British Shower: The DecorUM

Get it, decorUM? Because British folks are so proper? O-kayyyyyy....

Quick side story about England and decorum: Living in North Carolina, I am really not used to mass transportation, and prefer the personal space of my car. Mass transit makes me nervous and I usually do something stupid while I'm on a bus, train, plane, metro, etc. One time I was in London on a bus with BM Bunny and another friend of ours. The bus stopped, and I let go of the pole I was holding onto briefly. Then the bus abruptly started and I went flying down the aisle, and the only way to stop myself was to grab onto something, and what I grabbed onto happened to be an older woman's boob. #lack of decorum

Anyways, I know you are dying to know how we decorated for this Britsh Shower. Luckily, I have a coworker who lived in England for a while. She donated most of the decor, and it was awesome. She had books, records, stuffed animals, and British cars...see?

We also used some of my milk glass vases, Cadbury minis, and British magazines I got in Ireland. The Beatles poster above - I got that for free, as well as a Queen of England sticker decal, from one of Vistaprint's awesomely free (just pay shipping) promotions!

The Favors:

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Cadbury Double Decker candy bar wrapped in a cute label courtesy of BM K.

The faux-to booth:

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Also created by BM K. Princes Charles, William, and Harry are all there as well as Paul McCartney and Elton John, and of course the Queen!
(That's me and Mini Magic!)

The recipe box:

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A box for the recipes was tough to find, so I got a tiny lunch box and decorated it. Her kitchen colors are red and black so I used those instead of a British theme. And there was a similar sticker on the inside that said "with love from your family and friends" - the sticker also helped to anchor the ribbon down.

Queen Accessories:

A throne, a sash, a crown, and a scepter. Scepter made by Mini Magic - she helped SO much, I decided to take her to Paris as a way of showing my gratitude!*

Other details:

Name tags that showed the person's relationship to the bride, and let each person complete the sentence "my favorite thing about england is...."


Straw Flair! Tutorial here.


Stupid Gooco-ed napkins.

This was such a disaster that I cannot elaborate on it anymore at this time, but promise I will in the future. Once I figure out how the damn thing works. And get some ink blocker - apparently that's like, important or something.

Finally, the games! We played two games. One was a quiz for guests to fill out about how well they know the bride. It was pretty vicious and people were negotiating for partial credit! In the end, Bridesmaid K won!

The next game was to spice up the gift opening some. For Pumpkin to open a gift, she first had to answer a question correctly. The questions corresponded to different categories such as London, Miss Pumpkin in England, The Groom in England, and Pop British culture. I think people enjoyed it, and it was just another little way to bring in the British theme (which as you hopefully can see, we had fully committed to!)

What are some of the details you loved about a shower you attended - or your own shower?

*Just kidding, I was already planning on taking her to Paris. We leave July 12th!

British Shower: Eatin' and Drankin'

Yes, I said "drankin'." It was a, um, southern England party.

I thought I'd let you in on some of the thinkin' behind throwing a British shower. You know, in case you have a Britophile freak for a friend and need to throw a shower in this style. As I said before, the theme was chosen because the bride, Pumpkin, loves England! The idea for a British tea was passed around, but that was a bit too stuffy for our group of gals so we stuck with the British theme but made it more fun.

The food and drinks were a bit of a challenge, because, as you may have heard, British food is not all that delish (sorry British bees...maybe we just aren't cultured enough to appreciate it!). Plus, BM Pumpkin is a vegetarian, so having "bangers and mash" was out.

 

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In the end, we decided to do half semi-authentic British food, and half regular party food with made up British names. We kept it vegetarian because we are so freakin' thoughtful (although having chicken wings did cross my mind, I'm not gonna lie. We could have called them, um, "Big Ben's Chick-en." Haha, I'm so (not) clever).

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For the drinks we had Liverpool Punch and Pimms Cup, which is the Official Drink of Wimbeldon.

Left: Pimm's Cup prepared by Bridesmaid Bunny. She used Pimms liquor, sprite, strawberries, cucumbers, and lemons. Right: Liverpool Punch (sherbert punch) made by Matron of Honor M.

