{Wedding} Amazing Bridal Shower

Today's blog post isn't technically anything from our actual wedding day, but I'm so excited to share some snaps and memories from my Uuh-mazing kitchen tea with you -

Saturday, the week before the wedding, my mom came to my room and handed me a post card that had been delivered to the house from my beautiful Maid of Honour, Kerry, a few days earlier. The instructions on the postcard were to wear a pink frock and to pack a bag.



Kerry is the owner of a gorgeous boutique bookstore - The Book Boutique, in Amanzimtoti and the Kitchen Tea was held in the garden and cafe area of her store. I was completely blown away by all the amazing decor and attention to detail and so touched that bridesmaids and friends had flown across the country to celebrate with me. This wedding business: it's all very overwhelming.



Kerry and the bridesmaids had picked the most perfect theme for the Kitchen Tea of indieBerries - a Cartoon Bridal Shower - with just about everything strawberry flavoured! As soon as I arrived I was given a bright pink strawberry apron and a pink head-piece -




As an addition to the awesome pink apron, they had included a separate "stationery pouch" for the stationery-obsessed-crazy-person that I am. In the Stationery Pouch was a strawberry pen, some glue, pencils and pencil crayons and a roll or two of washi tape. These girls. lol. They know me :)


Left to Right: Jaclyn the bridesmaid-of-überness, Me (Mrs Dyer-the-bride), Kerry - le-fashionista-Maid-of-Honour and Nicole the bridesmaid-minister-of-schedules-and-organisation.

"No Ché-silly-blonde-bride! You are wearing your headpiece the wrong way!"

"Oh NO! I didn't know about the head-piece-dress-code! 

Luckily I have you bridesmaidens to tell me when my head-feature is not conforming!"

And all of us with le mom - she didn't get the head-feature memo either.
They let it slide.

 

After I had arrived to the big surprise, the guests began writing their tips and advice for marriage on the big chalk board in The Book Boutique Gardens.

"Laugh, love and always embrace your Disney Princess" - my 8 year old cousin.

 


The decor and food were completely incredible! (If you ever do make a trip to Amanzimtoti - stop off at  The Book Boutique and eat ALL the cakes and pastries. That's an order). They also do Saturday morning story-time for kids and often have live music in the garden in the afternoons. The Book Boutique is also connected to Kerry's boutique clothing store - Festival - which stocks South African Designers as well as some exclusive imported brands. Awesome.

Origami Strawberries on the table.

A strawberry yogurt cake.

Moist.

Sweet.

Strawberry.

With a yogurt tang.

You will cut yourself a sliver of a piece - because you feel guilty.

Then you will eat the rest of that piece - because you can't help it.

Then you will eat another piece - because you must.

Strawberry & Berry Punch * Meringues * Macarons 

Strawberry Swirl Lollipops * Candy Sweets * Champagne

Cupcakes

Lemon Meringue Tarts

Strawberries stuffed with cream cheese frosting.

Repeat:

Strawberries. STUFFED. with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING.

Have you ever?!

  

And if all that sweetness is too much for you to handle (too much to handle? what does that even mean?) a delicious savoury plate of strawberry and balsamic redution with rocket and blue cheese on a toasted baguette. 

The placemat for each person was taken from a fun kids drawing instructional book - each guest had to follow the instructions on their placemat and complete the cartoon-pictures. There were some crayons, pencils and pens on the table and of course, I already had my secret stationery pouch - complete with strawberry pen -

Aunts, cousins, friends, family hard at work completing their cartoon masterpieces. Maid of honour has indeed thought of everything and we are having these pages laminated to use as placemats for our one-day children. SO cute. And what an awesome reminder of my kitchen tea shared with so many special people.

One of the "cartoon-themed" games was bridal pictionary which we played on one of the blackboards - loads of fun and laughs - especially my mother trying to draw...

.... no, I still have no idea what she's trying to draw.

But it's something bridal related for sure.

As part of the cartoon theme the guests were asked to bring a gift wrapped up and to have a cartoon drawn on the outside of the gift. I then had to look at the cartoon (which was hopefully a story or memory we have shared) and try to guess the person who had given it to me. One of my gifts from Ker even had cartoons on it! haha

Cousins secretly adding something to their cartoon picture.

 

An electric egg boiler from my bridesmaid Nicole! haha - she was around for the Egg-in-the-Microwave incident. It wasn't pretty. I guess she is trying to save Warren from hours of cleaning up the kitchen. That was very thoughtful of her.

I love it!

Tinned Soup: For you, when it's your turn to cook.
Panado: For Warren, when you say 'Not tonight, I have a headache!"

lol.

I was completely spoilt with amazing gifts: hand-creams, travel bags for honeymoon, bikinis, body lotions, earrings, gift vouchers, pampering products and plenty of very sexy underwear. But you don't want to see pictures of my underwear.

Oh you do? 

Oh, ok - wait for the Bachelorette Blog Post - because I basically went out naked.

 
One of the most incredible gifts was made for me by my Maid of Honour - which we are all ogling over in this picture - but you'll have to wait till Friday to find out what it is...

__________________________________________________

Dear Kerry,

Wow, where to begin? When I chose you as my Maid of Honour, I chose you because of how much your friendship means to me. Because of your unwavering loyalty and love as a friend and the laughter, love and tears we've shared over the years. It was just a bonus that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you would be an amazing Maid of Honour - but you really went above and beyond even what I could possibly have been expecting and I am so extremely grateful. You have brought me to tears in so many moments on this incredible wedding journey - Thanks a lot.

To the bridesmaids who helped make this day so special -
A huge massive thank you for your help and hard work (and for being Kerry's slaves)! To my mom, the biggest thanks of all, for everything. To Jacs, Colie and Lisa - thank you for traveling so far to celebrate with me - it really means so much to me! To my aunts Michelle and Lynette and my cousins - thank you for spoiling me and being so much a part of my life. To Tersia and Stace, thank you for all your hard work and for lending a hand to Kerry. To my Godmother, Shelley and friend Camilla - thank you for your love over all these years. To Keri thank you for missioning down and being part of the celebrations- it wouldn't have been the same without you! To Karen and Lee thank you for sharing in this special time with me.

Formal Thank You cards are in the process of creation.

________________________________________________________

If you make a trip to the gorgeous Book Boutique (and I highly recommend it), give Kerry a high five and a hug from me - and the cake.

Eat the cake.


* blog posts to follow: An Awesome Kitchen Tea Game and That gorgeous thing we are all ogling.