Sparkling Ginger

My cousin Ginger has met her match, so I threw her a wedding shower in August to help celebrate. Some background knowledge of the matter - I had one other hostess that last minute had to bail due to her grandbaby being born a little later than expected. Knowing that the possibility of her not being able to show up ahead of time made me get into full gear of not only planning a theme but how to cut corners on cost. After stumbling across an Izzy drink that started the wheels spinning in my head, plus the countless ideas from other party planners (you know who you are and I thank you immensely!), I was able to pull off the whole thing solo.

I was walking through Whole Foods when I saw the Izzy section. My eyes landed on the Sparkling Ginger flavor, and instantly I knew how this was going to go. Much to my disappointment the Sparkling Ginger flavor was terrible - I could not even finish a bottle. So instead of serving that at the shower I decided to decorate with it instead.

Crafty Shani came out of her shell, though I think I crawled back in afterwards. :-) I made some bunting that took me entirely too long. The invite talked about the sparkle in her eye, not to mention the sparkle on her ring finger.


Ginger got into photography before I did, so I put photos in vases of the two of them today as well as yesteryear.


I found these diamonds in the wedding section at Hob Lob (which I frequented more often in one month than I had my entire life) and put them for some sparkle in places.


More photos from back in the day. A lot of the women at the shower had never met David, who is currently living in Arizona ( as is Ginger), so I thought they could use some visuals.


The view from above to my kitchen table.


Mariana graciously came over and helped me make these tissue poms. Not hard to make, very cheap, but once again time consuming to a girl who is left-brained. We made these two weeks before the shower, and I thought the best place to store them was where they were going to be hung. They blocked out the light at night a bit, and I remember fondly Derek looking up at dinner and asking if we had to look at those for the next two weeks. My husband gave me grace and yes indeed we looked at these for quite a few days.


My aunt Kerry's friend Linda last minute offered to help out, so one of her jobs was to do some calligraphy on the chalk signs. Wish I had that skill!


The lady who made my etsy invite made me a favor design that I put on Pepperidge Farms' Gingerbread Men (I am now converted to this brand of gingersnaps) saying, "Ginger has found her Man!"


The sign in table


I had lots of white flowers everywhere, and my mom put these extras in a vase the use.


The shower was at 2pm, and I cannot remember the last time I hosted one at that time. Nothing wrong with it, just made me think a little longer on a post lunch menu. Plus a lot of the food needed to be yellow to fit the yellow, gray, and white color palette. And for those that are detail oriented, I went and lined up the the labels on the Izzy bottles after the photo was taken.


I put the flowers in their individual bottle of ginger-flavored Izzy. Not only did every bottle overflow with fizz after placing a flower inside it, but most of the stems lasted over 2 weeks in the concoction!


The beloved cake balls. Round one took some time of me licking my wounded product. After reading this article and freezing longer in between each step, I reached a ball worth serving. And I used melted yellow colored disks from Hob Lob in a ziploc to do the zigzag. They were a hit, but you won't see me making any anytime soon. Because I love you, Gingi.


The ladies (Baptist ones at that) were a bit disappointed that I was serving a mix of ginger ale, sparkling white grape juice, and Sprite instead of champagne. I told them that if they wanted to buy it then I would serve it. Wink wink.


My mom's neighbor in Waco, Kathy Place, just started making these macaroons. Waco girls, jump on this! She makes these for fun but I am bragging on these. They literally not only melted in your mouth (I thought they would be crunchy but was mistaken), but they were the perfect size treat at a shower. My mom said the raspberry ones are wonderful, and the chocolate and lemons ones at the shower were the first thing to go. Yes, faster then my cake balls. Guess I need egg whites in my mix.


I love that you can see the old Weber grill in the background of this photo.


Justin had been in the crafty world we lived in for 3 weeks as I slowly transformed the house to a shower world. So I let him put the glue and glitter on the G&D.


The 3 honored Morby women - Ginger, Kerry, & Valerie. Loving' that pose, Val.


Linda, the third from the left, was my pseudo hostess for the day. I was blessed by her hard work and her fruit skewers!


Though Georgann could not be at the shower as the other hostess, her daughters, Marta & Andrea, showed up to represent the fam. The Richters have been lifelong friends of Steve & Kerry. What a small world that I not only am in the same Sunday School class as Andreabut throw a shower with Georgann. And, if they find us a place in BSF, we will all be doing Isaiah in the fall at the same church down the road. Love how the Lord links everyone together.


There were lots of gifts to be opened, and every single person sat down and watched every single gift be opened. I was stunned - haven't seen that in a long time. My mom was the workhorse of taking the gifts to and from as Ginger opened her new, "free" treasures.


The Millers with Aunt Linda & Grandma Ann


The Morbys: Back row Joannie, my grandmother's sister Kathryn, Grandma, Gingi, Val; Front row me, Hilary, Amy, Pam, Kerry, and mom. I do not do well on the front row on the end. I am going to start throwing myself in the middle after handing off my camera. Giants don't belong on the front row!


Me and the guest of honor. I never had a sister, so starting from as long as I can remember people would tell me, Ginger, & Val that we all looked like sisters. Ginger has always been the sister I never had, especially since she is the closest cousin in age on that side of the fam. Treasure her both as a cousin as well as best friend. And I am digging the slight angle in the arm pose. My slouchy self needs help!


The Morby girl cousins - just missing Elise!


Firstborn women for three generations. And we all wore white to match the theme...


My sweet mom was another pseudo hostess. I think my brain crashed about 45 minutes into the shower, so I just kind of sat there and my mom took over. Funniest part of the whole shower was when Ginger had opened her last gift. Everyone, as you remember, was all sitting down watching. Ginger looked at well, and my mom all of a sudden chimes in, "Now it's time for a game!" The rumor of my horrified face was apparently priceless as I thought that there were definitely not any games planed. Then my mom shouts, "Just kidding!" and everyone starts laughing, hopefully in relief. Good transition trick to play if you ever need one.


The wonderful friends/bridesmaids that traveled in for the event that day


Some of the wonderful friends that trekked in from the burbs in Katy to bless Kerry. Most of them had never met Ginger since she's been in Phoenix for so long, but they came to meet the rest of the fam.


Aunt Kerry's sassy shoes. I told her it was very Sarah Jessica Parker in SITC.


I need to remember how much I loved my wedding stationary that Megan gave me for a wedding present. Such a great idea!


Ginger, you look fantastic, bride-to-be and all. Marriage is going to look good on you! Cheers to Ginger and David and the big bash in Phoenix come October. The Morbys/Smiths/Michaelis' cannot wait!