mother IS the bride

My mom is getting married.  So, I did what I do and threw a party.  I also did what I do and researched bridal shower etiquette, especially concerning having a shower for someone who may have already had another wedding to another person at another time.  I wanted to specifically find other people who had thrown a shower for their mothers where the point of the shower was not necessarily to shower the bride-to-be with gifts to set up her new home or with advice on marriage, but to shower her with love and excitement for her upcoming wedding!  Typing "mother is the bride" into a search engine will produce pages and pages of "mother of the bride" results.  Note to Google - had I wanted to search "of" I would have typed "of", "of" is not "is".  The next search of "throwing wedding shower for mom" was also fruitless. So, I forged ahead without the advice of any blogger or wedding shower website (how very 1990 of me!)  Being a fan of killing multiple birds with a single stone, the "Bridal Luncheon"  was scheduled for my mom's birthday.  (Please know that no birds were actually harmed or killed due to this party.  Although not a huge fan of birds, I do not advocate or condone mistreatment of birds.)  Anyway, enough of my blah, blah.  The remainder of this post is dedicated to documenting the event, if for nothing else, for posterity's sake. 

Event Location: Under a tent, in the backyard at my grandparents' home.  (Want to talk about childhood memories?  This backyard and I go back, way back.)

Guest List: A various assortment of friends and family.

Decor: The big tissue paper flower - aren't these a standard staple of any DIY party these days?

Very faux milk glass vases, from the genius P.S. - I made this with very faux flowers inspired by junk I had that needed a new life (a broken burlap purse, wine cork, scraps of Kraft paper, yarn), The Ikea TEKLA dish towel was folded and pressed to make a lovely little napkin. 

The table setting also included china that has been passed down and around in the family and just happened to, completely intentionally, coordinated with my dress.

Menu: Grandma's Christmas Punch (no recipe, Grandma just throws some clear soda pop in a punch bowl with pink sorbet, and we typically only have this at Christmastime)

Tortilla chip cups with a dollop of Mrs. Renfro's mango salsa for a starter.

Apricot Glazed Pulled Pork Tacos (originally from Real Simple Magazine-minus the cilantro because my mom does not care for cilantro.  Had I made it for anyone else there would be cilantro, lots of it!)

Watermelon Salad with Honey Balsamic Dressing and Gorgonzola Cheese. ( I can't find the original source for this recipe, but essentially it consists of salad greens tossed with a reduction of 1/3 C balsamic vinager and 1 TBS honey, I prefer goat cheese on it, but apparently Owens in Warsaw, IN does not believe in carrying goat cheese, and cubed watermelon - tossed on at the very last minute because nobody likes watery salad!  Nobody.)

This sad looking 'ombre' cake. It did not look quite as sad pre-cut.  As this was my first attempt at an ombre cake and it was made at 1 a.m., I am not going to beat myself up over it.  The idea is to have one cup of white cake batter for each layer and add a bit more coloring to each layer.  This cake barely looks ombre, but tasted mighty sweet!

Also, my brother's girlfriend brought a sweet treat that had a graham cracker base, pineapple, cream cheese, whipped cream, and I'm sure some other stuff in it. 

Favors: On principal, I am against favors at an adult party UNLESS they are edible!  I packaged these little dress cookies for our guests. 

What's that?  You wanted to see an adorable dog picture, real quick,  before the end of this post?  Ok.  This was Chloe, the night before the party.  I told her it was time to go to bed, so while I went and got ready for bed, she apparently made herself quite comfortable.