Bora Bora Bridal Bash

When I was seven years old, my parents bought a beach house just down the road from where they first met as teenagers.  My mom’s brother lives in the same beach town as well and so the new house meant lots of extended family time.

The beach house brought on boogie boarding, playing volleyball and riding bikes to the candy store.  Summers were spent skipping from one beach activity to the next with my brothers and cousins.  A fast and furious bond grew between my cousins and I.

Fast forward 25 years later, when I was pregnant with Josie and working full time, I knew I needed to bring on someone to help me out with my design business.  Allie, my cousin, was my first and only call.  Not only did we understand each other through and through – she’s the most stylish lady I know – by far.  Without hesitation, she packed her bags and moved to the city to work with me.

That was the best time of working for me.  Not only could we collaborate creatively but we also could just sit around and laugh, cry or chit chat together.

Soon after Allie’s move to SF, she met a guy; they fell in love, he popped the question and now wedding bells will be ringing in August.  But before marriage comes the wedding shower.

My mom and I wanted to host a shower for Allie that was special to her and showered her in love.  We thought the beach house where we ran around as little kids was the perfect setting.

Allie requested a honeymoon themed shower.  And before she even showed me a glimpse of her pinterest page, I knew exactly what she was envisioning.

Then…the pressure was on. I went ahead with something I rarely, rarely do and took out my sewing machine, iron and hot glue gun. I made some table toppers and got to work on her “Bora Bora Bridal Bash”

Invites by Love Lucy Design on ETSY

Here’s how it all turned out…

The photos show thick fog, but the moments the guests arrived, the fog receded to the ocean and we had nothing but blue skies.

This is what the weather looked like the day before the party when we were doing the dry run to make sure everything worked…

We did a mixture of high cocktail tables under the verandah for shade –

And then lower tables on the deck along wooden benches looking out at the ocean

For the tabletoppers, I used palm leave fabric with pink or white pom pom trim and rope fabric with pink or white pom pom trim (all available at JoAnn’s Fabrics).

The flowers were by Susie’s Flowers in Aptos and they were gorgeous.

Susie also made a flower crown for the gorgeous bride in theme with the party’s flowers.

As a final surprise to my cousin, we put a teepee on the beach and decorated it in Bora Bora theme.  Because there are teepees all over Bora Bora?  Probably not.  But I know Allie loves a good teepee moment…

And in my eyes, a good teepee moment includes a couple of plastic hot pink flamingos.

All in all, it was such a fun day with so many fabulous ladies!!

Next up, the big day!  Woo hoo!!