into flags and poked two holes at the ends to thread the toothpicks through.

For the gift, the bridesmaids bought bath and hand towels and I constructed a towel cake out of them. To top the cake off, my mom made some wash cloth puppies.

Pretty from the front.

Hot mess in the back lol.

I used a paper towel roll to create a fuller base and so that I could wrap the towels for the top tier around instead of using pins to attach them to the base.

The profile of the towel cake. It's more padded at the front because of how I needed to fold the towels to show the monograms.

Do you have any "must have" party decor items? Have you made anything you've pinned or been inspired by on other blogs lately?

Come back Thursday to see how it all came together!

{Out & About} Weekend Shenanigans

What a miserable weekend weather-wise! Friday evening was spent at the National Ballet of Canada for 'Hamlet', which I enjoyed more than most Shakespearean plays I've seen because my brain can never grasp the language quick enough.

Of course by the time the ballet was over it was full on pouring rain and we had to hop scotch our way back to the car to avoid all the puddles. Didn't work - my shoes and pants were still soaked! Although that wasn't as bad as what people had to endure at Union Station which had flooded in the afternoon.

Jack & Rose barely made it out! 

(Not sure what the original source is as this got tweeted and re-tweeted over and over.)

A few of us drove to Stratford on Saturday and we had our fingers crossed that the rain would hold out until we were in the theatre at least (at most it was just light rain).

Cumulus clouds hovering over fields along Hwy 7/8.

Downie Street in Stratford.

Lovely stained glass ceiling at Coffee Culture.

The Avon Theatre where we saw the matinee of 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown'  and 'The Pirates of Penzance' in the evening. 

Bieber used to play on these steps and I swear I've seen him before! I remember seeing a blond kid and thinking, "Where are his parents?!" (Laughing all the way to the bank now...)

A vending machine for live bait...

So yes. I saw Shakespeare at the ballet and not Shakespeare in Stratford...

On Sunday I went to look at some finishes at a decor centre (not mine, unfortunately) and I hope my builder has less options (which I think they do)! It's just so much to think about and visualize when you're essentially visualizing from a floor plan!

So many cabinets! I want this kitchen. But maybe with white uppers instead.

Cabinet styles on the left with the stain options behind the doors and bathroom and floor tiles on the right.

Hardwood, engineered hardwood, carpets, more cabinets, granite, and laminate countertops! Decisions, decisions.

Some of the options for railings.

So many choices!

Some of the back splash options.

So then I got a little tour of the new neighbourhood which is still in my town. Who knew this existed here?! Certainly not me, despite living here for 24 years! I tend to stick to the southern portion of my town and this is way more North than I ever go.

It's a bit of a hike to get to, but worth it!

I wish I had a cottage and that this was my backyard.

I'm so excited for this place to come together and it's not even mine!