I am SO excited to share pictures from the bridal shower that I hosted for my sister this weekend along with my mom and her bridesmaids. My sister is my best friend, closest confidante, and just about one of the most stylish people I know — so when I started brainstorming this party with my mom and the bridesmaids, we all knew it had to be something really special. We are alike in a lot of ways, but perhaps the way my sister and I are most alike is in our love of being very involved in the details of planning. I wanted her to be surprised with all of the details though, so I asked her if she had any input or request up front, and then swore everything else would be a surprise! She had two requests: 1) a spiked Arnold Palmer signature cocktail and 2) she loved the floral patterns and colors in Rifle Paper Co’s party goods and fabrics. We rolled with those ideas and hosted a colorful, floral-inspired bridal shower with lots of nods to the bride and groom-to-be’s love of food!
The Rifle Paper Co party goods served as inspiration for all of the colors and decor elements. I love the bright, playful flowers in these patterns so we really went with it, using some of the wrapping paper to make custom signage and bringing in the pattern on plates and napkins and paper straws. My mom is an amazing wizard on the sewing machine, so she used yardage of their matching fabric line to make tablecloths, bunting, and even matching pillows to mix in on the couch! 
The menu was really important for this party because my sister and her fiancé are foodies! My sister recently started a new instagram venture called @aGirlandHerPasta that chronicles her love of pasta-eating, so we went with an Italian food theme and brought in her favorite pastas, Italian chicken dishes, and salads. I made an over-the-top caprese salad with burrata and pesto and tons of different kinds of tomatoes and mozzarella, and one of the bridesmaids made a magazine-worthy cheeseboard that we nibbled on during present opening (actually, I inhaled it more than nibbled!). The dessert table was a collaborative effort by the bridesmaids featuring custom monogrammed cookies, delicious cupcakes, and an assortment of Italian pastries straight from Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. We ate well, and we ate a LOT! 
We packed my parent’s house with festive decorations and little DIY details! When you walked into the house you were greeted with a large wall of paper fans (featuring some paper fans with the Rifle Paper Co patterns!). The cupcakes and cocktail cups were adorned with custom stickers I had printed, each one featured images of the bride and groom together! The bamboo flatware was painted with colors to match the floral patterns on the rest of the paper foods, and I carefully hand-lettered menu and bar signage that we featured around the party. One of my favorite DIY details was the custom jean jacket we made for my sister. My mom sewed Rifle Paper Co fabric around the collar and I used an iron-on transfer on the back to give it a personalization with my sister’s new last name — it was the first gift she opened and it was such a hit! She wore it with a flower crown featuring peonies — matching all of the flowers we used at the shower. 
My absolute favorite detail of the whole shower was the favor bar we set up. One of the bridesmaids had the great idea to use olive oil bottles as the party favor, a nod to the groom’s love of cooking, and the bride’s love of eating! Of course you know I couldn’t stop there, so we turned the idea into an Olive Oil infusion bar and set up various herbs and spices that guests could use to infuse their own olive oil favors. I’m hoping that everyone is cracking into their flavored olive oils this week with a big loaf of crusty bread and thinking about our bride-to-be! 
It was such a great day — perfect weather, lovely guests, delicious food, and whole lot of fun — and an honor to host this fete with my mom and the bridesmaids for my fabulous sister! Scroll down for more pictures and for all of the linked sources. Now it’s time to plan that bachelorette party, woohoo! 
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This is a gorgeous party. I know this was from awhile ago, but definitely inspiring for the shower I’m working on throwing. Can you give me any info on the olive oil favors? Where did you find the bottles and did you just leave them empty and have the guests add their favorites to it? Thank you!
Thanks so much! It was really fun!
For the olive oils, one of the bridesmaids ordered the olive oil bottles filled on Etsy: https://bit.ly/3gdHKko
We displayed the herbs and spices to infuse the olive oil and had little funnels so guests could drop in rosemary, lemon peels, garlic, chilis, etc and make their own combinations.
Thank you SO much!!