Brunch & Bubbly: A Kate Spade Bridal Shower

A detailed recap of the Kate Spade Inspired Bridal Shower brunch my mom and I threw for my sister!

Kate Spade Inspired Bridal Shower

After months of planning and preparation, Saturday finally arrived: my sisters bridal shower. As her Maid of Honor, it was important that I made sure she relaxed and had an amazing time with her friends and family celebrating her pending nuptials. I think my mission was accomplished! There is so much that went into this party, so I will discuss it in sections.

All of the following photos were taken by Jill of All Things Possible Party Decor. You can visit their Facebook page here.

Fashion
My sisters favorite fashion designer is Kate Spade, so it was only fitting to have a Kate Spade-themed bridal shower. On the invitation we asked the guests to “sport their best Kate Spade-inspired look”. Obviously this is an expensive brand and we don’t even own any Kate Spade clothing, so we gathered clothing from different stores and mimicked the designers classy, feminine and Audrey Hepburn-esque look.

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Can you believe my sister ordered this skirt on Etsy and it shipped all the way from China? I’ll admit, we were all a little worried about ordering something from China, but it came out beautifully and worked perfect with her outfit vision. IMG_2458

My mom (right) wore a dress from the Kate Spade outlet that she’d gotten a great deal on months ago. She paired it with a colorful necklace from J. Crew. Notice the pin on her shirt? The bridesmaids, mother of the bride/groom and the flower girl all wore these pins noting what our roles were. Here’s a closer look!

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Shoes from left to right: Jessica Simpson from Nordstrom, BCBG from DSW, and Ann Taylor from the outlet! I got an amazing deal on these shoes, I think they were something like $15. We all searched for shoes that we could use over and over, and I think our mission was accomplished!

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IMG_2573I saw this skirt in Express a while back and immediately bought it knowing it would be perfect for this occasion. It resembles Kate Spades retro, classic style to the T. I paired it with a peter pan collared top from LOFT, which is too old to find online but they have many that resemble it, like this one!

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Decor
The color theme we stuck with was a bright pink, black, white and gold. We searched mainly for polka dot and striped patterns.

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One of my sisters bridesmaids, Ashley, had four wine bottle vases left over from her own shower that she had made. They happened to match the color scheme perfectly! She sent them to us (every bridesmaid lives out of state except for me!) and Melissa, another bridesmaid, made all of the flower arrangements. Melissa lives in Mexico but is from Miami, so when she flew to Miami last week before coming here, she visited a flower warehouse and gathered all of the flowers there. When she arrived to our house the day before the shower, she assembled all of the wine vases and centerpiece arrangements. They came out beautifully!

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My mom found this perfect canvas piece at…wait for it…MARSHALL’S! It could not have been more perfect and was an awesome addition to the coffee table that was set up in the couch area, which we used for gift time!

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Instead of using paper to-go coffee cups, we wanted everyone to use mugs that they could then take home as a favor. What I did was I used a Sharpie to write cute, girly quotes on each mug. The one pictured here states “Leave a little sparkle wherever you go”. In order to make sure the marker stays on the mug, we baked every mug at 400 degrees for about thirty minutes. I found these mugs at the Dollar Tree. If you’re going to buy thirty-something mugs, I think the Dollar Tree is the way to go. This was a lot of work, but everyone loved picking out their own mug and choosing which quote they wanted. Definitely a hit!

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Melissa found a shadow box picture frame with a thick border so that the guests could sign! My sister is going to soon use a photo of all of us from the shower to put into the frame.

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One store that was sent from heaven during this shower planning was Home Goods. We found different black and white picture frames and filled them with my sister and her fiance Mitch’s engagement photos to surround the cake.

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I saw this mug at Pier 1 and had to buy it for my sister to use as her own special mug! The colors and patterns were perfect!

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Melissa sent different printables to a Kinko’s near our house that we then printed and framed to display. This one was displayed on the buffet tables!

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Each place setting contained utensils wrapped with a napkin and ribbon, but we displayed extras on the buffet tables just in case. My mom bought these pencil holders and we spray pained them with black and gold glitter. She then wrapped the inside with different striped or polka dot tissue paper and tied a pink ribbon around each one!

