wedding soaked brain.

I sometimes forget that not everyone is a 20-something girl who’s really into weddings and blogs. I falsely assume that everyone knows what an “inspiration board” is and what the latest trends in party planning are.

I’m currently in the midst of planning my best friend’s bridal shower and bachelorette party. The best part is that everyone loves Colby and wants to help. Together with her mom, sister and grandma, we’ve divided and conquered the list of shower to-do’s in an effort to host the best event possible for our Colbs. The event is this weekend (eeek!) in Dana Point, California and I couldn’t be more excited. We started our DIY projects months ago and are ready to go. I wish it was tomorrow!

Thinking back to the beginning of the planning, I realize how insane I probably looked. Unlike me and my girlfriends, these women (a mom, a college student and a grandma) haven’t logged insane amounts of internet hours looking at StyleMePretty, GreenWeddingShoes, HostessWithTheMostess, Pinterest and other inspiring blogs. I immediately bombarded them with our “inspiration board,” because everyone knows what an inspiration board is, right? Here’s ours for the bridal shower…

I immediately started talking to the planning crew about certain types of chairs, linens, games and oh, we’re not going to do x, y and z because they’re totally overplayed but we’re going to do a, b and c because these trends are fresh and new.

Whoops! Calm down, psycho. What do you call a brideszilla bridesmaid? Yikes.

It was a bit of a learning for us all, but we’ve honestly had an absolute blast planning and getting creative! Colby’s mom’s background in interior design has been really helpful. Since we’re all in different states, there have been tons of excited emails, phone calls and text messages. A lot. I was away from my phone for a while and came back to this screen from Colby’s mom, Susan. Totally awesome.

After we nailed down the final date and location, we immediately got started on the invitations. I collaborated with Lydia, the owner of Paper Joy a local paper boutique, who had helped me bring mine and Danny’s wedding invitations and programs to life. During one of our meetings years ago, I saw a boxed bridal shower invitation and fell in love with it. I thought a little box verses and envelope was such a fun idea – it’s like getting a little present in the mail!  For years, I’ve kept this idea in the back of my mind for one of Colby’s wedding events and I’m so happy with how they turned out.