The tiniest hint of fall was in the air as the breeze blew across the courtyard of the Hunter Arms Hotel on Saturday.  It was the perfect day to gather friends and family to celebrate our soon-arriving son, Theo, with a baby shower.  My heart was overwhelmed with the love that surrounded us.  It is beautiful to know that my son will enter the world already so loved, not only by us but by the people close to us.  

A Leap of Creativity

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to do something unconventional and incorporate mushrooms into the theme. I decided to pair the mushrooms with frogs and lily pads and then bring them into each part of the shower.  Selecting the right color palette was a crucial decision in the planning process. I wanted to do something unexpected and avoid the typical blue you might see at a shower for a baby boy.  To strike the right balance, I introduced a pale green that complemented the overall neutral theme perfectly. 

 

The Invitations

I sit with dozens of clients over the course of a year to help bring their invitation dreams to life, but when the tables are turned, and I create for my own family, it’s a different experience!  With literally every creative element at my disposal, it can be hard to hone in on exactly what I want to do.  However, after much planning, these invitations couldn’t have turned out any better and were truly a labor of love.  

I wanted to create an invitation that was not just informative but also enchanting. Incorporating a heart motif was essential because of how I wanted it to tie into the decor at the shower (more on that later).  However, I wanted to avoid making it overly feminine.  Instead, in our invitations, I leaned toward soft, delicate touches that anyone could appreciate. The main invitation was a pale, heart-shaped blind deboss. 

 

The details card featured our RSVP information and registry, cleverly designed to resemble a lily pad. When the invitation was layered, it allowed the frog to rest gracefully on the lily pad, adding a touch of magic.

The Backdrop

I drew inspiration from the heart wall at Santana and Slater’s wedding, one of my absolute favorite creations ever.  While it had been a while since we used that beautiful piece, I felt that it was the perfect time to bring it back to life. I wanted it to be more than just a backdrop; I wanted it to call back to the invitation and reveal my baby’s name. Using the invitation as a reference, we crafted a textured wall that served as a charming name reveal: Theo (middle name soon-to-be-announced) Travelute.

The Little Details That Made a Big Difference 

We carried the theme through various elements of the baby shower. Lily pads adorned the dessert labels, while the gingham linens on the tables mimicked the envelope liner on the invitations. The welcome sign tied everything together seamlessly.  I also got to lend a creative touch with hand-sculpted mushrooms inside cloches.  Gather and Grace Designs created the floral arrangements of my dreams!

A Dessert Disaster – Redeemed!

The shower was between meals at 3 pm, so we aimed to have lots of yummy finger foods and treats that people could snack on.  We had a grazing table and some Colombian pastries from a nearby bakery.  Of course, I ordered way too much food and we had so much left over at the end, that we were begging people to take it!

I’ve been in the event industry for quite a few years now, and almost every event experiences a hiccup of some kind.  However, we had a HUGE curveball thrown our way about 20 minutes prior to the start of the shower when the baker we hired called me to say he wouldn’t be able to fulfill our order due to unforeseen circumstances.  I immediately panicked – we had no plan B for this!  Thankfully my friend Rochelle and her husband Blake snapped into action for a last-minute Walmart run.  They were able to pull together a delightful dessert spread with seconds to spare.  Yes, you heard that right, Baby Theo’s desserts were compliments of Walmart. 🙂 

A Snapshot of the Unforgettable Moments 

Though I didn’t capture as many pictures as I would have liked, we did give our guests the opportunity to shoot some photos with disposable cameras, which we created custom sleeves for.   

The Scratch-Off Game 

What’s a baby shower without games?  We had your traditional clothespin game, where you could steal someone’s if they said either “baby” or “Theo.”  But the most creative and fun game we did was a scratch-off I created called “Who Got the Daddy?”  It was a photo of a dad grilling, but only one card had Tyler’s face under the scratch-off portion (the rest had Stella’s).   At the count of three, we asked everyone to scratch their cards and there was one lucky winner.  It was a hit!  

In the end, our baby shower was a whimsical day filled with warmth, love, creativity, and enchantment. It was a day I’ll cherish forever, and I can’t wait to tell my little one about the celebration that welcomed him into this world.