Photos from the Bridal Shower

On Saturday May 1st, I catered a surprise bridal shower (Breakfast at Tiffany's Theme a la Audrey) for a very lovely young lady named Amy. Amy thought that she was attending a birthday party for her sister, whose birthday was in fact on May 1st. The entrance to the building was festooned with birthday balloons and banners. As she walked through the doorway to the cheers from friends and family that had gathered, she realized the day was for her and she just glowed.

I would like to say that everything went off without a hitch except I am embarrassed to admit that my camera was out of commission. I was so good about recharging the batteries and remembering to place them back in the camera the night before, unfortunately I left my memory chip in my computer after downloading some photos earlier in the day. So I had to rely on guests to kindly relay their photos to me. I had visualized certain poses as it were for my "food photo shoot" that did not materialize; however, there were a few good shots that captured the atmosphere of the day.

Originally, the buffet table had been set up against a nice bare wall, which would have provided a clean backdrop and a better photo opportunity. Once set up, the table had to be moved as it turned out that the hall lights above the table were not operable and created a dark spot. Unfortunately, the move to a better lit spot placed the table in front of doorways and clutter which I tried my best to edit out. I staged a few shots at home, mimicking some of the table decor set-ups for you to have a better view.

In an earlier post, I described the menu and posted some of the recipes. (Click here to see). The photo above shows the Shrimp Cocktail that was served. A martini glass was dipped in lime juice and then dipped into a bowl of finally chopped cilantro to create a pretty green ring. Then finely shredded lettuce was placed inside the glass and topped with guacamole (thinned out with sour cream to be more of a cream style than chunky).

The ladies enjoyed the food with the two most requested recipes being for the Chicken Waldorf Salad and the three quiches (ham & cheese, crabmeat & dill, and feta, bacon, & spinach. I will write them up to post.

Also in earlier posts, I had hinted that shoes would be used for flower arrangements and indeed they were. Originally floral foam and fresh flowers were to be used; however, when I found the fabulous black Gerber daisies, I changed the design. Now normally I would not use fake flowers, as they would look just that.... fake. But I was using black daisies, big black over-the-top daisies, which became more of an art piece as opposed to a floral arrangement. This was how I assembled them.

I found the shoes at Goodwill. Each pair was the color of the week so would have been 50% off but some had been pretty pricey to start with, especially the Nine West pair. When I explained what I was doing with the shoes, they gave them to me for $1.99 a pair. I did have to promise to bring them in for show & tell. Thanks guys for the help. Then I cut a square of black tulle and tightly pulled it together on one end to create a fan shape. I glued the gathered side at the top (heel) of each shoe. Next I cut out some foam, just regular white Styrofoam that I had lying around and placed it in each shoe over the base of the tulle fan. I used a black paper napkin tucked around the foam to hide everything.

Next, I wanted a little bling so I found sparkly pieces here and there to hot glue in the center of each flower including, on sale, packs of 6 beaded flowers that I cut from their stems and placed on the smaller daisies. The larger jewelery piece shown above is actually from a fancy pony tail holder that I purchased at Goodwill.

One shoe from each pair had 2 small Gerber daisies, silver leaves and pearl berries. I then added a white candle, placing hot glue at the base of the candle and pushing it down through the paper napkin cover and into the piece of foam. The other shoe had only one large bejeweled flower, silver leaves, pearl berries and no candle.

Here are some photos of the finished project.


You will see in the buffet photos that I used this large gift bag to add some height to the table. I filled it with stuffed newspaper and then added a child's black tutu. Some more of the black Gerber daisies were placed inside the opening of the tutu.


Next to it is a jar of black licorice. The licorice flared out like petals of the daisies.

Here are a few color shots of the buffet table. The first photo shows the decorated bandboxes that I made and the silver shoe menu card holders that I created. Click Here and Click Here to see how they both were made.

This is a staged vignette of some of the pieces used at the shower which included the shoes, black gloves and silver glasses.





The ladies loved the purse "save the date" favors that were designed for the shower, my original design, (click here to see) and also the silver shoe menu card holders.

The photo on the left shows the gift bag flower arrangement, the band boxes, and a nice rectangle box that held the plates and napkins. The photo on the right shows a vintage pair of long black gloves adorned with a "diamond" engagement ring ( a paperweight purchased at Christmas Tree Shop).

Here are a few more photos of the buffet table which include the cake made with gumdrop roses (click here to make). The photographer of these photos was trying to be creative in taking black and white photos. I hope that you can see all the different components of the tablescape.

The happy couple, Amy and Jeff. I raise my mimosas to them in a toast, best of luck with the wedding and their new life. Cheers.


Have a great Day.
Sherrie