A Bridal Tea

I love being a girl. And I love giving showers. Though I don’t experience playing in the dirt like gardeners do, with giving showers, I experience euphoria as senses converge to create “festivity.”

On May 19, 2014, I along with Kathryn Paradise, owner of Salon Spatoria in Victoria, co-hostessed a bridal shower tea for our friend, Mary’s daughter, Alison Harms. Kathryn and I found it especially a joy to give this shower as Alison is getting married on Flag Day, June 14, which is a birthday Kathryn and I both share. Each of us considered having the shower at our houses, but then Kathryn said, “What would you think about having the shower at The Blessing House?”

I’ve written before about this wonderful place in Victoria. It’s in an outlying suburb of Minneapolis, but once you’re there, you feel a million miles from stress and that you’ve entered “a special place” zone.

Here’s Ali and Luke’s road to their wedding day:

Once upon a time a little girl was born to Greg and Mary Harms in Burnsville, Minnesota. She was adorable from the get-go. She excelled in the arts, graduated high school and college and had this wild-brained idea to study abroad 8,600 miles away in Australia.

Where she met a boy named Luke Barnes.

Luke was a kind-hearted handsome bloke from Nambour, Queensland, Australia who, until a very special day in 2010, made a living tapping. No, not for oil in the Outback, but as a computer genius. One ANZAC day (similar to the US’s Memorial Day) in 2010, he happened upon a lovely blond beauty.

And smitten was he. The admiration was the same for Alison.

They shared their first kiss at Sippy Downs. Dated and grew in friendship and as boyfriend and girlfriend.

For a brief spell Ali came back to Concordia University to finish her bachelor’s degree then boarded a plane back to Aussie land and her lad. There she became engaged at Alexandra Headlands overlooking the ocean at Mooloolaba beach and obtained her master’s degree in Art Therapy at  LaTrobe University in Bundoora, Victoria.

The couple returned in April 2014 and are all set to begin married life. Can’t wait to celebrate!

Here are some pictures of the special day showering Alison.

Many thanks to Gail Berger and The Blessing House for allowing us to have this perfect place to have a bridal shower!

 

A good amount of people have asked about how we made the mimosa rings, the peach pomanders, and the Polaroid tea bags of Alison and Luke. While Kathryn had some wonderful ideas, and I had one or two, and Pinterest provided incredible ideas, I’d like you to know the Secret to a Charming and Creative Bridal Shower lays in a person, that being Becky Berg. If you’d like her to help you with an upcoming shower you’re going to give, the scope of Becky’s creativity is mind-boggling. Call Becky Berg at (612) 804-5450 and you’ll amaze your bride-to-be, your guests. Mostly you’ll amaze yourself at your brilliance for having called her.

Thanks so much, Becky, for another memorable and remarkable moment of festivity.