Summer BBQ Wedding Shower

Mel, my mother-in-law and purveyor of Mel’s Baked Goods, invited me to help her throw together a little wedding shower for her niece, my cousin. Drawing inspiration from a few different mags, including Better Homes and Gardens and the Williams-Sonoma catalog, we settled upon a summer BBQ theme. It turned out fantastic, and was actually incredibly simple! Here are the highlights:

THE INVITE~I love my Mac! It made designing an appropriate invitation easy (shown with personal info edited out, of course). We thought sparklers would be a fun accent to the BBQ theme.
THE FAVORS~ It’s always fun to send guests home with something, and these cellophane-wrapped sparklers were simple and practical, all while being celebratory and special. THE GAME~ My sister, Chelsea, gave me the idea for this fabulous shower game. Beforehand, both the bride and groom were asked questions about themselves. As each guest gave a gift, they grabbed one of these little bags of candy, and read the attached question. The answers were at the bottom, but were only read after the bride/groom answered the question about THE OTHER. If the answers matched, the candy was poured into the jar, if not, the gift-giver got to keep it! On the jar are listed different levels of knowledge/understanding. So, at the end it’s funny to see how well the two really do know each other! (Liz & Kimball made it to level 3…a good place to be!)
THE FOOD~ As both the bride and groom were vegetarian, we decided to go for a great veggie BBQ. These are Veggie Chips served in homemade wax paper cones(from Orson Gygi.) They were a hit!
For sandwiches we did little grilled salmon burger and black bean burger sliders.
Lemonade, of course!

THE DESSERT~ Vanilla bean ice cream with blue and raspberries.
White cupcakes with coconut and a blueberry, and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate shavings and a raspberry. Delish.
THE HAPPY COUPLE~ Liz & Kimball were darling, and so happy.
THE FINAL TOUCHES~ At the shower I provided thank-you cards for the Bride and Groom. The great piece is that with each gift, I had the giver fill out his/her OWN ADDRESS on the envelope, so that post-shower the couple didn’t have to scramble to find addresses! Also, I took photos of the shower, the details as well as all of the guests. I burned them all onto a CD for the couple as a final touch of celebration for them.