Next, we had cheese and crackers...but not just any crackers! Recently, I was just in Ireland, and my hotel was in walking distance from a Tesco. I was chatting with BM Pumpkin and asked, under the pretense of being hungry, what I should get from Tesco. She immediately responded with "Jacob's Cream Crackers and Cadbury Double Decker candy bars." I know, she's crazy. I lied to her and told her I could never get to the Tesco, but in my luggage I brought back two packages of Jacob's Cream Crackers (below) and 25 Double Decker candy bars (you'll see those later).

We had cucumber sandwiches, which we deemed...

Brie in puff pastry (not shown) and assorted nuts as...

Veggie pinwheels named...

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Veggies and Prince Robert's Hummus because Robert, the groom, is addicted to hummus!

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We also had Spice Girls Chips and Salsa, Guac Wellington, and Fergie's Fruit. But the piece de resistance was...

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Ab Fab Cake
Matron of Honor M got this lovely cake! So delicious!

It was all totally delicious and was eaten right up! Did you really get into the theme via food and beverage at a party you hosted?

British Shower: The Invitations

Woo hoo, invitations for BM Pumpkin's shower! I was so excited to get started on these and, not gonna lie, was using them as a bit of a trial run to see how challenging it would be to do the invites for my wedding all by myself.

Disclaimer: These are, like, semi-DIY. Kinda like that show Semi-Homemade Cooking.

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This show cracks me up. I swear, one time she bought a bundt cake from the store, put large marshmallows in the middle, and frosted the whole thing with green icing. I think it was for St. Patrick's Day.

Anyway, these invites were also semi homemade. I decided to combine the shower invites and bachelorette invites since both events were on the same day. I also decided not to make the invitations British themed, since the theme for the shower was a surprise and I do not trust 30 women to keep a secret. Instead, I used Pumpkin's wedding colors which are Carolina blue, black, and white.

I got the shower invite and matching recipe card from www.downloadandprint.com. I printed them out on my computer on white cardstock I got from Michaels. I printed them in two batches, which made some color variation and I have no idea why.

Crappy pics by me. I did prop them on a Brides magazine though.

Then I decided, since sometimes guests get confused, that they might need some explanation on the recipe card. Being a Type A freak (about only some things - I was def not concerned with ten zillion shades of blue on the invites), I really wanted the recipe cards to be a surprise. Plus, I wanted to encourage people to send the card back even if they couldn't come. This was important since a lot of the guests, including the groom's family, live far away. So I made this...get ready to be impressed....

I know. It's amazing. Look, I was doing this on a Mac which is still new to me, so it really was more challenging than it appears....

Finally (or so I thought), I needed to make the bachelorette invitation. I toyed with making it hot pink but my inner matchy-matchy bride won out. I came up with this gem:

Note the dotted border. Fancy huh?

Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was printed, right? Not quite yet, I realized. What about some of those snazzy wrap around address labels?

I used the famous Martha Stweart template but then made it my own! See the dotted lines?

OK, now we're finish...oh, wait. I need something to contain this four piece invitation suite. Hmmmmmmm. How about...

-a heart paper clip to attach the recipe instructions to the recipe card

and

-some black dotted ribbon to tie it altogether!

But wait, do you see something in the top left corner? What's that black and white daisy print?

Behold, there is no truer statement than "Necessity is the mother of invention." I stuffed these beautiful envelopes, turned the envelope over, and noticed that the lovely black dotted ribbon was clearly evident through the envelope, ruining all the hard effort I had put into both the inside invitation and the outside of the envelope. I had done a lot of work, designing, printing, cutting, and cursing my Mac and printer for their uncooperative ways. I had made wraparound address labels, for goodness sake! Was I going to let this flimsy, see through, tramp of an envelope foil my invitation suite at last???

HELL no. I was not.

I knew probably I was the only one who would notice. I knew I was the only one who cared. Mr. Magic said "Just leave it, it's fine." But no. Tramp envelope had to go.

I went to Michael's for the umpteenth time that day and bought a book of 8x8 black, white, and grey card stock. In retrospect, I should have gone with something thinner, but oh well, live and learn. I followed this tutorial.

