Because of my type A personality, I ended up planning my own bridal shower in May 2013. I fell in love with Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and ever since I wanted to plan an event with the theme. With only a few short months and limited budget to plan, I set off on my journey. While browsing the goodwill I found a box of DIY invitations originally from Target for $1.99 each. They were perfect for a formal invitation, so I grabbed all the boxes I could find (about 3 or 4). I had before photos but a virus crashed my hard drive, so all I have left are the after photos. The box included small card stock to print invitation on, larger floral patterned cardstock for backing, glue dots to adhere invitation to backing, pre-cut black silk ribbon, and plain envelopes. I created a template in word with the same dimensions as the invitation, added my shower information using wording I found on Google from other Breakfast at Tiffany’s events, an image of Audrey Hepburn, and printed them out. The invited also instructed all guests to wear a black dress and pearls. I assembled the invitations, which didn’t take long at all for about 20 guests. I also took the plain envelopes and added another image of Hepburn to the front as an added touch. Everyone loved the invites. This is how the final invitation turned out.
Most of the décor was purchased at Party City because they had the closest color to Tiffany blue, which is called robin’s egg blue. I purchased the plates, table cloths, napkins, plastic ware, streamers, tissue poms, anything else I could find in that color! The shower took place in my parents backyard under a small tent. I also ordered two black cardboard chandeliers from amazon to hang from the center of the tent.
I added small centerpieces to all the tables that I recycled from my oldest brother's wedding. They consisted of small flower bouquets from Michael's, vases from Dollar tree, blue jewel filler, and tied on a robin's egg blue ribbon. They added a nice touch! The banner I custom created by taking various images of Audrey Hepburn and girly items (lip prints, make-up, etc.) and printed them out, laminated it, punched holes and strung ribbon through.
We had a ton of food. We set it up buffet style with pork & turkey bacon, sausage, ham, eggs, quiche, casseroles, hash browns, croissants, breads, mini sandwiches, granola & berry yogurt parfaits, fruit martinis with blinged ribbon tied around the base, mini powdered donuts, and cupcakes made by me! My mother, brother, fiancé, mother-in-law, bridesmaids, and myself all prepared the food. For the cupcakes I made plain vanilla cupcakes. For the icing I took regular vanilla icing and mix 2 parts blue & 1 part green gel icing coloring from Party City, which gave me a lovely tiffany blue color. For the bow I ordered a bow shaped popsicle mold from amazon. I couldn't find a mold with the size bow I wanted, so I just used the large blow popsicle mold without creating popsicles. The only issue I encountered was I had to be careful when pouring the white candy melts into the mold and avoiding the area where the stick is supposed to go. Sometimes I ended up with a partial chocolate stick, which I just cut off with a knife.
I also places various framed Audrey Hepburn photos around the tables just for décor, or in case anyone couldn't guess the theme of the shower!
The guestbook was a blank white canvas where each guest signed with their lip print & signature. In case they needed lip stick/gloss, I purchased a bunch in the dollar section of Target and placed in a tiffany blue tin, also found in Target's dollar section. I framed the directions as well instructing guests what to do. The first game we played started as soon as guests arrived. Next to the sign in was a jewelry hanger holding long strands of pearls. Each guest were to take one and had to refer to me as Darling or Bride, otherwise they would get their pearls stolen...similar to the clothes pin baby shower game. It was such a hit! The second game was "what's in your purse". I created my own version with items actually found in my purse and if the guests had it in theirs, they get points. The person with the most points win. I added an image of Hepburn to that sheet as well. The third game was the traditional toilet paper wedding dress game. I asked each team to re-create my wedding dress.
For favors I created custom water bottle templates in word with Bride & Co. and image of Hepburn, printed them, laminated, cut out, and hot glued to regular water bottles. Added a blinged ribbon from Michael's and ta da!!!
I also created a DIY backdrop for photos. I took some leftover robin's egg blue table cloths and taped them to the front of the garage. Hung L.O.V.E. letters left over from our engagement party, and had a cardboard cutout of Hepburn I ordered from oriental trading. My fiancé took the pics for everyone & it was so much fun.
After the shower, I took leftover tiffany blue cardstock I had used for my wedding programs and created custom thank you cards. I used a template I found online & edited it with my info and made it longer than the original to fit all the info. I used a group photo from the shower at the bottom, then thanked all guests by describing how I used each of their gifts! Added a white ribbon & hand delivered them!
