My wedding shower...

Well, I'm once again embarrassed by how neglectful of my blog I've been...but I have a good excuse!  Newlywed bliss!  I'll try to detail the last few months over a lot of posts so that it isn't too overwhelming (especially since I've made a bunch of quilts!), but I need to go back in time a bit further to post a few pictures of the lovely wedding shower that Anne held for me right before the wedding, since it was completely fabulous, and I've been remiss in never posting about it!

Clockwise: Me, Anne, and Aileen (who had recently found her feet)

L to R: Anne, Aileen, Me, and Talia

Anne is an amazing hostess.  Despite the fact that she had a baby under 6 months old, she offered to host a wedding shower for me!  This shower was extra special, because it was really an opportunity to celebrate with many of my girlfriends, since we weren't having a big wedding or asking people to take off work on a Monday morning to come to our ceremony (other than immediate family and my bridesmaids (and their husbands)).  My husband does not like to be the center of attention, and I realized at the shower that I'm not very great at it, either, since I quickly became very emotional/overwhelmed by how lucky I am in my friends.  Tears were shed when I was given the present that Anne organized from the group - they had all chipped in to hire a wedding photographer for us.  I had planned on everyone using their iphones to take a few snapshots since I had no idea how to go about hiring a wedding photographer (and figured we'd never find one in the short timeframe that we had to organize in), but my brilliant friends realized that I would have missed out on having something special to show our future kids, and they were right!  It was the perfect present!

For brunch, Anne had a beautiful spread.  Her Nicoise Salad Deconstructed was a real hit with me, but I'm a sucker for perfectly cooked salmon.  (My mouth just watered looking at the pictures!)  She'd made lovely placecards for everyone and used all her fine china and crystal.  She even made a spiced mango puree to add to prosecco for a truly elevated mimosa.  And she made "spa water", which is my favorite!  In addition, she put together a lovely fruit salad.

I didn't want her to do all the work, plus I wanted to share my grandmother's poppy seed rolls with all my friends, so I baked a pan of that and a pan of cinnamon rolls (in case the poppy seed rolls didn't come out well, since I hadn't baked them in years).  My friend Julie supplemented the spread with some lovely French pastries.  And of course, Anne the most beautiful flowers I think I've ever seen.  It was very high class!

L to R: Talia, Heather, Margery (my mother-in-law), Me, Ita (Anne's MIL), and Kakuti  (not pictured: Julie (thanks for taking the picture!), Anne, and Aileen (who needed a short nap before she could rejoin the party))

Anne, being the clever lady that she is, asked me if I had a picture of the happy couple!  I gave her a picture from Italy or Croatia, and she transformed it into this wonderful piece of artwork, which she had put in a frame on the drink table.  I absolutely love our look...and in case you aren't aware, the backdrop building is the Anne Arundel County Courthouse.  And Bryan and I really are that thin.  I guess with all of that attention and love, our heads just got so big!  :)

The Happy Couple, according to Anne

The other moment where I totally lost it...when we were getting together after brunch for some pictures with my bridesmaids, Aileen reached out, and first she grabbed my breast, and then she quickly realized her mistake and moved on to Talia (who is slightly better endowed).  The picture below is the result!  I love the looks on everyone's faces.

One other really fun thing to note: I asked Anne to do something that Talia had at her wedding shower.  Everyone brought me a favorite recipe, and Kakuti even brought me the hard-to-find ingredients for her dish (a Persian rice dish that sounds delicious).  I'm going to photograph them and add them to a little wedding scrapbook that I plan to put together.  Or maybe I'll make each one and post a picture of the finished dish and the recipe here!  That sounds like an even better plan!