Have I mentioned that my baby brother is getting married? Have I mentioned that BabyGirl is the flower girl? Have I mentioned that I am a bridesmaid? Have I mentioned that I adore my soon to be Sister-in-law? OK, well, yeah. That's the deal.
As a bridesmaid, I feel a tad responsible for helping in the planning of the wonderful event. Unfortunately, I live too far away to be of any real help. I'm mostly the on-call bridesmaid who answers odd questions like, "When should Beck start the pill?" (from Bubba, believe it or not) and, "Do you have a heat gun?" (from Princess), and, "What color would look good with cornflower blue?" (from Beck).
Our family is scattered around the country. Cousins in Chicago, Springfield, Tennessee, and Canada, Aunt in St.Louis, Grandmothers & Aunts spread about Illinois, and me in a somewhat central location between them & Beck. So in August, I'm hosting a small shower at my house for Beck...oh, and Bubba too, but he's not invited. I'm sending out 16 invites & expecting about 10-12 guests.
Here's the dilemma, I've never hosted a wedding shower before! I've hosted a baby shower or two, but never a wedding shower. I've got invites & they're filled out waiting a final bit of info from the bride. Unkie Di has offered up her help. I'm going to order a small cake (1/4 sheet should do for 10-12 people, shouldn't it?). Punch, mints, nuts, fruit/veggie tray.....past that I have no clue what to do! Games? What kind?
Please, dear readers, help a FarmWife! I need suggestions!
4 comments:
one thing I did for Anna's shower years ago that I wish someone had done for me is buy a set of nice thank you notes. Enough for the attending guests, have each guest put their name and address on one of the envelopes and then use the envelopes for a drawing for one of the door prizes that you have on hand for shower games. Then at the end you give the bride-to-be the thank you notes and envelopes already addressed for her so she doesn't have the hassle of trying to gather addresses from various family members later on. Which was one of the big pains for me when I got married.
Zann's idea is right on! That was THE BEST EVER that someone did for me...and at the baby showers as well.
Also - if you can pick up some nifty scrapbook pages, you can have each guest right down their advice for happy married life (you know the ones - "you can either be right or happy"). OR - have everyone bring a recipe from each category to share with her...and take a ton of pictures.
I am NOT a game person, and hate the games that draw any attention to me, or any forthcoming intimacy between my husband and myself...especially if Beck doesn't like being the center of attention...she may prefer to just chat about hopes and dreams, getting to know the ladies of her new family better, you know?
Honestly, ask her if she wants games...if so, visit the great Internets for "Wedding Shower ideas"...they'll have fun things you can do or play...
I third the envelope suggestion.
And wanted to share the most startling advice - it came from my hubby's 93 year old grandmother...
Ready?
Shower together - it conserves water.
It took me awhile to figure out the advice about showering applied to the newly married couple and not the wedding shower guests. I'm a little slow on the uptake.
I totally agree on the thank you note thing. In fact, if I send you a list of all the folks who gave Grasshopper gifts, can Beck just write those two? And while we're at it, I'm three years late on some other thank you's too. She will be so busy writing my thank you's that she will no longer have time to think about hyperventilating or panicking. See, I am such a thoughtful cousin-in-law or whatever I'll be.
I wish we could be there. For some reason, I had it in my head that this was all happening in 2010, so my broken rump didn't stress me out. But when I read about it recently and it dawned on me that it's THIS September, I got all bummed. Which is appropriate, considering it's the broken bum that is keeping me in Canada. Argh. Once the bum gets fixed, I will no longer be bummed. Well, we hope. If he doesn't mess it up. Anyway, I'm rambling on your blog. About my butt, no less.
You gotta love your redheaded cousin.
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