And then there were three.....: 2012-09-02

It is hard to put into words the feeling you get before your baby shower. It is such a special event and so many emotions flood through you. It is similiar to that of a wedding in which the pure joy of getting all your closest family and friends together in one spot is a feat in itself! Some of the emotions that I felt leading up to the event were excitement, gratitude, and a little bit of anxiousness knowing that we were that much closer to Ethan being here! I am officially pregnant at a baby shower. haha. Well, I have been pregnant quite some time, but the shower just makes it that much more real. At the shower I was 31 weeks pregnant and will always remember this most special day of Saturday, August 25th, 2012. My mom hosted the shower and my dear friend Kim helped out with the cake and printed out all the cute dessert labels. Her mom Karen also helped with some of the details - table number decorations and coming early to set up all the centerpieces. Also, I wanted to thank my mother in law, her sister Cathy, and Todd for coming early to help my mom set everything up. Can you believe it took 5 family members and 5 Gaylord staff members to set everything up?? Also, the reason why the title to this blog is Baby Shower Part I is because I decided to break up all the pictures. This part will be all the detailed pictures and the next part will be the pictures with my wonderful family and friends.

My mom has always been very special to me and this shower has put another sentimental wrench in my heart. She went above and beyond any normal baby shower (okay, so a bit over the top. haha) and was busy almost every day for 3 months getting ready for it. She means so much to me and we have such a special bond and she just has one of the biggest hearts any one person can have. She is selfless and I am always reminding her to take time out for herself. Her place as a mother is number 1 in her life and she is always thinking about me, Todd, and Marianne (our beloved corgi) and what is best for us. Seriously, she worries about Marianne and asks me all the time how she is doing. What will she be like when Ethan comes?? I can only hope that I can be as good as a mother as her. I don't tell her this kind of stuff as much as I should, so that is another reason why blogging is so special to me. I can give turn this portion of the blog into a book for her!

I also would like to document all of the fine details of the event before it fades from memory (I hope it never does! )
1) Guest Tables - these beautiful tables had chair sashes on the them with those pretty garden white chairs. My mom ordered hydrangeas by the dozens so each centerpiece was full. She also purchased these pretty crystal branches that came out of the top of the centerpiece which made for a very tall arrangement and also made it sparkle. She also purchased such pretty silver vases for all the flowers to go in. Each person had a crystal ball place card holder with their name. Each one had a sparkly duck, rattle, or sheep in the corner. Thr reason for that is that the waiters had to have some system to figure out who ordered chicken, grouper, or pasta. We even had one veggie meal (my cousin Jamie is a vegeterian), so her place card had a sheep with a fence over a patch of grass. The grass represented the veggie meal. haha. :) Each table also had baby pacifer napkin rings, and pacifers on the table with confetti. Also, each table had a beautiful table frame indicating which table number it was and of course, the number was in glittering sliver. I was I was able to get a picture of the entire room. Someone with an SLR camera that had a wide angle lens could have captured it, but it would be difficult. Todd was already at home with our camera. That's okay because we still got plenty of pictures.

2) Cake Table - The cake was a tall baby carriage with blue and white buttercream with a chocolate pudding filling. It was delicious!! It was presented on this beautiful silver platter and it said Welcome Baby Ethan at the bottom. To decorate the round table, my mom put the confetti and baby boy carriage napkins.

3) Pastry Table - Oh! Where do I begin?? My mom would come over and we would look on Pinterest and Etsy for hours and she took all my favorite ideas from each website and blended them together to create the perfect pastry table. There were 3 different levels with the pastry table. The Gaylord Palms provided all the risers to give this special effect. There were chandeliers with crystals hanging from them. Instead of candles in them, yellow rock candy was put into that place and looked like real candles! Everything was edible! There were also oversized martini glasses of blue rasberry popcorn with a dessert label saying "Jill is ready to Pop." and then there was a canister filled with yellow tennis balls that said "Every game starts with Love" (since the game of tennis is scored based on luv, etc) The other canister had blue hersey kisses in it that said "It's a boy" and had a dessert label saying "Little hands and little feet. Baby boys are so sweet! Each canister had a ribbon around it with these sayings. We also had 3 platters at the front. Two of the platters had yellow and blue cupcakes on them with a cute label that said :

"Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Bundle of Joy
Love & Happiness: 100%

Excitement: 100%

Mother Patiently Waiting: 100%

Gift from Heaven: 100%

Then, we had cookies in the middle platter that were shaped as bottles, onsies, and baby carriages. They were the big hit at the party! The great thing is that Todd actually made these because we both figured that it would be a good tool to have in the future for birthday parties, etc. It wasn't easy learning how to make those perfect with the royal icing and such, but he mastered it and I want him to show me too! The dessert label saying for this was " Bottles, onesies, diapers, pins. This is where the fun begins!" Lastly, there was a round tower in the center filled with blue and yellow rice krispie treats and It's a Boy" chocolate mold lollipops ( I guess that is what you would call them)

Set up still in progress

4) Favor Table - this table was also one of my favorites. My mom had this custom carriage made for me and was so elegant with pearls and crystals!! In front of the carriage was a label that said:

First comes love,

Then comes marriage,

Then comes your shower favor

Out of a Baby Carriage

Thank you for coming!

We hope you enjoy reading as much as

We hope Ethan will!

In the carriage, the favor for the shower were bookmarks. I thought it would be nice for the guests to have a favor that they would actually use and at the same time bring Ethan into it since we are really passionnate about him growing up reading books and furthering his education. The bookmarks were vintage looking on that old fashioned cream cardstock with burnt edges and one was Peter Rabbit and the other one was Winnie the Pooh with blue and yellow ribbon. Next to the carriage, my mom put one of my maternity pictures in there. She picked the one that was done in sepia so the vintage theme carried nicely over. Next to the carriage was this beautiful white scalloped lantern where all the guests put their advice cards in. I am not a big fan of baby shower games, so this was a nice way to do something. So, each person filled out the advice card and dropped it in here. The main colors of the baby shower were pastel blue and yellow with so many accents of crystals everywhere. No theme - just classic and timeless.

5) When guests walked in this wonderful violinist named Chelsea, played some classical music and baby songs. (For example - "Some where over the rainbow" and other recognizable classical baby music) It was so different to have that at a baby shower and just such a nice added bonus.

6) The sign in table was really adorable as well. All of the maternity pictures in beautiful frames were on there and the sign in book and then another small baby carriage with all the valet vouchers that the guests needed to take when they left the shower.

7) A welcome easel located near the sign in table. A beautiful shadow box with a welcome sign in it, sonogram picture, and the invitation to the shower was displayed with a gold bow at the top.

8) On the right side of the "room", near those tables, there was some green plants. Nestled in those plants was a 5 foot stork saying "it's a boy!" I just think storks and carriages are the cutest things!

9) The actual venue itself. The Gaylord Palms is very unique in the sense that you can have an outdoor feeling shower, but actually be inside. First off, the hotel itself is just gorgeous! Then, you walk in to the amazing lobby and proceed forward into this atrium with the entire ceiling made of glass. In the atrium, you have waterfalls, ponds, greenery with lush landscaping, bridges, etc. It is very unique. In Florida, even in the coldest months, you cannot guarantee that your guests won't be hot or muggy at an outdoor event. The other awesome part about the venue was the actually pavilion where the shower was located. It was at the "top" of the atrium so you actually had a view of the whole hotel from the paviliion. It is a circular pavilion (love circular venues!) with white columns going around and then a center section with white columns with this trellis "roof" It is hard to explain in words. The picture will make sense when you see it. Thank goodness for those bell hops and concierge getting the gifts up and down.