Beachy Wedding Shower

Happy Friday Folks! I'm still sharing all the fun we had giving a Beach themed wedding shower for my bestie's daughter. You saw the Wedding Date Plaque  and the 'to die for' S'mores Trifle Dessert? Well here are some more ideas for a beautiful beachy backyard wedding shower! 

First of all, my friend Ginny, the bride's mother, has the most gorgeous backyard with a huge lawn. We had 5 big tables set up. We used 2 canopy awnings for shade and her mature trees did the rest of the shade for an August afternoon.

I found terra cotta flower pots at the 99cts store to use for the centerpieces. I first sealed the insides with Thompson's water seal that I already had. Then I painted the blue and white stripes with latex paint. I planted annuals a couple weeks ahead of time so they would be grown in and blooming.  I even tucked a bit of succulent and more shells in the planters. Inside the pots were zinnias, snap dragons, little yellow daisies, alyssum, and lobelia flowers. We surrounded the beachy striped painted pots with sand, seashells and  mini beach balls. Guests had little name cards with a flip flop theme and received  some seashell decorated glass coasters to take home as thank you's.

  I made a simple pennant banner with the bride and groom's names. I just cut out the triangles, left the edges unfinished and sewed on the lettering with a straight stitch. I used fabrics that the bride's mother is making into a wedding ring quilt! How did I get the lettering? I just googled alphabets, blew up the letters and traced them right off of my computer screen. Easy!

Here's a view of the drink table being set up. We served ice tea, lemonade, water and White Sangria. The white sangria was a big hit! The drink table center was filled with a vintage sand pail, shells, sand and more mini beach balls. Some how I was too busy to get a picture of the table fully set up.

White Sangria Recipe

3 oranges, 4 limes, 4 lemons

1/2 cup tequila

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 bottle dry white wine chilled

1 bottle champagne chilled
2 cups club soda chilled

Ice

Thinly slice the fruits into a large container. Combine the tequila and sugar. Pour over the fruit and let it set over night.

Add the wine and champagne and club soda to the fruit mixture along with  ice when you're ready to serve. 

It's beautiful with all it's citrus colors and the party goers seemed to slurp it up! ( I don't drink myself so I'm just going on the way it disappeared!)

We set up a 'beach' scene under the orange tree. The beach chairs were embroidered with the bride and groom's names and were given to the bride along with the striped beach blanket.  The flip flops were prizes for the games. Any flip flops that weren't used were just returned after the festivities.  The chairs were a fun way to display the Wedding Dates Plaque I made also.

This 3 panel tropical beach scene made a great backdrop and hid the side of the house. A blow up palm tree added some whimsy and set the beachy mood.

The bride's place setting included some special Beanie Babies from her mom, bought many years ago just for this anticipated occasion. They were a reminder of the younger days when bride to be Katie was a collector of bear Beanie Babies. The bride and groom bears were a special touch!

 Just another view of the tables and yard. That huge mature camphor tree in the background makes the yard so cool and comfortable. Even the pool's diving board got a little decoration with a beach towel and planter.

Although I was too busy to get photos of the food, the menu was delicious with a 'southwestern' theme. After all, this is Southern California! 

We had delicious Fajita Chicken Salad,(recipe here),

 a scrumptious Bean and  Corn Salad (recipe here), 

fresh cantaloupe, and the  decadent S'mores in mini beach buckets for dessert. (dessert recipe here). 

 Appetizers were simple: just tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole, fresh veggies and a Trader Joe's sampler of hummus.

 Even the garden bench was decked out with beach towels to hold the gifts.

 The tables were so pretty with silver chargers, linens and crystal stemware, thanks to the bride's  Aunt Peg. In fact, she and I did the shower together and she made the great food too.

 Well, I hope you enjoyed some highlights from the Beachy Wedding Shower! I think it was a great day and I had fun making the decorations, food  and putting on the event. 

There was one last special guest, the only boy allowed...

my friend's grandson Tommy!

I think he's pretty special too!

Thanks for dropping by the Sunset Coast. I hope you'll follow along by email or Blog lovin' or Google Friends Connect. Tell me about your latest adventures and your blogs in the comments below!

Have a breezy day!

Cindy

See where I share!
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