Mini Magic couldn't wait to rip into hers!

OK, now that the envelope is properly clad, we're done. Except...now the envelopes were so full that simply licking and sticking was not enough. Since I already had sticker paper from the labels, I just busted out a bunch of round stickers outlined in dots with the bride and groom's initials in them, used a circle punch to cut them out, and stuck those bad boys on!

Note: I have no idea why this envelope looks so banged up. This was after traveling and being devoured by that sister of mine!

After making these invitations for 30 women, I'm telling you, I felt exhausted. It took way longer than I had anticipated. But, it was a LOT of fun! And now I am a bit more familiar with the process. I'm still toying with how much work I want to put in for my own invites.

I'll leave you with some last pics and a question - did you outsource your invites or DIY? Why?

The invitations suite in all it's glory!

Mini Magic so excited for her first shower and bachelorette party!

Because it rains a lot in England...

We decided to throw Miss Penguin (aka my BFF) a British Shower! No really...it does rain a lot there. And she studied abroad there, loves The Beatles more than anything, and is basically a freak for anything British. So, a British themed shower it is!

Here's a sneak peak of the fabulousness of it!



More DIY details to come later....

E-Pics: Bring Your Own...

Wedding planning is kind of funny, in that most of the folks planning weddings have never done it before. So, each new experience is, well, new. And that means, you aren't sure how to do it. And by "you," I really mean "me."

So here's what I did right and what could be improved upon with the e-pics, aside from my anxiety.

What this Polar Bear did right:

1. Brought water for me, Mr PB, and our lovely photographers. It was hot, and the water was somewhat refreshing.

2. Brought 2 handheld fans I purchased from REI.

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One was tiny, the other spritzed water. We didn't really use the water fan (hello, makeup disaster!) but it was nice to know they were there if we needed them.

3. Brought some blotting sheets along. My makeup artist said to get them, so I did.

4. Wore the best shoes in the entire world. I've posted about them before, but I'm not linking it here. I'm gonna surprise you with the awesome pro pics (when I get them).

5. Wore jewelry that had special meaning to me, or that I just really really love. Like my e-ring, bracelets that remind me of my sister, and a necklace from Mr. PB's mom.

What this Polar Bear could have done better:

1. Used the blotting sheets. Just an idea.

2. Brought bug spray! Oh my, the bugs started getting bad and I am a total mosquito magnet. I think we all walked away with at least ten fresh bites.

3. Thought more about what Mr. PB and I do to show each other affection. Like, he has always been into giving me kisses on my forehead. But I didn't think about it, and we were both kind of nervous so it didn't just naturally happen.

4. Gotten a magical bag that would float alongside us and carry the water, keys, sunglasses, fans, etc. for us. Our photographers ended up carrying our bag, because if we carried it, it was too hard for them to take pics of us - I'd have to put the bag down and it was just ruining the flow. I'm not really sure how to fix this, hence the magic bag. You know, like the one Hermione has that can hold anything, but is tiny and she can stuff it in her sock? Yeah, like that bag.

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Ok, hopefully those tips are helpful for someone out there in weddingblog land. I cannot wait to see our pro pics!!!!

"Oh anxiety...

You're mine all the time..." Those lyrics are from The Never, a local band that we love (and can you guys put out some new music soon, please? ok thanks.)



I'm an anxious person. I tend to do some catastrophic thinking. That's when your thoughts run away from you in your mind. It goes a little somethin' like this:

"OMG, I totally have no idea what that professor was talking about in bio class. I mean, does he think I'm like, a biologist or something? Seriously, this isn't Yale. I'm totally going to fail. But I have to pass Bio 11 to be a psychologist don't I??? OMG. I'm never going to be a psychologist. I'm going to flunk out of college, and I'll end up living on the street and I'll be homeless and pan handleing illegally and addicted to crack and meth and like, I don't know, whatever other drugs are out there, and I'll be telling all the college students who walk by me that I used to be one of them and now JUST LOOK AT ME!!!!!!!!!!" (This is pretty accurate of an actual freakout I had freshman year, although perhaps this recap is not quite as dramatic.)