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Melissa found these tags on Etsy that matched the welcome poster we displayed at the entrance of the venue (see below!). We tied them around the goodie bags that everyone had on their place setting!

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Another Home Goods find!

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We found these polka dot mugs at, again, the Dollar Tree. Just like the thirty mugs I decorated with Sharpie, I wrote “Adriana’s Bridal Shower” on the top of these and we gave them to the mother of the groom, and my grandmother.

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Melissa did an amazing job with this photo wall. She used wrapping paper to display as the backdrop, and hand made a garland to tape on the back as well.

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For photo wall props, Melissa also hand made every prop as well as spray painted the wooden frame. This was a big hit, as well. Everyone had fun posing and taking photos. This is a great alternative to purchasing a crazy expensive photo booth.

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We found these gold chargers at Michael’s and placed pink and white paper plates on top of them, and then placed the goodie bag favors on top of the plates. The black table cloths and gold runners were sewed by my mom’s good friend, Kim, who generously let us borrow a bunch of them!

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Food
The most important part. 😉

This was a brunch, so we stuck to the brunch essentials. My mother’s friend Millie made EIGHT quiches. One set of spinach, leek and mushroom, and one set of ham and cheese. Another friend of my moms, Kathy, contributed an insanely delicious french toast casserole. My mom made cranberry orange muffins and banana nut muffins (each muffin flavor had a set with nuts, and without nuts). I contributed two large Italian sausage, mozzarella and spinach egg casseroles. We provided a yummy parfait bar with, of course, my favorite KIND Granola Clusters, vanilla yogurt, and chopped strawberries. We catered mini scones and bagels from Panera.

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What’s a brunch without mimosas?

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My aunt Mary is a great bartender, so of course she took over the task of the mimosa bar. She found the carafes at Target, the chalkboard sign at Joann Fabrics, the buckets at Party City, and the tags at Michael’s. We were in love with how it came out, and amazed at her creativity. We will never serve plain OJ and Champagne after this awesome Mimosa Bar!

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We got this polka dot flute at Home Goods so my sister could have her own special champagne glass!

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Games
Melissa found some games on Etsy that she sent here to be printed at Kinko’s. One was Bridal Shower Bingo and the other was a “What’s in Your Purse” game!

For Bridal Shower Bingo, everyone had to write down 24 items they thought the bride would receive as a gift. These were simply guesses- they had no idea what gifts she would get! Then, when we sat down for her to open her gifts, the guests would cross off gift ideas they got correctly. The first person to get four in a row, or a BINGO, won! Gift time can be sort of Zzzzz… so this game was good for keeping everyone interested and having fun at the same time.

For the What’s in Your Purse game, we handed out a print that had a list of items you may find in your purse. There were sections of items listed with different point values. An iPod would have been 15 points, versus lipstick being 1 or 2 points. Everybody went through their purses and checked off what items they had. After the guests added up their points, I asked everyone to raise their hands. I would say keep your hand up if you have 20 points, 25 points, 30 points, and so on. The last two people with their hands up won!

We had a few different prizes displayed on a mantle in gift bags. We gave Kate Spade stud earrings, nail polish with nail file and buffer, a jewelry tray, LOFT hair ties and a mug.

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Cake
My mom and I searched far and wide on Pinterest to find inspiration for what cake design we wanted. We finally found something we liked, and simply asked the bakers to make a cake resembling the bottom tier of a cake we found online. Very simple: polka dots with stripes on the bottom. It was too much money to add on sugar flowers, so we bought real pink roses and added them on ourselves! We were feeding about 34 people, but we bought a cake that was meant to feed 30. We still had leftovers! It was DELICIOUS.

Here’s a little story for you about this cake, too. I call it a horror story.

