Something Blue Before I Do

    As the Matron of Honor for my sister's wedding, I was immediately excited to begin planning her bridal shower. Scrolling through Pinterest, I was seeing so many different ideas and was drawn to the "Something Blue Before I Do" theme. Talking it over with my mom, the ultimate collector of many old, unique items, we decided that this was a theme we could really make into something great for my sister. Let the planning begin!

    Obviously, we needed to use items that were blue. My mom started scouring through her collection, and we found doilies, fabrics, vases, dishes, baskets, and many other items that would tie into the theme well. We decided that we would set up tables that corresponded to the popular saying, "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue." When the guests first walked in the door, they would come to a table that was a reminder of the shower theme, "Something Blue Before I Do." As they continued looking at the table, they would see that the next section would be "Something Borrowed." We had an advice book setting here where the guests would write down advice, wishes, date ideas, etc. for the couple to "borrow". 

     The next table the guests would come to was "Something New" (below). It was at this table where the guests would leave their "new" gifts and cards for the couple. My mom had an old suitcase in her collection, so we used that as a place to set cards. She also found a beautiful, old doily with blue flowers that we draped over the suitcase. An antique blue dish with some artificial flowers was an easy addition to the table to spruce it up a bit. We used some old fabric as part of the table covering. As the guests added their gifts and cards, the table was complete!

    After they passed by the balloon arch (I'll refer to that later), the guests would come to the "Something Old" table. At this table, we set out "old" photos of the bride and groom for guests to look at. Using more old fabric, we used that as part of the table covering. Another old vase and some flowers, plenty of cute photos of the couple when they were little, and this table was great to stop and reminisce at. 

    And there you have it! Oh! But, I can't forget to mention the dessert table and table settings for the guests! In my mom's collection (she really does have it all!), she had a set of Currier & Ives blue and white dishes. We somehow got very lucky to have the exact number of dishes we would need for all the guests in attendance. So we wouldn't have lots of dirty dishes, we bought disposable plastic plates to put on top of each dinner plate. More old vases were centerpieces with real babies breath, daisy, and hydrangea, along with some old blue fabric as a table runner. Each guest got to take one of the vases from their table home with them as a gift. Plastic silverware was wrapped in a napkin and tied shut with ribbon, and a dark blue artificial flower was added as an extra touch. I created the name place cards in Slides, so we could just print them off. See the photo below to see the table setting and the finished table! 

    On to the dessert table (below), we used the teacups, saucers, and various sized platters from the same Currier & Ives dish set and other dish sets to display all of the desserts. I made cupcakes, decorated them (another Pinterest idea), and then we put them into each teacup. With some of the other platters and blue dishes, we served thumbprint cookies, carrot cake sandwiches, frosted pretzels, mini monster cookies, and brookies. All of it was delicious!

    I promised to refer back to it, and I don't break a promise! 😊 The balloon arch! As a side note, I just have to say that having parents who collect a bunch of different things makes planning parties like this so much easier. My dad, who is a plumber, had all of the supplies on hand to make the balloon arch. Some PVC pipe, pex tubing, and we had our balloon arch! We bought one of the balloon arch kits that contained a long strip with holes to hold the balloons. All of the balloons came from Dollar Tree and Walmart in different shades of blue and white. We taped the long strip of balloons to the pex tubing, added some artificial flowers at the base, and it was complete! The white chair came from my mom's front porch, and this is where my sister opened her gifts/cards, played the shower games, and also where we took all of the photos with the guests.

    

    And there you have it! A "Something Blue Before I Do" Bridal Shower. Hopefully this post gives you ideas just like searching on Pinterest gave me. If you are trying to find shower invite ideas, I will post my creations below. I wasn't finding anything I liked on Shutterfly that fit the theme, so I decided to make my own designs in Canva. Good luck and happy planning!