Wedding Recap: Bachelorette Party & Bridal Shower

Now, I just have to say that I have great friends and family who planned me awesome an awesome bachelorette party and a wonderful bridal shower! Both events really made me feel special and to tell you the truth, it is so awesome to feel that way before the wedding. Why? Because normally the bride is doing so much preparation work that sometimes it is easy to feel a bit forgotten. Like “OMG the table clothes have to be perfect and that silverware isn’t the right design, and jeeze I’m never going to find the right candle color!” It is easy to forget that people just want to celebrate in the joyous event that is your wedding because they love you...not all the little details. So thank you to Heather who did a great job with the bach party here in Chile, the girls who came to the party (it was great to see you all!), to my Mother who slaved over the Bridal Shower, Sherry & Nina who helped my mom with the preparations, and my Bridesmaids who did a great job at helping with the shower and not to mention the fun games!!!

Bachelorette Party
Date: May 8, 2009
Location: Catedral Restaurant/Bar, Santiago, Chile

The best thing about this party was getting to see my favorite girlfriends! It had literally been months (since 2008!) since I had seen Emily, Sarah, and Lydia which is just kind of crazy considering we all live in the same city (well, except for Lydia). I guess 2009 just started off as a crazy-busy year for everyone...but I was so glad that they all took the time to come celebrate with me. Luckily, I get to see Heather and Verónica on a fairly frequent basis and Rochelle, a fellow CU Buff & Deltasig, even stopped by which was great.

(L-R: Me, Heather, Verónica, Lydia)

It was a chill bachelorette party, just what I was hoping for, with fun conversation, great food, delish drinks and complete with the feather boas, mardi gras beads and penis straws & leis. Let me just say that the pisco sours at Catedral were to die for and while I liked the taste of the Ceaser salad, it did not like me very much as it gave me at stomach ache later in the evening. We also got an order of French fries (my vice in this country) and those just topped off the evening.

The girls all gave me a cute little card with beautiful messages inside, some sexy black lingerie and chocolate!

(L-R: Sarah, Rochelle, Emily)

Bridal Shower
Date: May 31, 2009
Location: Sherry’s House, Colorado, USA

(L-R: my sister, me, my mom)

I told my mom and bridesmaids from the beginning that I didn’t want to know a thing about the Bridal Shower...I wanted a complete surprise and while that might have made them nervous, they did such an amazing job and I loved it all!!!

(L-R: Staci, me, Nichelle, my sister)

My parents’ neighbors, who are good family friends, took me with them to the shower since it was about an hour away from where my parents live. My mom and sister went early to set up and I didn’t want to go with them because that would have obviously ruined the surprise. So we pulled up to Sherry’s house and walked in to the beautifully decorated living room. The shower’s theme was like spring picnic, and they had thought of it all! The tables had beautiful flower centerpieces, with little favors for each lady that were mini ceramic pots and a packet of flower seeds as well as a little ladybug magnet. My mom also came up with this creative idea to get everyone to sign a piece of fabric with their name and also write a message if they wanted, which I believe will all be going onto a quilt.

(Flower pots for each guest)

(Fabric signing)

I had bought a new dress for the shower and had to go change into it since I didn’t want to get it all wrinkly in the car. While I was finishing getting ready, my cousin Nichelle came in to ask me some questions and observe what I was wearing. It was for some games that she had planned in which gifts would be given away to the winners. She told me that there would be a game where I would have to pose in front of everyone so they could see what I was wearing, etc. and that before I got up, to change my engagement ring to a different finger.

Again, the best part about this shower was all of the people who came—friends who I have known since 5th grade who drove 3 hours just to come, aunts, grandmas, cousins and other friends who I hadn’t seen in at least a year, if not more. We had a really good turn out, I think around 25 ladies came.

