Barrington Bridal Shower

When it came to deciding on the location for my bridal shower, I was adamant that I wanted it somewhere unique. I wanted to pick a place where people had not been, and wanted something older or with natural charm. After much investigation, I stumbled upon Barrington White House, a historic building in downtown Barrington. The venue has old wood and classic charm, which was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted the environment to be casual so that people could mingle, but also wanted to add our own elegant touch. This location also had special meaning to me because it is around the location where Josh and I were the night we got engaged!

This venue was perfect once Covid hit, because we ended up having a smaller shower. We could only have 50 guests, so it allowed us to space out tables and give more room for distancing. I was originally sold on this location because of the outdoor patio, and that ended up being perfect for guests who weren’t as comfortable indoors. We had a perfect day, sunny and in the 70s. We really just had immediate family and our closest friends, so everyone seemed to feel fairly comfortable and just thankful to be together again. It is crazy the things you take for granted until you don’t have them!

Alright, now let’s get to decor! I love the look of simple greenery, so I wanted to incorporate that with gold and some pink for femininity. Pre-Covid, I had actually already bought a ton of picture frames and votive candles to be used at our rehearsal dinner, so I decided to put them to work for this event as well. Everything is so up in the air regarding what we will get to experience, so I figured I might as well use them now in case they don’t get to make an appearance later! I ordered these frames on Amazon for cocktail tables, intending to put pictures of J and I in them. Once I went to his parent’s house to gather childhood photos for our slideshow, I decided that baby pictures of us would be better and give guests a good laugh. I had also purchased these gold votives for cocktail tables, so I decided to use them on the dining tables as well. My mom and I went to Michael’s and found a bunch of simple greenery that we used to scatter on the tables. Then, in the center of it all, we put a floral arrangement on each table. I didn’t want to go crazy on flowers, seeing as how they really just die, so we went to Costco and Trader Joe’s the morning before and bought a TON of flowers. I’m talking we CLEANED THEM OUT. Thanks to many years of J being a romantic, I had a ton of extra flower vases at home, so we just reused those to create our own, custom arrangements.

I let my mom go to town decorating the fireplace. That was the “focal point” of the room and where we would open gifts, so I wanted it to look pretty jazzed up. We started with a Mr. and Mrs. sign that J’s mom found at target and secured it with votives that my mom found at a boutique in Long Grove. After adding in picture frames, a strand of greenery, and another floral arrangement, it was perfect!

The other main focal points were the bar, the favor table, and the sanitation station (lolol that that is a thing). I wanted to provide guests with masks, sanitizer, and little alcohol wipes to help them feel comfortable, especially considering each guest had a different comfort zone in regards to Covid (and this was the first outing in months for many of the guests). Pretty sure no one even knew what those wipes were supposed to be- I ordered them online at the start of Covid when everything was sold out. They came from China and all of the writing is in Chinese, so no one really used them (lol fail).

In regards to favors, I went back and forth regarding what I wanted to do. Of course my first stop for research was Etsy, and I was very close to getting little tin candles with custom stickers on them. I changed my mind last minute because I was nervous regarding the scent. You pick out your scent online and then they could show up and smell awful. Like, “hi, thanks for coming! Please take a lovely garbage-scented candle on your way out!”. I scratched that idea and ended up going with bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cake. My sister-in-law had actually had these as favors at her shower and everyone loved them. It was about the same price point and I figured it added to the dessert selection so why not! I went on Etsy and found custom stickers to add to the tops of each cake to make them more feminine. I think I got 50 stickers for under $20, so I couldn’t resist!

For the rest of the decor, we really just showed up with boxes full of stuff and started putting frames and knick knacks everywhere. I decided last minute to do a seating chart to help guests feel more comfortable by placing them at tables with their immediate family, friends, etc. I did not want to spend an arm and a leg on this so I actually took the mirror from my basement bathroom and used a chalkboard marker to write the names on it. When looking for an easel to place the mirror on, I was surprised to see how expensive they were! I asked my dad if he could build one for me, and he really pulled through (and probably hated me seeing as how I asked him to whip one up the day before the event). I also used a framed chalkboard I had bought for when my brother proposed to his wife and turned it into the welcome sign for outside. Overall, we were thrilled with the way everything came together and a lot of the decor was composed of items that either myself or one of the moms already owned. I wanted to put the budget into the food and drink, so I spent a few weeks scouring all of our houses for frames, votives, and signs that could go together at the shower.

Alright so let’s talk about FOOD! I changed our food selection about 900 times I think. When we were first planning the shower, we didn’t think Covid would still be a thing by August. With that in mind, I originally wanted to do buffet-style. I am usually not a big fan of this because I think that a plated meal is more elegant, however, buffet style would have allowed us to provide people with more options. When you have a diverse group of taste buds, you want to have a good spread that satisfies everyone. But, alas, Covid struck again and we had to make changes (this is becoming a theme on this blog…). I opted for a plated meal and hired a chef and two servers so that we could have minimal hands involved with getting the food from the kitchen to each person. Our venue requires that you use one of their approved caterers, so we ended up going with Wild Asparagus and LOVED THEM. My contact there provided so much insight and was incredibly patient every time I called and changed out our selections AGAIN. We ended up doing passed hors d’oeuvres so that only the server would be touching the food (they were all in masks and gloves of course). They had amazing options but I tried to pick items that were simpler and could work for even the picky or vegetarian/allergy crowds. After multiple changes, I ended up doing bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with almonds, artichoke and parmesan stuffed mushrooms, and bruschetta cups. I was so mad at myself- I was so busy mingling that I only tried one mushroom! Everyone kept raving about the dates and I cannot believe I didn’t even try the food I ordered (face palm).

