A couple weeks ago I posted on Bridal Shower Basics. I mentioned coordinating food items with the bride's colors. One in particular that I planned was black, white, and red. I completely forgot that I had pictures of some of the food items from the shower. And the centerpiece.

olive, mozzarella, and tomato skewers

Spray painted wine bottle, wine glasses, roses, candles, and damask scrapbook paper centerpiece

One of the stops on my cruise was Roatan, Honduras. While there we hiked along the beach and came across Crystal Beach!!! The home of Crystal Beach Cabins. Since my company is named after myself I love anything with my name.


I got to meet the owners, whose daughter's name is Crystal. They also had a boat called Miss Crystal that they let me go on to take a picture. So cool!

And here are just a few more pictures from the cruise. Enjoy!

This past week I went on an amazing cruise to Roatan, Honduras and Cozomel, Mexico. Pictures to come soon. While there I happened to look in one of the jewelry stores on the ship and saw a beautiful diamond ring in the display case. My brother-in-law asked the jeweler if we could look at it and took it out for us and let me try it on. The ring you see below is what's called an invisible setting. While it looks like a 1 carat diamond it is actually comprised of 6 smaller pie shaped diamonds fit together to create one flawless look. The diamonds in the ring are only about .55 carats. This is a great way to get an awesome looking ring for a lot less and people wouldn't even know unless of course you told them.

Invisible Setting Diamond Ring

So I was browsing a wedding blog and came across this picture from bridalguide.com. I just couldn't resist posting it to Pinterest. I mean seriously it's amazing, right!? Well I guess so, because it already has 21 likes and 147 repins.

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So this past weekend I attended two bridal showers for two of my close friends that are getting married this summer. After talking to friends about how awkward showers are I got to thinking about what aspects should and shouldn't be included. I've planned bridal showers before and of course everyone enjoys having a good time. But, while the purpose of a bridal shower is to 'shower' the bride with gifts is it really necessary to sit around while she opens ALL of them? I mean we all kind of know what she's going to get anyways and no one even pays attention unless the bride-to-be is opening the gift that they brought. One alternative to this is BINGO. Guests are given bingo cards that they fill out with gifts they expect will be opened. Then as the gifts are open they mark off their cards and whoever gets bingo first wins. This provides greater incentive to the guests to pay attention to the gift opening portion of the shower and get involved.

Of course food is a given for bridal shower. We all know we love to eat. Plan the food around what the bride likes. Both showers this past weekend did a great job of this. The first was a very fun bride, so all the food was carnival type food-they had cups of 'boardwalk fries', bags of popcorn, cotton candy, caramel apples, and candy bags for when the guests left. And the second was a more sophisticated bride who loves tea. So, the food was tea party-esque featuring tea, scones, tea sandwhiches (you know with cucumbers and cream cheese) and cookies. Matching the food to the brides' tastes and themese really adds to the overall shower. For one shower I planned I made all the food in the bride's colors of black, white, and red.

Finally, it's important to keep the guests engaged with games and prizes while still offering a laid back atmosphere that they are able to enjoy themselves. Because who doesn't love a little healthy competition and a small gift?