In August, Madison broke the news that she was getting married again. A few days later, I woke up to a text from her asking if I would be her maid of honor – of course I said yes! The catch: the wedding was planned for October 30. I had two months to plan everything and had no time to save anything. I still wanted to give her everything and more, but I didn’t want to sacrifice my bank account. I’m glad to say that I pulled it off and everything went perfectly! Here’s how I did it!
I started by picking a theme
This was the most creative part for me. I didn’t need to look through every overdone theme on Pinterest to know what I wanted to do. Madison and I really bonded over coffee, so I knew from the start that I wanted to do a coffee themed shower. Aesthetically, the colors for this theme are really easy to stick to! I ended up sticking to the “Love is Brewing” slogan with the main colors being white and tan, with a hint of light pink.
I picked a venue based on the theme
We were tight on dates, so I called a couple days after I was asked to be maid of honor because I knew we needed a venue as soon as possible. When I was venue scouting, I remembered that my cousin’s baby shower had been held at the Lakehouse at Lake Springfield and the scenery was beautiful. I was originally wanting a coffee shop considering I had picked a coffee theme, but when I wasn’t able to talk to them, I went with the Lakehouse.
From bringing things in to the end of our clean up time, we were there 3 hours and paid $300 total for the space. The space is HUGE and has floor to ceiling windows that overlook the lake. We also got lucky with the fact that there is a kitchen we can use, the staff set up the room for us, and they were COVID-19 friendly! It was very stress-free from the moment we walked in knowing we had everything we needed.
Tip: When it comes to venue shopping, don’t be afraid to call to just get quotes first! I was fortunate enough that I didn’t have to do this. I’ve been to showers all across the area I was looking in and was able to ask family members if I needed to!
I used items from family
This is extremely important if you’re in a time crunch. My mom fished out 12 mason jars, two galvanized tin bins and a big bucket of burlap from our storage closet. Luckily, it all fit with the theme and I was able to use it for the shower! When I realized I didn’t have serving trays that matched anything else I had bought, I asked Madison’s mother-in-law to see if she had anything. Thankfully, she had plenty of options and brought everything she had to the shower so I could pick out what I wanted to use!
The most important lesson here: don’t be afraid to ask for help!
I pulled centerpiece ideas from Pinterest
“Struggled” was an understatement here. I couldn’t figure out ideas that weren’t ungodly expensive or ideas that wouldn’t be me sending Madison home with a dozen mugs afterwards. I ended up going with the mason jars that my mom had given me that I filled halfway with espresso beans. The girls and I decided to add in LED tea lights and pink ribbon to tie in the pink of the theme. These were closed off until we got to the venue. When we got to the venue to decorate and got to open them up, it smelled incredible! With the smell of espresso, you truly felt like you were in a cafe.
I kept the decor simple
I was never going to go crazy with decor in the first place. It always blows my mind seeing how much people spend on just balloons for their child’s birthday party. I knew that I was going to start with white plastic tablecloths from Walmart. I bought 3 burlap table runners to run down the tables, and then placed four centerpieces down the runner. It was very simple, but effective!
We couldn’t hang anything on the walls, so I ended up taping the burlap gift banner I had bought to the tablecloth of the gift table. I almost think it looked better this way! For the food and drink tables, I used the same tablecloths and used the burlap my mom had given me. I flipped the galvanized bins upside down to create a platform for the drink dispensers. Everything that Madison’s mother-in-law had brought matched perfectly and it accented the burlap so well! I also bought mugs off of Madison’s registry to put forks in.
Tip: Get the tablecloths in the pack of 3. It’s cheaper to do it this way, and then if you accidentally rip one setting up, you have spares!
I made the favors myself
I’m going to be honest… I wanted everyone to have something from the shower but I didn’t want to spend a ton on it. I especially didn’t want to spend a ton of money on something that they wouldn’t have for very long. Originally, I had looked into custom sugar cookies! I was going to have cookies made that looked like the hot Starbucks cups (but all white) that said “thanks a latte” in pink. When I priced them out, they came out to $5 a cookie! This didn’t fit in the budget I had set, so I started from square one. I eventually came down to candles! Who doesn’t love a good candle?
