I got a little ahead of myself yesterday and told you about my bachelorette cruise before my wedding showers, which actually happened about a month and a half before the cruise.  My bridesmaids gave me two showers and, in an effort to make it easier for the different bridesmaids coming in from out of town and for me since so many of my weekends are spent doing photo shoots, the showers were held in one weekend, back to back.

The first shower took place on a Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, where I live.  Look at what these girls did…

Yes, it was a bridal tea!  It was such a perfect mix of me and British culture that I couldn’t believe my eyes!

This was the guestbook area.  Instead of just having everyone sign in, they had various scrapbook materials where people could write down a date suggestion for me and Paul and sign their name to it.  I just recently went through all of the suggestions I received and am thinking about how fun it would be if I chronicled (here on the blog, of course) Paul and I trying to do each and every date suggestion we received.

The food at the shower was absolutely gorgeous.  Can you believe they did this for me?  I can’t.

Here’s a view of the room before guests began to arrive…

And here’s Paul and I as the shower got started!  I asked Paul to come to the shower with me because there were several extended family members and out of town guests that hadn’t had the chance to meet him yet.  He was the hit of the shower!

As Marisa would say, “cousin power!” That’s my first cousin, Marisa, in the blue and my distant-we’re-pretty-sure-we’re-cousins-via-marriage-we-think cousin Cate in the tan.

Here I am with Christan, who is 99% responsible for keeping me sane the weekend of my wedding, but that’s a story for another time.

The girls had a corsage for me and had added a little British flag to it.  I loved it!

Do you recognize these two shower guests who drove in from quite a distance to celebrate with me?  Of course you do; it’s J. from Lots of Scotts with little K!

I received so many beautiful gifts at my shower!  One of my favorite things to do in life is to give gifts but I’m not the best at receiving them — I always feel guilty that people went to so much trouble for me.  We were so blessed with so many things for our little home.

Loved, loved, loved seeing my future name…

Cate had this made for us… again, the future name.  I loved it!

Here I am again with cousin Marisa and with my mother.

These two girls have worked in my office as student workers for awhile and are two of my favorite college-aged girls on the planet.  That’s Kim in the blue and Hannah in the white.  I love this picture because, literally two hours before my shower began, we finished the biggest event our office does all year long.  We literally finished work, all raced home to change clothes and were back in two hours for my bridal shower.  The guests had no idea that, just hours before, we were running around making things happen at work.  This picture will be framed on my desk at work for years to come; I love that they’ve been my girls in the office and out of the office.

Okay, get ready for something sweet.  My paternal grandmother, Josie, made this quilt for me when I was young.  She’s had it displayed in her house for most of my life and has always told me that, when I got married, I could have the quilt.  Then, as my wedding began approaching, she mentioned that she might wait to give it to me until I was a little older and “would take care of it better.”  So, you can imagine how excited I was to learn that she was just “faking me out” and to actually receive it at my shower.  In fact, I did an ugly cry in front of all of my guests because it meant so much to me to have something that came from Josie’s hands and heart.

My stepmother, Charlene, came to the shower, too.  My stepmother was so good to me during the whole wedding planning process and the wedding in general.  I am very lucky to have a stepmother who conveniently forgets the definition of the word “step.”

The next day, the girls held a second bridal shower for me in Knoxville, where I lived during middle and high school.  Look at how beautiful the food set-up was!  I actually bought the flag bunting from a British store here in the states and loaned them out for the shower.  I now have them tucked away in hopes of having a baby girl one day.  Wouldn’t they be darling in a nursery?

Here I am with Erin, one of my sweet, sweet Knoxville friends.

And there’s bridesmaids Ashley and Cara!

The gift table.  I was so, so blessed.

Paul came to this shower, too.  Here we are opening gifts…

And here I am with my step-grandmother, BJ, another person who has been so good to me over the years.

My grandmother Josie came back for another day of bridal showers.

And so did my mom.  Here I am with her and my maternal grandmother.

And here’s the “future-son-in-law” picture.

Wasn’t I blessed with great bridal showers?!