Bridal shower | Apples & Onions

Copacabana Bridal Shower

October 20, 2013 by Lydia Ellison Howerton

This summer I had the PLEASURE of collaborating on a Bridal shower with the talented Rebecca Simms (of Wylie West Creative). The shower was for Rebecca’s identical twin sister and my dear friend/co-worker, Sarah Simms (of La Femme Epicure). Rebecca had a vision to make her sister’s shower fun, vibrant and full of color, and decided on a Copacabana theme. She did the design work and I provided the food. Sarah’s older sister, mother, Aunt, brother and cousins all contributed too. It’s so rare these days that I have the time to cater an event for a friend so it was an honor to be a part of the creative force behind Sarah’s nuptials.

Coconut Cake and Celebration Cake from Susie Cakes. Goldn fruit towers made by Wylie West Creative = chic town USA.

The “guest book” was a box of recipe cards where guests could write advice for whipping up a happy marriage. All designed by Wylie West Creative.

Both Sarah and her Groom are twins, double the cuteness!

Rebecca HAND MADE each and every tissue paper poof and then glued them to a piece of wood, which served as the photo backdrop for the shower.

Pink lawn flamingos got a chic update from a mist of gold paint.

Tissue paper bunting hand made by Wylie West Creative in the beautiful backyard of Sarah’s Aunt and Uncle.

Flowers by her Aunt and menus by her sister, Sarah comes from a talented clan.

Spears of chilled watermelon, jicama, cucumber, pineapple and radish get a hit of fresh lime juice and chili powder.

The spears were piled in bamboo cones nestled in a trough of raw black beans.

The main entree for the shower was assorted Empenadas from Nonna’s. These little savory hand pies were a huge hit.

Summer melon with a splash of lime juice and fresh mint, jicama salad cones and crudites with cilantro hummus

Plantain and corn chips for dipping in salsas from Hugo’s Tacos and guacamole made by moi.

Pineapple & Shrimp Ceviche in mini corn cups garnished with fresh cilantro.

The full spread!

Bar garnishes included fresh sugar cane for Caipirinhas, fruity straws for Fresh Juice Rum Punch and mermaids for fun.

The beautiful bride cuts into her cakes.

Me and the Bride to Be… avec flamingos.

Bar signage by Wylie West Creative and pink bubbles by Gruet.

Rebecca ordered CULT chocolate bars from Mast Brothers and tied them with a tag stamped “Best Day Ever.”

How can you visit the Copacabana without a fruity headpiece? Guests made their own headband creations when they arrived at the shower.

Mementos from the special day…

xoxo,

Lydia

Greek Chic Bridal Shower

May 29, 2013 by Sarah Lagrotteria

Baby M and I have just returned from a whirlwind two-week trip that included my sister‘s bridal shower at Haven’s Kitchen in New York City.

We couldn’t host this party at home, but we still wanted a space that felt warm and inviting. Consider Haven your cool city friend’s dream pad, complete with stripes, pretty table vignettes, and a black gallery wall.

Our bride-to-be loves peonies, so Haven filled julep cups, jam jars, and bud vases with every shade of pink. My cousin collected wedding portraits from both sides of the family (a tradition that began with my wedding shower) and framed them all in silver.

Don’t my grandparents look excited to begin their lives together?

Black sesame and raspberry macaron favors sweetened the black, white, pink and grey color palette.

The bride’s good friend Lauren ordered adorable photo confetti made from pictures of the bride and groom and scattered them on every surface.

One good trick when planning a themed party is to go for the non-literal interpretation. To celebrate Julie and Matt’s upcoming honeymoon to the Greek islands, we found “Greek” elements that worked with the party’s overall look. Here, our game prizes: Nars make up with Greek names like Corfu and Greek Holiday.

I’m a bit obsessed with this last detail! As a guest “book” we framed a collage of Jackie O learning to use a camera while summering on Skorpios. Bonus- the collage matched the bride’s dress!

Julie’s friends wrote wishes for her on archival paper which we then glued to the back of the frame. A party and honeymoon momento all in one! We can’t wait to see it hanging on the new couple’s gallery wall.

The bride with her big girl and baby girl hostesses.

A big thanks to all my co-hostesses and congratulations to my beautiful sister!

On Friday, the menu.

xxSarah

Not So Real Housewives Themed Bridal Shower

May 24, 2012 by Lydia Ellison Howerton

When it came time to plan a shower for our girl Niki, the other hostesses and I knew it had to be different than your average bridal affair. Smart and sassy with a wicked sense of humor, Niki is a generally down-to-earth kind of gal who might chose TOMS over Louboutins and gravitates toward earth tones in her wardrobe. To give her the true “bridal” experience we had to go WAY over the top. Inspired by the excess and silliness of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills we had a pink and diamond JOKE shower. It was SO much fun to plan all the sparkly details and even more of a riot to enjoy the day with the bride-to-be.

All Pictures by Anjali Prasertong

The guests were welcomed with two drink stations

A Bloody Mary Bar with assorted Rick’s Pick’s pickles

a Prosecco Bar with Peach-Thyme Puree, Orange Juice and Strawberry-Vanilla Puree

Pink Prosecco, Pink Straws, Pink Nails

and pink diamond stamped cocktail napkins (paper napkins + stamp pad + stamp)

The house all dressed up

Candles at noon on a sunny day screams “Houswives”

Paper Topiaries made by our genius designer friend Sandra

The guests all dressed up

The lunch table was strewn with gems

The Bride had a special cup that fits a whole bottle of wine and a tiara of course. The place cards were tied to ring pops on each place setting.

