Certified Coordinated Bride Sashonna
Journal Entry #3
My Boho Glam Bridal Shower & LA Bachelorette Weekend
Some may describe my bride style as controlling, micromanaging, bougie, fancy, particular, nontraditional, creative, and or organized. I don’t typically even throw a birthday party for myself, let alone allow others to hold events in my honor. However you only get married once! As a corporate creative in my career I am always engulfed in trends, patterns, prints, and pantones for every season. The aesthetic I selected for my wedding is Bohemian Glam: a lush landscape of florals, gold, and geode accents, with hints of classic structure. My day of Coordinator calls it, “Jackie O goes to Woodstock”. So naturally I selected to have a similar miniature vision for my Bridal Shower.
I mailed out my Bride Hive Packets in late September of 2017, but only my Maid of Honor received an additional 18 page packet, for light reading LOL! The packet explained the design aesthetic for the desired “Boho Glam” look. It covered décor, food, and attire a few light suggestions of what I envisioned on the day of the shower. One rule I asked for was that everyone wear their favorite blue boho dress. The packet was also sent to my mother for her floral expertise, my Aunt Linda who has been known to throw down and used to have her own catering business. Her and my Aunt Peaches agreed to handle the food. Lastly it was sent to my Fiancé’s mother who used to have her own wedding planning business with her best friend. With these group of ladies in place I know my vision would be executed to perfection.
I cannot say that I was privy to all execution and details regarding the shower, the day I would walk in would be a surprise to me. With everyone handling the bridal shower I took time to focus on my outfit. I found this beautiful Rime Arodaky lace crop top and matching satin ivory skirt to execute my boho look on Net-a-porter, but I wasn’t spending over a “G” on a bridal shower outfit. So I took to Esty and I found Yana Timoshnova from Ukraine, a very talented woman and shop owner. I sent her images of the original look and in return she sent back photos of where exactly to measure to take my measurements. She sent over images of different lace fabrics she had available to select from as well as options for the skirt. She created a custom listing for me for the design and I received it within a few weeks. It fit perfectly! To complete the look I chose a pair of Vince Camuto Imagine shoes in ivory. Since this would only be my 3rdtime wearing heels since my surgery, I also purchased a pair of Tiffany Blue Air Jordan 1’s. Yes, I’m a sneaker head. As for my accessories I purchased Anthroplogie “Regalia” matching necklace and earrings accompanied by a turquoise blue and gold geode bracelet handmade by Etsy Seller Gypset. My live flower crown was made by my mother. Makeup was done by Letitia E. Thornhill a celebrity makeup artist.
Knowing that everyone in the Hive agreed to help throw me a beautiful bridal shower, I worked on gifts for the Hive to show my appreciation for them for making this such a special day. For my mom, aunts, cousin, and soon to be mother in law, I bought each one their favorite bottle of wine, a stemless wine glass that read “I am woman hear me pour”, a wine stopper accompanied by a heartfelt message in a Papyrus card inside of beautiful teal bags with a holographic stripe at the top. For my Hive I purchased white gift bags with metallic and back polka dots with a bottle of prosecco wrapped up in cobalt blue and iridescent cellophane and tied with ribbon, and a wine glass that had various sayings on them. I placed a Jumbo silver Bow on top. Also included was a small candy case of Sugarfina “Champagne Bubbles” candy, accompanied with a thank you card. The surprise gift was packed and ready to go weeks before the shower.
The day of the shower I arrived at MID county community center anxious. I walked into the front with two large plastic tubs full of the surprise gifts and hid them in an office. I met my mother at the front of the building to put on my beautiful live flower crown she made for me. I walked in the room and it was set up as a Boho brunch, paint and sip! I was greeted with smiles and hugs from my loved ones. I went around the room hugging everyone and thanking them for coming. I was so surprised to see my Jersey girls had traveled down. The room was set up with several tables with lantern centerpieces with live succulents and roses accented with balloons. My head table had a gorgeous flower arrangement and a backdrop with my name on it. The food table, drink table, and dessert table were beautifully decorated as well. All the brunch food looked delicious. The menu consisted of mini pancakes with raspberries and blueberries, mini chicken and waffle sandwiches, bacon puff pastry twist, shrimp and grits, fruit platter, balsamic drizzle caprese salad and an Argentinian shrimp pasta salad. The dessert table had macarons and Petit fours by Sweet Hearts Patisserie in Annapolis Maryland. And marble frosted Donuts by District Donuts in DC. The drinks were Berry Hibiscus tea, Blue lemonade. I ate and bounced from table to table to catch up with my guest! So happy to see family and friends! We played games put on by my cousin Camille while we were eating.
