Bridal Luncheon ☔️ A Showery Day

What do you do when it rains on your big shower day? (no pun intended)

You bring it all inside…

Last June, I gave a bridal shower for one of Whitten’s oldest and best friends. Chip and I always said we would do something for her when the time came. And the time was here. Her mom is one of my oldest and best friends too. Along with my nieces, she’s the daughter I never had. 💕

It was to be a sunny ladies’ luncheon on my back deck and terrace. It started calling for rain a few days before the date, but it was 50/50%. I didn’t know for sure it would have to be inside until 24 hours before. I had plenty of seating outside, but for inside, I would have to borrow a table and chairs. Scramble, scramble, scramble…

Here’s a pictorial of what I did and how, with a few ideas for you. Chances are good, you might be hosting one this year!

I got the invitations on Minted. I think they do a great job. Her colors were greens and white, mainly a sage color, so I did a floral with a lot of green.

I also ordered apple green napkins with her new initials, with lots of extras for her to keep. I got them from Emily McCarthy, who does great monogram products. They were supposed to be cocktail napkins but they came in as luncheon napkins. Oh well. 🙄

Here are the flowers that I got from a several places - my yard, the grocery store and a florist that I love.

I decided that I would get teacups and saucers for the centerpieces and then they would also be favors for the guests. I scoured the local antique places and got them. If you stick a little floral clay on the saucer, the cup sticks to it and is more stable. I cut floral foam and taped that in tight with clear floral tape.

I had a system and did it like an assembly line. Every one got three roses, greenery, a few berries and tiny waxflower and bits of queen anne’s lace.

I did some other florals with fruit in them, one for the foyer, and one for the center of the head table, surrounded by teacups. This idea came from an old post by Renae of Peacock Ridge. I couldn’t find the post for a link. :(

I also did some small florals for the bar and in the bathroom.

These were out front in the two boxwood urns. I was going to use all this in a huge wreath on the side of my garage, and on the mailbox. At the last minute, it was raining, so I put them together by the front door.

Here is the giant balloon arch that was waiting to go outside on the side of the house and she would sit in a big armchair underneath.

The balloon arch ended up over the mantel and looked just fine!

Getting it all together…

Some of the glassware I had, but most was borrowed from a good friend, who has a huge collection of glasses.

This is the dessert table all ready to be filled with goodies. I used my mom’s wedding china mixed with my Anna Weatherly china for the luncheon. I also borrowed her silver and added it to mine, which is from Chip’s family.

The bride’s table.

The table in the den

We broke this down quickly, for present opening and one quick icebreaker game.

The table in the living room

The couple is pescatarian, so I had lots of salads and only one with chicken, and then had bowls of chia seeds and hemp hearts to sprinkle on the salads. I put everything for the salads in bags and containers so that we could just put them together at the last minute. I had two good friends helping me in the kitchen. I did most of it myself, but could not have pulled it off without their help. Thanks ladies!

This is a not great picture of the buffet, ready for the salads. I had four main salads with crackers. It was too chaotic to take pictures of the salads after they were served, but here are the ones I served…

A strawberry and green salad with vinaigrette, and sugared slivered almonds. (an old recipe from my sis-in-law) It is very similar to this recipe, but I substituted seasonal strawberries for the canned oranges.
A watermelon/feta/orzo salad. This is a hit everytime I serve it.
A cherry tomato/asparagus/gorgonzola salad. Another hit.
And a chinese chicken salad that is another oldie but goodie. There are a million versions of it out there, but mine had romaine instead of cabbage, and sesame seeds and crunchy ramen and almonds.
In hind sight I would’ve had an avocado quinoa salad, instead of one of those above. I took it out at the last minute, and my salad assortment ended up being too sweet, in my opinion.

I had a small meatless charcuterie board before lunch.

The Dessert Table

I had iced tea, water with lemons and limes, and our cocktail was a Blushing Bride. Recipe as follows…

2/3 flute of sparkling rosé
small shot of St. Germain
splash with raspberry syrup (my girlfriend made us homemade raspberry puree - divine)
float your berry!