Rustic-Modern Bridal Shower Shoot

I have been dying to share this rustic-modern bridal shower inspiration shoot I did recently.  Between the venue we used, the amazing photography of Laura Gordon, and the integral part of the design that the paper & sweets vendors played, I think this turned out to be my favorite design yet.  I think this is also pretty indicative of my own personal style – eclectic with details that most anyone can re-create.

There are so many great photos from Laura.  I can’t say enough about how talented she is and how much I enjoyed spending time with her…it was almost like we were soul mates (or soul sisters?)!

I was given the challenge to create a bridal shower + dessert table using the color palette of aqua blue, red, and butter yellow.  My real challenge was determining which combo I wanted to use as the primary colors, which I finally decided on the blue & yellow with the red as a bold accent.  When Studio 418 gave us permission to use their event space for the shoot I knew I had to make the most of those gorgeous brick walls – I was inspired to create a rustic-modern bridal shower.  To my delight, many of the items I have and wanted to use have a bird motif, so that is a subtle part of the design also – “love birds.”

On the day of the shoot I was surprised to see the gorgeous brick walls covered by large art canvases.  The space was being used as an art gallery and the art work was very rustic + modern as well.  It ended up being a great addition to the area and you can see hints of the artwork in the background.  The table was set with rattan chargers, a rustic wire cloche topping a simple floral arrangement, a fabric & ribbon runner, and IKEA vases used for the drinks.  What really helped pull the look together were the favor box wrappers, and name card trios I had custom designed by Charlotte of The Paper Cupcake.

The name card trio is an idea I came up with when I designed this Black & White party for Celebrations website.  I simply attach a name card, a menu card, and a conversation starter or trivia card (about the guest of honor) together with a brad at the corner.  This is an interesting and unique way to combine some of the usual aspects of a place setting, plus the conversation/trivia card is a built-in activity.  It also saves space too, in case that is an issue.

The favor boxes are large match boxes (found at Dollar Tree) that can be filled with a baked good, a special trinket, or other treat.  I gave the measurements to Charlotte and she made these perfectly fitting wraps for the boxes.

You should know me well enough by now to know that my dessert tables are not over the top.  I love to highlight 1 or 2 designer treats and fill in with grocery store or homemade items.  I also love to create vignettes rather than line things up symmetrically, so that’s what I did for this table.  The cake balls from Candy Valley Cake Co. are the star of the table while other candies are there as extras.  The beautiful brick wall needs no backdrop to cover it up so I just used some items from home to add dimension.  A rustic shutter, an empty frame, and the letter “C” for our bride-to-be, “Claire,” is all it needed.  To add some color I made a mini fabric bunting and draped it on the shutter.

Charlotte’s papers make another appearance here as I had her make note cards for the guests to write words of advice for a happy marriage.   She also made flags for our cake pops using the pattern from the other paper goods.  Flowers are simple stems of two-toned carnations – an unexpected but perfectly fitting addition.  I was looking for red flowers but these worked even better for our color scheme!

Here you can seen the entire paper suite including invitation & envelope wraps.

I hope you’re inspired by something you’ve seen here and you certainly will be happy working with any of these amazing vendors.

Vendors:

Design & Styling – Chris Nease – Celebrations At Home  / Photography – Laura Gordon Photography  / Paper Goods – The Paper Cupcake  / Cake Pops – Candy Valley Cake Co.  / Event Space – Studio 418

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