A Winter Themed Bridal Shower

Wedding preparations are in full swing for not one, but TWO of my sister-in-laws.  Both of the lovely brides-to-be will be moving to the great northern country of Canada in less than two months!  It will be very sad to see them go, but they have found wonderful men so I know they will be happy in their new life!

Joylin will be the first sister-in-law to tie the knot so we threw her a winter themed bridal shower at our house.  Lillia, Hope, and Joy actually got to come for a few days before to help me decorate and prepare for the shower.  Aunt Sharon was so kind and offered to help so she made a soup and Shalom made delicious herb dinner rolls.  Hannah and Joanna also made delicious soups for the meal and then I took care of making a salad.

We set up tables for the ladies to eat at in our living room.  I used blanket scarves as the table runners, evergreen sprigs from my in-laws trees were part of the table scape, and Justin so sweetly made the log candle holders for me!

We also had seasoned pretzels in brown paper bags on each table for the ladies to snack on.

Since we tried to go with a more wintery theme, I thought a hot cocoa bar would be something fun for the ladies to enjoy.  I found a recipe on Pinterest for hot chocolate in the crockpot and I will be doing it again!  It was so easy and yummy.

Juliana made the delicious cake for dessert.  Berry vanilla cake with lemon buttercream icing and strawberries and raspberries to top it off.... it was superb!!

She put berries in between the layers of the cake so every bite was a delicious combination of all the ingredients!

A close up of the cocoa bar toppings... caramel, white, and regular chocolate chips, marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, and candy canes to stir it all together!

Natalia and Benaiah with the bride-to-be and Jenny :)

(We are all so excited for Jenny's little one to arrive in March!!)

I wrote little tags to place in front of each soup choice...

We had the soup served and ready for the ladies to take so the food line wouldn't take too long.

After lunch and dessert we had a few games to play...

We had two games.  One was a game where you had to circle the choice you thought the bride would pick and then on the other side you had to pick which answer you thought the groom would chose.

Comment below which choices you think they picked!!
(you can copy and paste this to make it easier 😄)

sleep in late or get up early?
live in the country or live in the city?
cook dinner or do the dishes?
travel the world or explore locally?
own a dog or own a cat?
walk the beach or hike the mountains?
coffee or hot tea?
cookies n cream or raspberry ice cream?
stay at home or go out?

We also played the "I Love You" game where they had to match the language with the correct translation.  Two of the ladies who participated got all ten correct!!  How many can you get right? 😄

 Opening gifts... everyone was so generous and Joylin received many nice things.

A lot of the gifts Joylin was given were very useful things like warm winter boots, a scarf set, alpaca wool socks, etc.  She also received a few household items as well! :)

Joylin with her mom and two sisters.  

Jenny had already left before we got this picture :)

For the backdrop I used half of our ping-pong table and draped navy fabric over it.  I used a string of icicle lights and then I cut out the "C" from a piece of cardboard and painted it red since Joylin's married name will be "Cook".  I used two large evergreen sprigs from my in-laws trees for the top and then I placed a faux evergreen bunch with white berries and glitter in the middle to tie everything together.

The favors were mini pies that my sisters helped me make the day before the shower.  We did apple, cherry, and peach pies.  I had seen the idea on Pinterest and thought it was really cute and a yummy favor idea!  (What would I do without Pinterest?! 🙈)

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Congratulations to the happy couple!  

We love you both and are so excited for you to begin your life together!  

We will miss Joylin, but we know Spencer will take good care of her :)