The Bridal Shower To End All Bridal Showers

I say that, because it was awesome, but also because it was the first bridal shower that I have ever thrown. My sister, Jackie, and I are bridesmaids (or rather, Best Ladies) for my cousin Kate, who is getting married in April to her most awesome fiance, James.

So once we were nominated as best ladies by Kate, Jackie and I started planning the bridal shower. Jackie, and her mad design and organization skillz, was going to take care of the decorating and invites, and I was going to handle the food.

So I began to plot. and refine, and consider about eight million different options. Soup buffet? picnic style fried chicken? Barbecue? an all sweet bridal shower with three or five different kinds of pie, cookies and cake? fondue party complete with boiling fondue pots of oil? A dips and spreads party? a party of little nibbles, like mini quiche, and pigs in a blanket? Options: endless. (side note to my friends and family: these options are still reserved for future party)

Finally Jackie and I decided on a tea party theme. and so different deliberations began. fillings and bread options loomed large in front of me. also: sweet options, and what kind of teas to serve. Some days, the best part of my day was thinking about the bridal shower menu, it was so fun (also, my job sucks sometimes).

So the tea party menu was

Scones:

Pumpkin maple scones from Here adapted with maple syrup- I would definitely make these again- the pumpkin mad
Buttermilk scones - from Bittman's How To Cook Everything, which is one of my favorite go-to places for recipes

Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber

Crisp cucumbers with a creamy dill yogurt on white bread

Roast Beef

Roast beef with a spicy horseradish cream on Whole wheat bread

Chicken

Savory curry chicken salad with peanuts on Seven Grain Whole wheat bread
I used the Barefoot Contessa's trick of roasting turkey thighs for the meat for the chicken salad, and it turned out really moist.

Turkey

Turkey avocado with a smoky chipotle mayo on white bread

This turned out Spicy with a capital S- less chipotle next time- but tasty!

On The Side

Potato Salad

Roasted Herbed Yukon Gold Potato Salad

Green Salad

Mixed greens with fresh vegetables and balsamic vinaigrette

Assorted Crudite

with creamy ranch dip

Vanilla Cupcakes

Sweet vanila cake with a vanilla buttercream icing

Kate's a fan of owls, so i attempted to pipe chocolate owls and then place them on top of a dark blue vanilla buttercream icing. tasty, but my piping skills definitely need work.

and Assorted fruit



So much tea and excellent time was had by all, and there were amazing decorations:




these pink orb-y deals were really festive- I would definitely use them in more party decorations.













I don't want to name names, but someone was really bad at guessing and her name rhymes with Shmauntie Smangela.




Jackie put together these cute favors with rock candy, jordan almonds and three different kinds of tea.






We got to use my mom's awesome teapot collection, and Jackie knocked herself out making amazing decorations and labels for everything. She also coordinated games, and did 95% of the planning for the whole shindig, which was awesome.




The whole purpose of the party, to shower Kate with gifts to start her new place with James- was also very cool. She opened gifts that I may or may not have been completely drooling over. And we played the game where a if Kate was opening your present when the timer went off, you won a prize, which always adds extra excitement.

I had a blast planning it with Jackie, and hanging out with all the awesome ladies that showed up.

Up next: middle school style bachelorette! let's whip out the MASH and cootie catchers!... and vodka. hee!

more pictures on flickr!