[talk: "It's a Date" Bridal Shower.]

No matter how hard you try, time has a way of just moving along.  Obviously, the older I get - the more aware of it I am ... it's exciting in some ways, terrifying in others.  But on Sunday - time was a good thing ... my niece, Brianna, is all grown-up.  And here we were, celebrating her upcoming marriage to Josh.

I hadn't thrown a bridal shower in a verrrrry long time.  I was nervous - and it was the first large gathering at our new "older", smaller place ... but I knew it would work.  Just had to walk through it, is all *grin*.

I planned the menu:  lasagna cupcakes, tomato/bocconcini/basil skewers, veggies and dip, baked brie with maple-caramalized onions with french loaf, black bean tex-mex salsa and chips, cream cheese and red pepper jelly with crackers ... with some red and black candies and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - special thanks to Shawna and her With Love Cakes by Shawna!  They were ah-may-zing.

With a party store in the family, I headed to Party On for all my plates, napkins, pom poms and whatever extras were going to make the shower special ... I chose a black and white "zebra" print with red accents.  The theme of the shower was "date night" - you know, anything that Josh and Bri could use to help them set some time aside for just "them" in their first year ... and black, white and red seemed perfect.  You can "like" Party On's FB page HERE.  

I started getting the place ready the night before ... my folks graciously took my three kiddies as my hubby has been out of town for the last 5 days ... not having the kids around was essential to getting everything done *grin*!  Plus, my friend Dawn came and helped me with a bunch of her wedding-stuff from her Hitched wedding planning business.  We spent the evening chatting and setting things up ... 

Sunday morning was beautiful, and I thought that I would be able to get a run in since everything seemed to be pretty much done.  Well ... no such luck.  I started making the food at 8:30am ... and I actually had guests arrive a little early - while I was still putting the lasagna cupcakes together at 1:30pm ... 

It all worked so well, though ...

This is my other gorgeous niece, Kendra.  I was her age when my only sibling, her dad, got married.  I remember it being such a strange time, and she's doing so well with all the wedding planning around her.  She's grown into such a lovely young woman ... but pretty sure she intends on getting a few more paid-for-family-vacations before she ties the knot *grin* ... 

I blessed the food, our time together ... and got the ladies to hit the food.

What was super cool was seeing all of my cousin's kids coming to join the celebration.  I come from a really big family - my dad is the youngest of 7 and I'm the very youngest first cousin from the whole lot.  Some of my older cousin's KIDS are actually only 3 or 4 years younger than me - so the generations kind of overlap.  I think the biggest concern, as the family continues to branch out and form new families from the older ones, is that we'll all lose touch.  So it was so lovely to see that Josh and Bri see the value in the extended family, and that these are people that may not be in "every-day-life" ... but they're family.  And that's a great thing.

"Hi Mom."  Oh, she's gonna love me for this one ...

Not only were cousins, and their kids, there ... a couple of my aunts were able to come - and our closest family friends.  You know, people who are totally family minus the DNA.  In fact, I had three girls from my own bridal party there ... and even a couple of my flower girls.  The next generation is keeping the bond going ... 

We played a game that I called, "What Did Josh Say".  I called Josh up during the week, and asked him 13 questions - and made up a multiple choice game from those answers.  Everyone at the party knew Bri super well - but not everyone knew Josh.  So - what better way to introduce him, than a bunch of crazy questions with equally crazy answers??

After a few prizes were given out to the winners of the game, it was time to dive into those red velvet cupcakes *drool* ... 

And Auntie Gwen came prepared with a little read on what men say, and what they really mean. It wouldn't have been so funny, if it hadn't been so true.

Bri opened up her "date night" gifts - movie ticket gift certificates, dinners to The Keg, board games, lingerie, a popcorn maker and bowl ... candles, candies, ... so many great ideas for them - and so fantastic that they'll get to do a few fun things while still having to spend a little on their first-home-set-up ... 

  

I made the "favours" ... a small vanilla candle that I wrapped up (thanks again, Party On!!) in a snap ... I had a couple of left-overs.  They're burning now, as I type this.  Mmmmmm ... 

So - I can't believe that my flowergirl, my niece - is getting married in just a few short weeks.  I can't believe that I get to photograph the whole thing (I try not to sit on that thought too long, because I start to sweat a little ...).  I can't believe what an incredible choice she made in him, and he in her.  So excited to do life with these two, and although I'm not all that good with "change", THIS change I'm good with.

Have a great one!