Wedding Shower Decorations

I posted earlier this week about the banner and mantel decorations I made for a wedding shower I threw this past weekend.  I didn't want to cause extreme scrolling wrist pain so I broke it up into two posts.  Here is the rest of what I did to make the shower as festive as possible!

If you saw my banner post, you'll recall that I purchased a pack of coordinating scrapbook paper and based all of my colors/feel on its designs.   Elle (the bride) loves the shabby chic look so I decorated accordingly.   Besides the mantel banner, I created a cute garland which I strung around as I saw fit.  It was VERY fun to make and gave me an excuse to dust off the ole sewing machine!

A One Minute Tutorial:

1) Gather scrapbook paper of your own choosing (or cardstock) and punch many, many circles/shapes/etc. using the punches you have on hand or have purchased for just such an occasion.   My punches were 2 and 3 inches in diameter.  I did mine during the Bachelorette finale (if you look closely you'll see tear drops on some of the circles as I listened to Jef's sweet proposal.  #teamjef #ariesfamilywascreepy #iftheyeverbreakupiwillcryfor3daysstraight)

2) Put your circles/shapes back to back (so you don't have to worry about them flipping around. If you use cardstock, no need for the back-to-back action) and feed them through the sewing machine, one after the other.  You'll feel like a seamstress!

3) Proceed to string the garland around anywhere you see fit to bring a festive feel to the party!

I have had a lot of fun switching out the huge Ikea Ribba frames I have over my family room couch.  My Christmas Art, my Valentine's Day photos of my kids and now these for Elle's bridal shower.  I really don't know how to make a bigger impact that giant 20x30 photos of the bride-to-be and her fiance!

I also pinned some of the garland around the serving table...

...and hung it around wherever I felt like it...

...and put small sections of it on top of the serving table as well.  It just tied everything together nicely. I bought those fun decorative paper medallions at Michaels. They are the Martha Stewart brand.  I just couldn't figure out how to make them and plus I was running out of time.  They are so cute though, so well worth the money, in my opinion.

I also made some cute vinyl decals for the drink dispenser using my Silhouette.

As far as food goes, we decided on a light lunch which consisted of two salad choices (a Chicken & Pear Chopped Salad and a Caesar Salad), breadsticks and mini-cupcakes.  I guess I'm biased but I thought it was perfect. :)

I also loved my little place marker frames.  They were at Michaels for $1.50 each.  But they started out looking like this:

So I spray painted them and added some more of the coordinating scrapbook paper to make them fit my color scheme better.  Loved what they added to the decor!

And finally, the yummiest little cupcakes ever... my friend made these Lemon Keylime Cupcakes which were to die for.  She candied those little pieces of lemon on top.  Yeah,  I know.  Maybe I'll get her to give me the recipe to post on here.  They really were delightful.

And, because it's always hard to get photos as the party is going, I quickly snapped some photos with my phone as people were watching Elle open her gifts.   About 40 people showed up so it was awesome and Elle felt so loved!  Here is the Instagram I put together of the festivities (username landeelu):

Due to the sheer numbers of attendees we didn't do any games or anything.  I had gotten some blank cards and everyone wrote down a piece of advice for Elle and her new husband.  I then put all the cards in a photo album for them to have.  I randomly put them in the album but there is one card that says "Never go to bed angry!" and then the very next one says "It's ok to go to bed angry!"  I got a kick out of that.  Poor Elle is going to be so confused.  :)

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog,  Thrifty Decor Chick