Bridal Shower Shindig

So my for first “official” blog post, I’m gonna keep it simple.

This weekend, I popped my bridal-shower-hostess cherry for my best friend and pledge sister, Annslee’s, recipe shower. And while many of our flaky friends neglected to RSVP, the whole event was nonetheless successful. She made out with tons of loot and family recipes, and we got to polish off six bottles of champagne after the grownups left. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.

As no great feat is tackled alone, two other girlfriends and sorority sisters, Lauren and Heather co-hosted the event. We learned that a group can plan a successful party via e-mail and that, inevitably, you will purchase and prepare a minimum of seven times the actual amount of food that you need. Luckily, I put on my big girl panties and scarfed down at least enough to make up for six of the no-shows who were unable to read my RSVP request on the invite. Heather's chocolate covered cherries were beautiful and decadent and Lauren’s Caprese Skewers were absolutely fantastic – I ate like 75 and only stopped because they ran out. Seriously.

Speaking of invites, I designed the one for this party and it was beyond cute. I don’t care if you agree. It was, I tell you! And the recipe card that we asked attendees to bring along with their coordinating gift was attached to the invite and perforated to tear off. Genius, if I do say so myself. Even more genius was the entire idea, which was Lauren's brainchild.

And if I must continue with the bragging, I made my first successful attempt at decorating with fondant (the first batch was only good enough for the garbage can). Many of you may or may not understand the complexities of fondant, but just know that it involves crying over sugar and marshmallows at 1 o’clock in the morning the night before your party. Or maybe that’s just me, who knows? Either way, the cake eventually turned out lovely – turquoise/acqua on the outside with a layer of red velvet and another of cherry (her wedding colors are turquoise and red) – and everyone appropriately swooned over it. You know I just do this stuff to stroke my ego.

All in all, we had a great time and hopefully our blushing bride-to-be felt special and loved and like the delicate flower that she is (chuckle, snort).

I'll post more photos later, but here's one of the invite with detachable recipe card:




















And just in case you're interested, here's our full menu:

Cake - red velvet and cherry chip with acqua marshmallow fondant
Chocolate covered cherries
Miss Mae's Coffee Crisps, some dipped in dark chocolate
Margarita chicken skewers with cilantro-lime sauce
Caprese Skewers
Tzatzki with pita chips (Lauren picked this up from a Greek restaurant in Little Rock, but I'm not sure of the name)
Poinsetta Punch (Lauren's family recipe)