MOB and MOG both had tiaras too (just like Pandora gave to Lisa on her wedding day)

Even the salad was hot pink, Beet & Quinoa Salad with Mint by Anjali

An A&O signature Broccoli & Cheddar Quiche

I made Spinach, Sweet Potato and Chicken Sausage Frittata Cups topped with little pictures of Niki’s beloved doggie Mabel. Beth spent hours making these little Mabel signs affixed to toothpicks.

More Mabel on the donut holes.

Sandra turned her ribbon bouquet into a piece of art (the secret here is a glue gun during the gift opening, serious business ladies.)

And finally the pièce de résistance! A collaboration between the the bride’s mom and Baskin-Robbins. A mint chocolate chip ice cream cake all dressed up for the special occasion. All kidding aside it was a love filled afternoon, one none of us will soon forget.

Simply fabulous darlings,

Lydia

A Theme Free Wedding Shower

August 26, 2011 by Lydia Ellison Howerton

Hope you all enjoy this visual tour of the bridal shower I mentioned on Monday via Sarah’s pretty pretty pictures. The other hostesses and I wanted to honor our friend Anjali’s quirky-retro style and commitment to excellence in all things crafts, food and games. Oh, and make sure the shower felt hip and theme free.

A big bar spread laid out on a Deck Towel draped table. You can’t ask guests to arrive at 11am on a Sunday morning and not offer a nice assortment of cocktails, right?

The Blood Mary Bar offered lots of mixers and vegetables to garnish, like spicy green beans, good pickles and sriracha to mix in for an extra kick.

On the sweeter side there was Prosecco and fresh orange juice for mimosas.

Creative gifts were tucked into craft paper and bright ribbons. The bride received vintage plates in her wedding colors, a coffee set from the 60’s and a stunning crystal punch bowl with many mini glasses for her holiday fetes.

A long table with a craft paper runner was studded with bright linen napkins. The built in stone bench was covered with cushions and draped with saffron and magenta colored fabric from the balcony above.

Beth artfully arranged multi-colored blooms from the farmer’s market in tiny tea tins. Each place setting on the table was marked by Scrabble letters of the guests initials.

Cute.

Orange juice in the mid-day light.

Each guest assembled their own Banh Mi sandwich from a buffet of items and served themselves cabbage salad on Bambu plates.

I struggled to get a good shot of my plate with editorial help from hostesses Niki and Sandra.

Elan made this incredible almond cake topped with fresh peaches, raspberries and blackberries and lemon whipped cream. We enjoyed it over the ohhs and ahhs of gift opening.

SO many other crafts and details went into this event, I will share those in a post next week.

xo,
LEH

French Themed Bridal Shower

July 22, 2010 by applesandonions

by Lydia Ellison

A few weeks ago I co-hosted a bridal shower for a dear friend along with her sister Nicole. We were fortunate to hold the shower at Kiki de Montparnasse, a fantastic Los Angeles party location. Take a walk through the event and see for yourself…

Guests were greeted by a trio of mirrors and a polaroid guests book

they entered the courtyard strung with French cafe lights

helped themselves to a drink of lemonade, rose wine or champagne

added peach puree and St. Germain liqueur to their champagne cocktails

nibbled on a simple spread of French inspired sweet and savory platters

crudite with olive tapenade

French macarons from Paulette in assorted flavors and colors

and gruyere cheese straws. Rustic chic purple flowers by Sandra!

The mood of the party was set by Kiki’s romantic and whimsical decor outside in the courtyard

and inside the shop.

Fin!

The Weekend Dish

July 9, 2010 by applesandonions

by Lydia Ellison

Sarah and I are both attending a bridal shower this weekend for a friend and I’m doing some cooking for the event today. Should prove to be very beautiful, pics to follow next week. Teaser: it’s has a French theme and is being held at Kiki de Montparnasse. Oh la la.

Salads are sexy too, if you eat the leaves with your fingers. Brush up on salad making tips from The Master, Alice Waters.

Alice Waters from Green Kitchen on Vimeo.

If you want to be more like Alice and grow your own salad greens read this book or this GOOP newsletter.

Remember my organic potted herb “garden” from last year? It has fallen into disrepair so Sunday will be devoted to potting the mint in one pot so it doesn’t vampire my other herbs! Then basil and parsley in another pot.

Happy Weekend!

Vintage Bridal Shower

May 5, 2009 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

My Aunt Holly and my cousin Katie threw me the most beautiful bridal shower at their home last Saturday. It was a vintage-themed ladies luncheon for my Los Angeles girlfriends–complete with bridal bingo from 1970!

My cousin baked, painted and “bejeweled” sugar cookie engagement rings as favors.

My Aunt styled the table after a beautiful bridal gown…

….and decorated the tabletop with “vintage” wedding pics from the women in my family as well as cake toppers from their weddings and her friends’ weddings. It was a treat to see them side by side and appreciate all the different wedding styles.

Check out my parents! My mom wore a high-neck lace mini for her wedding dress–so chic!

My grandmother wore a beautiful suit.

They also asked my friends to write out their favorite recipes on these beautiful cards. Lydia included her mom’s famous carrot cake! I can’t wait to share them all with you.

….lucky lucky lucky me.

xoxosl

Posts Tagged ‘Bridal shower’