The Bridal Shower

This past Sunday was Lindsey’s bridal shower. You may remember a few years ago when I had fun at Kayla’s shower, well now this is Lindsey’s turn. Now obviously this post is not really about a bridal shower, but more about the work that goes into setting up a bridal shower. Because us guys are not at the actual shower (although, I seem to spend a considerable amount of time at these things, more on that in a minute).

Lindsey told her sister that she wanted it to be spa themed and to have it outside at her mom’s house. I have no clue why Lindsey insists on having everything outside, but she does. Our Engagement Party was outside, our wedding is outside, and yes, the shower was outside as well.

There is a slight problem with having stuff outside: the weather. We monitored the weather for Sunday more closely than NASA does on the day of a launch. Definitely not a joke, I bet between six people, we looked at different weather apps a thousand times. On Saturday, all you would hear is “down to 27% at 1:00”, “gotta weather shift coming from the north east, looking like thunderstorms are back to 60% for 2:00 p.m.”

Here was the dilemma, Lindsey’s mom recently put on a beautiful new deck, which is where the shower was going to be set up. Unfortunately, there would not be any cover if it rained and inside the house would not be very convenient for everyone.

Adam2 brought a huge tent over and Saturday we set it up. The girls made sure all the food was prepared on Saturday and the plan was to make the decision on Sunday on where to set up the tables. Well Sunday came and even though the showers were possibly going to miss Richland, we decided that the tent was the best option.

That meant first we had to empty everything out of the garage. Adam2 and I set up a second tent and started placing the tables in different configurations to see what worked best. There was some disagreements between the ladies and men on what way would work best. In the end though, compromise was struck (the ladies were right) and things moved along smoothly. Well for the most part.

Then we ran out of tables. Adam2 still had access to a few more and we went to his uncle’s house to pick them up. We took Lindsey’s Escape and figured that it would be big enough for 6′ and 8′ tables. We were wrong. We were going to have to leave some of the tables hanging out the back and just use bungee straps to hold the door down. Well, we could not really find a good place to hook the straps, so I said screw it. It was not that far and it was all back roads, so I told Adam2 to drive and I would sit on the tables and hold the door shut. It was a bit scary, especially when he went up a big hill and the tables started to slide. Also, by the end of the ride my forearm was burning from holding the door down. Oh well, the things we do for love (or tables).

Once everything was set up, I drove home because my brother was coming over for a bit to check out my place while Mom and Lora went to the shower. We BS’d for a bit, but then I had to get a shower and get ready because I had to show up at 2:30 in order to play a game at the shower. Right? I thought the guy was just supposed to show up with flowers and help load the gifts? Kayla loves to torture me.

I get to the house right at 2:30 and I ask my brother to run to Giant Eagle to get flowers for me since I was running out of time. I figured he could leave them in the car and when the game was over I could just sneak up to the car to grab them. Well it turns out that I was not needed until 3:00, so I just kind of sat there waiting. Adam made it in time with the flowers and I was able to come in for the game and give Lindsey her flowers in one sweet motion.

The game was pretty fun. It was basically the Newlywed Game. Some of the questions were like “who is a better drive”, “who made the first move”, or “who is a better dresser?” We had fun with it and everyone got a laugh at some of our answers.

The shower ended, people went home and the fun began of tearing it all down and loading all the presents into the car. It makes me laugh how we spent a good ten hours with all of the set-up (hell, I am sure Kayla and her mom put a ton more time into it than that) and then after two hours, it is all over and you just put it all away. At least I made sure to take pictures!

This was the head table where Lindsey and the bridesmaids sat. Speaking of those wonderful ladies, here they are:

From left to right we have Cortney, Michelle, Lindsey, and Kayla. Stacey was not able to make it due to some unforeseen circumstances.

Also, this is the Meet the Maids board that Lindsey made for the girls so people would get the chance to know a bit about them. Maybe if Lindsey were cool she would make a blog post about them like I did for my guys…

Also there was a table set up with some of our engagement photos. And the picture from when I proposed.

Next up we have the favors. Since it was spa themed, the favors were nail polish, cuticle stuff, and umm, other things. I believe the nail polish was mint, coral, and maybe navy. Although I am not sure why…

Another fun thing for the ladies to do was to make their own facial scrub. Why don’t guys have stuff like this? Why isn’t there a Groomal Shower (or as Adam2 said “why can’t we have a Man Shower, where we get power tools and cool stuff?”-well said!)

This is the furniture from the deck, which we carried down since it looked like the rain might hold off, but the tent was still the best option.

The gift baskets that people got to win during certain games or a raffle. Not really sure how that works. But speaking of gifts, on to the thing everyone is dying to know, what all did Lindsey get???

Answer: Everything. Seriously.

There was so much stuff that it filled the entire Escape. Lindsey had to ride in the passenger seat with a bunch of stuff on the floor and holding a few other things. Yeah, that is a ton of stuff!

I am not going to go through every gift, because we would seriously be here all day. I will mention that we have to start throwing dinner parties because we have tons of stuff for serving appetizers, desserts, veggies, dips, whatever you want. Now we just need friends and family to come over.

This is a wine rack my brother made out of a pallet. We have the perfect place to hang it (he was also kind enough to cut the grooves into it for the wine glasses). Who knew he was so crafty?

As you can, Adam2 and Kayla made us a wine basket to celebrate the important occasions in our married life. I was confused about the First Baby one. Do we drink the wine after the birth or when Lindsey gets pregnant? I do not think you should down a bottle of wine when pregnant. I guess I could drink it all. Just kidding, I am not that dumb, it is grape juice. I also want to ask, did Adam2 pick out the wine for the first dinner party?

The bridesmaids came up with a cool idea for a gift, since they all know how much Lindsey loves to decorate for different seasons. They each took a season and bought decorations to put into a tub. These were pretty cool and I am already looking forward to having to take these up to the storage area (the attic) and each season be asked (told) by Lindsey to bring them down. Thanks girls!

There was also a wreath and each season comes with a different ribbon. So at least with this part of the gift I do not have to do any work! Yay for laziness!

We already put the place mats out that came with the summer bin. It gives the dining room a very beachy feel. I like it.

This was the only thing I was allowed to pick out. The silverware. Thank you to Lindsey’s mom for getting us this, I look forward to eating with such unique forks and spoons. I kid you not, these things are heavy duty and have such a wonderful feel to them. Again, when we have those fancy dinner parties, you will all be blown away by my amazing silverware.

And my Mom (along with Adam & Lora) got us the SodaStream I wanted. I tried it out earlier today and it takes a little practice to get it right. My first batch was way too soda-y. Then the next one was not enough. I had to watch some videos to understand what they were talking about when they said let it buzz five times. Also, I did not really pay much attention to the cold water stuff. Nor did I notice that the syrups I registered for are all made with artificial sweeteners, which is something I hate, so from now on I will get the ones with cane sugar. I am excited though, definitely something to drink that is not water or OJ.

Again, there were tons of gifts and I would have to write another 12,000 words just to get through them all. No one would ever read that much. Thank you to everyone who got us gifts, we sincerely appreciate each one!