(L-R: Danielle, Rhonda, Emily, Me, Staci)

For lunch, we had sandwiches that each person could make & personalize along with veggies and fruit. My mom made this bomb fruit dip from cream cheese and probably lots of sugar....it was to die for. She had also made a spinach dip for the veggies and crackers. Oh man...I couldn’t keep my hands out of it! To drink, they had brewed several different kinds of iced tea. My favorite was the strawberry-kiwi, but as you know anything strawberry is my fave.

After lunch we began to play some games. Sherry handed out pens and Nichelle instructed me to do my little pose and turn so the ladies could observe me and then I had to leave the room. She then proceeded to ask everyone what I was wearing, if I had on earrings, if so, what did they look like, how was my hair done, what color of shoes was I wearing, and where was my engagement ring. The person who got the most right would win a gift. So after everyone had written their answers, I came back in so Nichelle could read off the answers and prove what I was wearing. Hahaha...the fact that I had changed my ring onto a different finger threw everyone off and was hilarious.

The next game we played was one in which we had to all sit in a circle. There were a couple wrapped gifts that would be passed around to the right or left according to when Nichelle would say those words in the story she was about to tell. The story was called “Mr. Right” or something like that and although it was generic, she had tailored it a bit more to fit me and Christian’s story. The combination of the two was quite funny. When the end of the story came around, the people who had the gifts in hand were the winners.

After the Mr. Right game, it was time for dessert. Ohhh did my mom go over the top for dessert! She had made 4 different pies, each one to die for. There was a frozen yogurt pie with blackberries on top, a cherry cheesecake, a frozen pink lemonade pie, and a lemon pie with blueberries on top. I ate two slices the pink lemonade pie. I wish I would have tried the others too, but I just couldn’t eat any more after lunch and the other two pieces.

(Bridesmaids Nichelle & Staci serving up pie)

While the guests were eating dessert (I had long finished), it was time to open up gifts. Most were cards with giftcards to my favorite stores (hooray for shopping!), and some were wrapped gifts. Paula gave me this awesome wine connoisseur basket that had a bottle of wine, some beautifully painted wine glasses (she did it herself), pot holders, kitchen towels and I don’t even know what else...but all with little wine designs. It was amazing! My Aunt Shane & cousin Michala gave me a beautiful photo album and some bath products. My second-cousin Eileen gave me a beautiful wedding scrapbook from Hallmark. My sister found some cute pink lingerie and my mom, just the opposite, a flannel robe. She had wanted to find like head-to-toe flannel pajamas as a gag gift, but those sorts of pjs aren’t really in the stores in May. I do love the robe though because I actually didn’t have one and it is def necessary in winter time in Chile. Sherry gave me some beautiful damask printed things—two coffee mugs, a clutch wallet and an apron (love it all!). My best friend Staci bought me a beautiful heart-shaped pink keychain made of ostrich leather all the way from South Africa. Nichelle gave me a beautiful apron that is brown with pink polka dots. I bought it to Chile with me. And the gift that got the most laughs was from my good friend Rhonda, who decided to go the kinky route :) She got me some super sexy black and red lingerie, some boxers for Christian (that are like miniature in size and you put them in water and they grow), some Hershey’s chocolate syrup and some whipped cream in a can. I about died of laughter when opening up that one.

(Left: lingerie from my sister; Right: robe from my mom)

After the gifts had been unwrapped, there were a few more games to play. This time, though, the joke was on me. Nichelle had contacted Christian and asked him 13 questions and now she was going to ask me the same questions and I had to respond with what I thought Christian told her. If I got any questions wrong, I had to chew a piece of bubblegum (and keep adding more bubblegum if I missed more questions). I ended up having to eat 4 pieces of gum, which out of 13, I don’t think is that bad...hahahaha. What a good one. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. Sometimes I edited myself from saying what I really thought he had said and sure enough, I should have just gone with my gut feeling.

(About the 3rd piece of gum)

All in all it was an awesome afternoon. Staci & Nichelle made everyone some cute bookmarks to take with them in addition to their flower pots. I got to take pictures with everyone who had come and was so happy to see them all.