That's catastrophic thinking. I might have done a smidge of it yesterday on the day of our engagement pictures.

First, I worried about the temperature (which I had been worrying about ever since the first really hot day in NC this year). Then I worried about the light. I worried about whether we'd be natural/romantic/interesting/pretty/handsome enough. I worried about whether my teeth (freed from braces only six months ago) would look straight and white enough. Were my arms too bony (yes). Was the green tank top highlighting the pudge around my middle (yes). Were my hands too veiny (yes). Could I do anything about this? NO. Well, except try on a million outfits and finally pick one that did not make my middle look pudgey - the orange shirt may make me look like I'm trying to hide a baby bump though. Should be awesome for the save the dates!

During the actual engagement shoot, I primarily thought "Are these pictures turning out well?" and "Is my bra showing?" and "OMG, I bet my pores look huge" and "These are going to be the sweatiest photos ever, I just know it." There was a lot of nervous laughing, on my part.
Good Lord, I am a worrying mess!

But today, I realized several things. Several very important things.

1. We have awesome photographers. I'm sure they were able to get enough good shots of us. And even if not, it is NOT the end of the world. Far far from it.

2. The whole experience probably would have been a lot better if I was not so freaked out about taking good photos and really just focused on enjoying the time there with Mr. PB. A LOT better. And probably would have resulted in more natural photos too.

3. Most importantly, I have an AMAZING fiance. Yesterday, he was calm and cool and chillaxin'. I figured he would be uptight and irritable for me making him be in the hot hot heat, and asking him to smile and look natural while having two photogs snapping away at him...but he was NOT. He was great, and even though I could tell he was kind of nervous (hello, we both were!), he really made an effort and I know he was mostly doing it because he knows how important it is to me. And the two of us and our relationship is the most important thing.

So I've learned an important lesson, one that I hope I can carry with me through the rest of this planning, and keep forefront in my mind on our wedding day. The most important thing is US. The rest, well, it's just details.

Oh, and some anti-anxiety meds might be in order.

Learn any lessons the hard way?

I Don't Usually: Dress Mr. Polar Bear

Really! I'm not that girl (not that there is anything wrong with that). But apparently, I AM that fiancee. Or, I am that bridezilla, if you're feelin' nasty.

So, here's the sitch. Mr. Polar Bear dresses pretty well on his own. When I first met him (which no, I don't remember when I exactly met him, sheesh, it's just a figurative expression here OK?), he liked to rock some jeans, a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up...and a tie. On every day occasions. He looked cute and a little bit eccentric, and it's one of the reasons why I liked him.

Now he dresses pretty much the same, except no tie. He has to wear a suit to work, and in his free time he wears raggedy jeans that are too big, and button down shirts, and occasionally a funny t-shirt or a musically influenced t-shirt.

He looks kinda pissed here huh? He hates camping.

He knows I like him to wear a polo shirt, so he will wear one approximately six time a year.

Looking through my photos, I noticed he mostly wears the polo shirt
on special occasions, for instance, when I got my Master's degree in Social Work.

The times I have helped dress him have been for Halloween and costume parties. One year we went as Amy Winehouse and her boyfriend Blake (I still cannot believe he did this). One time I suggested he be Dumbledore, but he put the costume together himself. And then there was the 80s party....

Not sure why we look so angry here.

But the one time I really put the smack down on clothes was for the e-pics. As previously mentioned, his jeans are pretty raggedy...the hems are totally gone, and they are holey. So we went to Nordstroms (aka denim mecca). Luckily, they were having their big Men's Sale and some metrosexual salesman really helped us out big time. Mr. Polar Bear walked away with 3 pair of well fitting jeans...and a new, blue polo shirt! I think he's excited about the jeans, and mostly got the shirt to oblige me. Now he's all ready for our engagement shoot tomorrow!

Too bad I nixed my e-pic outfit and am making a last minute change! I'll let you know about that when I, um, figure out what I'm wearing!

Do you dress your significant other, and if so, how does he/she feel about it?