Stock the bar and BBQ party

Monica and Rick took a trip to Hawaii last summer.  Even before they left I told Monica that when they got engaged and set a wedding date I wanted to host a wedding shower for her.  Well, Rick didn't want to be ordinary (as if getting engaged in Hawaii is ordinary!) so he didn't propose on that trip.  He waited a few months and did it in October.  Monica asked me to be a bridesmaid and they both asked Spencer to be their ring bearer and I again told Monica that I wanted to host a shower for her.  We picked the date of May 17th for the shower way back in January.  It seemed like it was so far into the future.  But somehow time kept on ticking and it has now come and gone.

 

This is a list of what went wrong during the shower:

1) I forgot to put out the food label cards for the main course.

2) I forgot to add the parmesan to the 1st batch of caesar salad.  The second batch got the cheese, but I ran out of tomatoes.

3) I never took pictures of the food once the main course was presented.

4) I forgot to put out the extra bottle of BBQ sauce for the BBQ beef sandwiches.

5) I never took pictures of the dessert course.

6) I never got a posed picture of me and Michael together or Monica and Rick together.

7) I never took pictures of the tables outside.

 

And that's it.  I included that list so that you could see that all the things that went wrong were really quite minor in the grand scheme of things.  It was a great party!

 

One of Monica's other bridesmaids, Sarah, brought cute little decorations and flowers.

 

I re-used the gold glitter candle jars from Spencer's Golden Birthday Party.

Monica's mom gave me the little pig watering can to thank me for hostessing.  He was so cute I added him to the decor.

 

The appetizers 

 

Cheesy spinach and bacon dip

 

Bacon and parmesan shortbread

 

BBQ pineapple meatballs

 

Mini roasted peppers filled with goat cheese and drizzled with pesto

Monica's step-sister made the barbie cake.  And that's supposed to be Rick in the pink convertible.

 

The guests

 

Rick (in black) and one of his groomsmen

This is the place where I should have pictures of dinner.  We had BBQ beef sandwiches, a big fruit platter and caesar salad.

 

I was busy cleaning up after dinner and setting up dessert so I had Monica's cousin's wife take these pictures.  The "theme" of the party was stock the bar and stock the BBQ.  I sent a big list of gift ideas with the invitations.  It was really fun to see how creative people were.

 

This is Monica's cousin's son.  He was the only kid at the party.

 

We gave them little fishie wine glass charms and a set of multicolored highball glasses.

Dessert, again, not photographed, was a huge make your own ice cream sundae bar.  I had 5 different flavors of ice cream and a million toppings- chocolate syrup, peanuts, sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, sugar cone pieces, oreos, frosted animal crackers, cherries, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, whipped cream, and a bunch of different kinds of cereal.

 

We also cut the barbie cake.  Poor barbie.

At least I got 1 picture with Monica.  It's also the only picture of me from the whole party.  At least I can prove I was there!

Now we just have to make it through 5 months of heat and we'll be ready to party down at the wedding in October.