The next portion of the shower was a paint and sip. We were seated in a separate section of the room at easels with pallets and paintbrushes. Our instructor Kim Bryant had a pre-painted design of a purple flower with an ombre blue background for us to follow. We played games, sipped and chatted as we painted. Towards the end I thanked everyone from coming and traveling to the shower for the day. I thanked and surprised my Bride Hive with their gifts. Running out of time, I then opened a few of my own gifts! All in all it was a beautiful shower and I was really blessed with the amount of love and support from everyone that attended. The entire day I was captured by the talented Iris Mannings.
Bachelorette Tings
Next up was the bachelorette trip. The destination was California and all of my bridesmaids and hostesses were planning to attend! Originally, I wanted to stay in Malibu, but realized that the drive back into LA at night would be unrealistic for us. So I found a house on Homeaway.com in Beverly Hills. The house was only blocks away from Rodeo drive and it was gorgeously decorated. The planning of the trip began back in October. My maid of Honor Haaveshe and I had a series of calls to put all the details in place. Haaveshe sent out a series of newsletters informing the hive of activities and requested attire for the trips activities. I know I wanted to do a beach day in Malibu, which lead me to gifts for the trip to the Hive. I asked all the girls to wear black bathing suits for the beach day and I would wear white. I decided on beach hats with each girl’s name done in black with white text. Mine was the opposite colors. I ordered their hats from Etsy store DesignsbiK and then crafted my own beach towels. I found black and white Cabana stripe beach towels at Big Lots, then went to Michaels and bought iron-on embroidered initial patches. I rolled up the towels and tied them with a tiffany blue bow. For my towel I purchased a Tiffany blue towel with calligraphy white text from Etsy store Coffeeandcatsco. We all had mesh black beach bags I purchased from Dollar Tree.
On Saturday morning after we cooked breakfast as a group, then I asked everyone to get ready as I laid out the gifts on the table for the girls. The beach attire for my girls was a surprise and gift for attending my out of town bachelorette! A lot of them had prior engagements and a lot of things going on I their lives and I was thankful they were able to make the trip with me. With our coordinated outfits selected we drove up the coast in a Yukon XL blasting hip hop laughing and making memories along the way. We finally arrived at Robert Meyer Memorial State Beach, which had beautiful caves all along the shore. It was a bit of a hike down to the beach, but well worth it for the breathtaking views.
The second activity was an all-white private chef catered dinner for 9. The dinner was a “Dinner En Blanc”. I went to Homegoods and bought a white linen runner with strands of silver thread and matching linen napkins, napkin rings with sequins and beading, and iridescent glassware, stemless champagne flutes, and tumbler. The table was also decorated with 2 iridescent crystal cut lotus tealight holders and a large iridescent vase. We found Chef Taylor on miummium.com who prepared Balsamic mint crostini mushroom and artichoke, salmon, rice with a red wine reduction, and Steak with mash potatoes and asparagus with a red wine reduction sauce. For dessert a mason jar with pudding and gram cracker crumbs. Haaveshe made Sangria for the night, Chef Taylor brought water and wine! Everything was amazing! Cianna and Haaveshe came up with games. We played “who knows the bride”, “Truth or Dare”, and an R-rated Ring Toss, which later turned into solo dances by most LOL!!!
My final bride surprise to the hive was a planned activity. Haaveshe and I teased the Hive the entire trip with false activity options like midget mud wrestling, swimming, scavenger hunts and throwing out comments like you should wait 30 minutes before going so you don’t upset your stomach before you get in the water. The girls were concerned and anxious to know where we were taking them. Given my reconstructed ACL knee surgery I had back in October, I knew I couldn’t do too much, so I found Flying Up Yoga, “Aerial yoga” @flyingupyoga. This class had sheets suspended from the ceiling and our instructor taught us how to stretch out inside the sheets, swing, and hang upside down. We learned a few cool moves from the class. Given I know everyone on the trip had done yoga, I thought this would be an awesome activity. I will say that you can get a little dizzy and nauseous from being suspended upside down for a long period of time, but the instructor did have a great position to help us all get re-centered and offered ginger chews and natural fragranced lotions to help ease the stomach and dizziness. The group seemed to enjoy the activity.
Other sites we saw courtesy of Cianna’s selections. We visited “The Dunes” Apartments from the HBO’s Insecure!!! Unfortunately, Issa’s couch wasn’t outside, but it was still a really dope stop in LA. Then on to Griffith Park to see the Hollywood sign where we were attacked by a swarm of what we think were ladybugs! We ate at the iconic In and Out Burger. Sad to say we were so tired from the time change that we didn’t event enjoy the night life of LA. But we still had great times and made everlasting memories. As my last hurrah before my big day I poured, laughed, and danced it up with these sophisticated, sexy, intelligent, melanin poppin goddesses that slayyyyyyyyyyed this trip! In the words of Queen Beyoncé “Okay ladies, now lets get in formation, ‘cause I slay prove to me you got some coordination, cause I slay”!
Slay on ladies,
Sashonna