It’s the night before the shower. We are about to have 20-something people over to our house for dinner. We are in the kitchen preparing food, the other bridesmaids are preparing snacks for the bachelorette (which was Saturday night), Melissa and my grandmother are prepping the flower arrangements. I think you get the point: there was a lot going on. My mom hadn’t seen the cake yet, which had been in a box sitting on our dining room table. She wanted to show it to Melissa who had earlier arrived in from Miami. When they opened the box, the top half the cake had completely shifted and fallen off the top. The fondant was everywhere and needless to say, the cake was ruined. The bakers instructed us to NOT refrigerate the cake, so it wasn’t melted from sitting outside. We aren’t really sure what happened- maybe some of it had melted from the Florida heat on the car ride home from the bakery (about a 40 minute drive), or shifted during the drive; at this point we didn’t care. All we wanted was a new cake before 9:30 the next day. We had a freak out.

This is when Ashley and Jennifer (bridesmaids) took the reigns. They called the bakers at Housewife Bake Shop, where we had the cake made, to see if we could somehow get a new cake. I was expecting the response to be that there was nothing they could do, but no. They made an entirely new cake for us, at NO CHARGE! I could not believe how nice these people were, and how talented: the cake was beautiful and delicious. Thank you Housewife for helping us during this bridal shower tragedy! :)

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This was the first bridal shower I have ever planned, and even attended, and all I have to say is it is very time consuming and takes a lot of work, but it is 100% worth it. I wanted to make it special for my sister who has been my role model and protector for 23 years. We all had a blast spending time with good friends and family, and celebrating the soon-to-be marriage of my sister and her fiance, Mitch.

I didn’t want to overwhelm you by adding bachelorette details on this post, too, so that will be coming later!

Thank you to everyone who helped out for this special occasion! We greatly appreciate you, and everyone who came to celebrate.

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A Kate Spade-Inspired Bridal Shower

Comments

  1. Cheryl Ledgerwood says

    Wow!!! What an awesome job you did on the shower!! I wish I could have seen it first hand but I’m glad you took so many great pictures and captured the memorable day! Looking forward to the wedding and meeting the new family members! Great job!! I’d hire you in a second! Lol!

    • The Blissful Balance says

      Thank you so much, Cheryl! My mom played such a huge role in the planning and prep for this shower, as well – we were a team. We’re sad we couldn’t meet you on Saturday but are looking forward to being able to in June! Thanks again for your kind comment :)

  2. Mabel Ramirez aka Prima says

    Amazing! It was just, if not more beautiful as you eloquently retell that lovely Saturday this past weekend.

  3. Cynthia Plunkett says

    Love this post! Such a great palette of colors from the guests outfits and the decorations! I’m sharing with a few girlfriends who are planning the same thing :)

    High five to you and your mom for organizing!

    • The Blissful Balance says

      Thank you Cynthia! Now I know what it entails for whenever my friends start getting married :)

  4. says

    Wow, everything looks incredible. So so so impressed. I’m not an event/party planner by any means so I can’t even imagine how much time and effort this took. The mimosa bar looks insane! You look gorgeous in all the photos and I’m obsessed with those mugs.
    I absolutely love having a big sister and I can’t wait to do the same for her some day <3

  5. Katie says

    Hi there! Loved your post! Are you able to share where your sister got her skirt from? My bridal shower is coming up in a few months and I would love something like that one! I loved yours as well!!

    • says

      Hey! Thank you so much! My sister got her skirt via Etsy (from a maker in China!). So the first time she ordered it was perfect but she ordered it too small. She still wore it but she wanted one that fit so she ordered another one, and when she received it it was awful. Completely jacked up. So she complained to the seller and she sent her another one, and it wasn’t as good as the first but she says she won’t be buying from her again. Just thought I would let you know in case you plan on ordering from her!! Here is the seller: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CocoTutuhouse

      My skirt is from Express! <3

  6. Pam Schultz says

    I met your sister (the bride) this past week while shopping. She mentioned this blog and I must say-I am not disappointed! I’ve been married for 11 years but I am going to figure out a way to have a KS party anyway!

  7. Reema says

    I really enjoyed all the photos and descriptions. I’m thinking of having a Kate Spade theme for my bridal shower as well. I really like the outfit with the turquoise blue skirt and hot pink blazer. Do you mind giving me details of that outfit?

  8. says

    Hey Christina! Loved the decorations. I really like your shoes too. I am planning my sister’s bridal shower and I was looking for some ideas. Thanks for the ideas!
    Much love.

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