I bought four different scents of the Mainstays 3 ounce candles: mulled cider, apple cider donut, hazelnut cream, and vanilla. These all were in the color scheme of the shower! The candles themselves only cost 94 cents a piece too! I printed my own labels on kraft paper that said “thanks a latte” and tied a pink ribbon around them. They turned out perfect and they lasted a lot longer than a cookie!
I made digital invitations
This is really where I was in my element. I loved this part of planning the shower. Once I had all the details about the venue worked out, I started on the invitations nearly immediately. I knew I had to send them out over email so I headed over to Canva! I actually punched them out super quickly once I sat down to do them. Pinterest helped me find a concept and I changed a few things to fit my preferences better. I was really pleased with the outcome!
I put the games together with things I already had
Typically, you have time to play two games at bridal showers, so that’s what I planned for. With the kraft paper I already had, I planned to do a little “game” with Madison where her guests would have to fill in some different answers for her. I titled it “Wishes for the Bride and Groom.” On it, the prompts were:
Always
Never
Sometimes you have to
Don’t worry about
My wish for you
At the end of the page, I had made a space for them to sign their name where it would read “With love, ___.” When all the guests were done, I stood with Madison and handed her them one by one. She read them aloud to the group and it made for a very sweet moment.
The second game was definitely more comical. This is something I came across on Pinterest and I was glad I found it. It was called “Dressing for the Honeymoon.” Before the shower, I had to pack a suitcase for Madison containing a bunch of clothes that didn’t go together. In this case, I packed her:
A furry vest
An apron (featuring washboard abs)
A bodysuit
A bikini
A hockey jersey
A beanie
Gloves
Sunglasses
Snow boots
You might be thinking, “Oh this doesn’t sound too bad.” The object of the game is that she was going to be blindfolded, had to get every part of the suitcase open by herself to get to the items and had to put them on correctly. She would be timed as well. Guests were told to write down their guess as to how long it would take Madison. Whoever had the closest guess won a Starbucks gift card. Everyone loved it and couldn’t stop laughing!
I kept food and drinks simple
Food and drinks are super easy to plan out in the grand scheme of things. I knew from minute one that I was going to do a coffee punch for this shower. My aunt has done one before but I couldn’t find the recipe. I ended up finding one on Pinterest (seeing a trend here?) and it was incredible and pretty easy to put together! I made a second punch out of four Crystal Light raspberry lemonade packets and two bottles of 7 UP. Both were super easy to put together and everyone loved them!
For food, I raided the local Walmart! I’ve always had a soft spot for their pastries and I knew they would fit perfect with the theme. The time of the year was perfect to throw some pumpkin things into the mix, along with the classic chocolate croissants, muffins, lemon bars, and anything else you can think of. We kept it pretty simple and catered to a lot of different tastes! Everything was extremely fresh and fit the theme perfectly.
I stayed extremely organized
I’ve always been pretty organized, but I took organization to a whole other level through this process. I realized quickly that I needed sections in my Google Drive for just about every part of the shower and so I did just that! It helped keep everything on track. I made sure I knew our itinerary once we got to the venue. We only had 30 minutes to set up, so I made sure every bag had a category. It would make our set up go much smoother! I also made sure we had everything with us that the venue wasn’t offering to us, along with extra masks in case a guest forgot theirs, and hand sanitizer. Being 6 days from the wedding, I wanted to be extra cautious for both my well being and everyone around me.
I utilized an expense sheet
This is more important than you realize! Especially since I was splitting the cost with three other people, it was important that I kept track of how much I was spending. More importantly, if I kept track of what I was spending, I was more inclined to cut back in certain areas. By the end of it, I knew exactly what I had spent and the girls knew exactly where their money was going.
I didn’t hire a photographer
I really wanted Madison to have pictures from the event but I didn’t want to pay anyone. On top of that, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to find anybody on such short notice. Because of that, I used my mom! My mom wasn’t doing anything else that day and was having to drive me down to Springfield anyway, so I gave her the role of being the photographer! It worked out so well and I’m so glad I was able to give Madison pictures from her shower.
Have you planned a bridal shower before and have other tips? Let me know in a comment below! If you just want more in-depth advice about how I pulled this off, email me at makaylamais@gmail.com.
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