For the main course, I felt like chicken was the best route if I had to pick one dish for everyone. I ended up going with Chicken Tagliata as it was one of the more basic chicken dishes they had. The others all looked amazing but I felt this was safe should anyone be picky and not want onions or capers on their chicken. I also wanted to keep things light- I feel like women don’t want to go to a shower and leave feeling stuffed and bloated. I wanted enough food that everyone was satisfied but not so heavy that they would be falling asleep during the ever-boring gift opening. I started it all off with a Bourbon and Honey Poached Pear Salad. Not the most basic dish but I just couldn’t resist, it sounded amazing! For the side, I chose mediterranean orzo salad and IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. I picked it because I thought it was simple but whatever they did to it was just WOW. I vowed that I would try to recreate it someday on my own so if I ever figure it out I will be sure to post about it!

For dessert, I probably drove my caterer nuts because I kept changing my mind and then eventually ordering desserts from an outside vendor. My future mother-in-law seems to have to low down on all of the best bakeries in the area, and kept raving about Deerfields. I guess this is where she used to buy birthday cakes for her kids, so I thought it would be cute to bring things full circle and have them do desserts for our shower. We ordered a bunch of custom sugar cookies shaped like rings, wedding dresses, and with little stick figures of the bride and groom on them. I bought little clear bags and cute ribbon at Michels so that we could individually wrap them for sanitary reasons. I then went through and ordered a few dozen of their mini desserts. We had an array of macaroons, mini tarts and cheesecakes, petit fours, and mousses. I picked out the most feminine ones that I could find and they ended up looking so cute! We brought platters and cake plates from home to display everything and the Caterer did a beautiful job setting it all up. I definitely should have ordered more though- by the time we were done with gifts the dessert table was completely empty- success!

Finally, there were two things that were the icing on the cake- music and the photographer. White House had indoor and outdoor speakers, so I was able to make a playlist to blast all day. I filled it with Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye. Michael Jackson…all the swanky, upbeat vibes! The photographer ended up being a last minute add-on. One night at dinner, Josh and I were talking about the shower and I was saying that I wish I knew someone who was a photographer- I didn’t want to add that investment but I also felt like I would be so busy mingling that day, that I would have no time for taking pictures. I really wanted to make sure I captured the day and had those memories. Josh perked up and mentioned that one of his co-workers/friends does photography on the side and might be interested. Matt had typically just dabbled in car photography, but was up for the challenge. I could never be more thankful! You would never know that this guy does not do professional photography for a living. We got the pictures back and I was absolutely stunned and so grateful that he had captured the essence of the day. He is also one of the sweetest people you will ever meet and I was glad that Josh was able to have a buddy in a room full of women all day!

In summary, the day was everything I wanted and more. I would be lying if I said the road to getting to this day was easy. We almost cancelled the whole thing on multiple occasions, had to get over the initial disappointment of realizing that we could not have the bigger shower that we had planned (which ended up being a blessing in disguise to have a smaller, more intimate crowd), I constantly feared that I would be judged or would put people in an uncomfortable situation who were not ready to be around crowds yet, and basically drove myself and my vendors up a wall researching all of the ways to make the event as safe and sanitary as possible. I was a ball of nerves leading up to the event because I was not sure what to expect when guests arrived. Do you hug? Will they be freaked out? Will people no-show with last minute panicking? Should I have my mask on all day? The list goes on and on. I ended up doing an e-vite instead of a paper invite because we weren’t sure if we would need to cancel. I was bummed I didn’t get to send out the fancy card but it ended up being another blessing in disguise and allowed us to communicate with guests via email. I sent out multiple updates letting them know safety protocols, how food would be served, how many guests were coming, etc, so that they could have all of the information they needed to decide if they were comfortable attending. Once we were all set up and guests starting walking in the door, I was put at ease. Everyone was still being cautious, but so, so excited to get together again. It opened my eyes to how much more special the day was because it was the event that finally reunited several friends and family members after months of quarantine. I have no words to express the gratitude I had for everyone in the room that day. I knew a lot of people went above and beyond to be there for us that day, whether it was their attendance alone, or helping with the setup. The planning experience was an amazing way for me to bond with both moms as well. I hosted a few planning meetings as my house, where we would sit at the table and have apps and get side-tracked from planning by talking about Josh and I growing up and sharing funny stories. It was a crazy ride but I look back at the entire experience as being incredibly humbling and another reminder of just how lucky I am to be surrounded by the greatest people this world has to offer!