A Perfect Beach Christmas Wedding Shower

What does the beach, Christmas, and wedding have in common? My mom, sisters, best friend, and cousin put together such an incredible and thoughtful bridal shower for me over Labor Day Weekend. Starting with recipe request cards and secret Christmas gift ideas in the invitations, they thought of every way to make the shower just like us. There were starfish, shells, and sand dollars, red and green decor, a red velvet cake that matched our invitations perfectly, my favorite foods, recipe cards for ‘love,’ Mr. H and I’s cd from our couples ‘stock the bar’ shower, Italian pastries, mimosas, and lots of our favorite engagement photographs.

Photos from our Perfect Beach Christmas Wedding Shower

My beautiful Momma and Me

Reading my “Recipe for Love” cards… some of them were serious, others were very funny. I also received actual recipes for dishes like cheesecake, blueberry buckle, and an old family tradition: Irish Soda Bread.

I was so happy my Grandma was able to attend my shower. She has been very ill and we feared she was having a mini-stroke that morning. We all pray that she will be at our wedding with bells on. I loved the bucket filled with favors! I am hoping my mom can somehow get this big bucket from CT to FL for the wedding day!

Aunt C, Mom, Aunt D, and myself

Here is a photo with my best friends from the University of Connecticut. I was SO happy they were able to attend (but sad we were missing Erica).

**I was really disappointed I didn’t get a photo with my girlfriends from high school – I had three great girls there – E, T, and V – and I was beyond thrilled they all made it!

T, S, L, Me, C, M ( 2 bridesmaids, maid of honor, me, 2 bridesmaids – missing 3 BMs)

My bff Momo made this beautiful towel cake for us – I LOVE how she used bows that match our wedding too.

My bridesmaid K’s mom made us this incredible photo canvas. I have no idea how she did it – but she is also making our guest book and seeing as how beautiful this photo canvas turned out I can only imagine what the gb will look like!!

My sister a.k.a. Greatest MOH of all time – bought me some “Soon To Be Mrs.” undies for the night before my wedding, a gorgeous “Bride” bathrobe, and then a pair of white wedding day undies!

I discovered the Christmas theme right about here… when I opened up a bag to find a Christmas Cookie Jar! My mom had included a note in the invites asking people to bring some sort of Christmas ornament or decoration for us since I am a little more than obsessed with the holiday!

**Some of the other Xmas gifts we received were stockings for Mr. H and I, a Christmas musical figurine, a Red Sox ornament from my Yankees obsessed cousin, and a beautiful Angel ornament.

I mentioned the cake in my last post… but here it is in all its glory. The shells were white chocolate, the frosting was a buttercream/whipped cream tasty mixture, and the inside was red velvet! The sand was brown sugar and definitely added a little bit of extra yumminess to the cake. I love the pictures they chose around the cake, and the starfish accents.

Mr. H made an appearance towards the end of the shower so he could see all of my girlfriends from HS and college. He also wanted a little taste of our yummy cake.

I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing and ‘personalized’ shower! Even the favors were well-thought-out and memorable. In a little red and green bag the guests found a candle, a flower-y tattoo, and a bag of ingredients for “a perfect life.” I don’t know how T and L came up with this idea but it was the cutest favor ever. If you can’t make out the reason for each ingredient (an eraser, penny, marble, elastic, string, candle) on the card, let me know.

Thank you everyone for the wonderfully thoughtful gifts and a great afternoon together! Can’t wait for the wedding!