My Iced Tea Bridal Shower Recap on Mel’s Monday

Yay! I am SO excited about today’s “Mel’s Monday” because I finally get to share some kind of recap from my own pre-wedding events! I’ve been dying to share pics from my Iced Tea Bridal Shower that took place over the Fourth of July weekend. My wonderful sister, Lydia was an amazing host and brought out the Martha Stewart in her to create a truly unforgettable and most perfect bridal shower day for me. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. My mom was there as she always is to help be the “creative team behind the scenes” as I like to call it, helping with set-up, special props and other creative elements. I LOVE that we get our creative streak from her and I’ve already warned Mr. Oceanside that I do plan on passing down the gene to our future children so he should just go ahead and be prepared for future family weekends to be filled with paint, glue, stencils, hot glue guns, felt, card stock, stickers and rubber stamps! Lol.

Anyway, no further delays, let’s dive into the fun weekend we had…

My sister made the most unique bridal shower invites that welcomed the guests to the “Iced Tea” themed bridal shower. She home printed the invites,  cut out the little paper tea cups by hand and assembled the card stock invites that included a layer of lace and an adorable little “tea bag” made of fabric and thread that shared our registry information. Creative don’t you think?!

Haha, my silly bridesmaid Dominique is all about “photo opportunities” and saw one using the props! Lol…this is me and the host, my beautiful sister Lydia.

Although this took place on a warm Georgia summer afternoon, I LOVED the outdoor set up. It was so perfect!

Mmmm, mmmm…my mom’s chicken salad croissants and Asian lettuce/chicken wraps are amazing!! Trust me.

The games were so fun!! I was super shocked and overwhelmed with excitement by one game my sister came up with.  She found a way to incorporate my blog- The Oceanside Bride! She printed these amazing cards with a snapshot of us, the blog homepage, and the game instructions. In case you have a friend who blogs and want to incorporate it somehow in her pre-wedding events here were the instructions for the challenge:

Blogging the Big Day!

The Oceanside Bride is about to be married but who will blog HER story? That would be YOU…well sort of.  Since the big day hasn’t actually happened, it would be hard to write about it. So you’re challenge today is to create a blog TITLE for the happy couple!

Directions: With the ladies at your table, combine your creativity to come up with a blog title that reflects Mel and Mark’s relationship and love for each other.

Use this sheet to brainstorm, write, and re-write. When you think you have the perfect title, write it on The Oceanside Bride’s blog page (in the blank box).

The game was played throughout the shower and teams had to turn in their final titles before gifts were opened.

The fun part? I got to review all the creative “anonymous” blog titles and choose the winner. Once I read the winning title out loud, my sister revealed the team members who won the grand prize!

We had a private table for two…my Matron of Honor {and cousin} Katrina flew in from California to be a part of my day. =)

Family & friends working hard on their blog titles…ha ha!

Loved this window pane of tea cups that my mom made!

Favors were cute cups filled with little packets of cookies and tea!

That’s a pic of me (above) opening up one of my favorite gifts from my youngest sister, Stacy and her hubby. It is seriously the most unique salt and pepper grinder I spotted at a Georgia state fair I went to with my mom and sisters for Mother’s Day. I wanted it so bad but being on a wedding budget, didn’t buy it.  Somehow Stacy and my brother in law (who were there at the fair) bought it behind my back when I wasn’t looking! Sneaky, sneaky….

Don’t ask me what the paper napkins/doilies are for (first pic above)…I still don’t know. My sister had me leave when she explained the object of these to the guests. I’m assuming I’ll find out soon though, lol! =)

And since we had a destination wedding and some of my bridal shower guests were not attending the wedding, I decided to leave out my wedding guest puzzle that served as our guest book. Although they wouldn’t be at the actual wedding, all of these people have been in my life for many, many years and have still contributed their time, love and support throughout our lives and wedding planning so I felt it was important to capture their presence by signing a piece of our “guest book” wedding puzzle. As I put it to guests at our wedding in Cabo, each and every one of these people are a “piece” to our puzzle and without them we would not be complete.

And I love this last picture we took at my shower. These are some of the most influential, strong and independent, encouraging, nurturing, and loving women in my life.  In this picture are my moms, mother-in-laws, sisters, cousins, middle school, high school and college best friends, old co-workers turned friends for life, cheerleaders, support system, shoulders I’ve cried on, will cry on, and hands I promise to hold should they need a friend. The women in this picture, blood or not, are family.

An even greater blessing is that I have more amazing women in my life who were not able to be there physically but who were there in spirit. It’s such a blessing to have so many wonderful women (and men) who are always in my corner and I thank God every day for these gifts.

All photo credits go to my step-sisters, Christy Browne and Jamie Grant. =)