The One with My Bridal Shower

Before I was engaged I told my friend (and eventual Maid of Honor) Rachel that I’d love a ‘Friends‘ themed bridal shower. It felt a bit premature, but the idea had been rolling around in my head and I wanted to make sure it got into the right hands. She and I have been stepping up our party game over the past few years and I wanted to give her plenty of time to prepare for this one.

The dollar store for all of this! Great price and perfect for the theme.

Rachel made ‘Friends’ themed photo booth props out of flexible foam sheets and wooden dowels from the craft store.

Earlier this month she put on an absolutely delightful event in my honor, and I was so pleased and touched because the whole thing felt like a dream! The decorations, the food, the party favors, and the sprinkling of details from the show everywhere I looked made for something truly wonderful. She put in a ton of effort and I’ve enjoyed thinking about my party in order to write this post.

“What kind of a guy makes delicate French cookies?” – Ross Geller
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“How about a Yoo-hoo with a funny straw?” – Monica Geller

“What? I can’t have a mimosa with breakfast? I’m on vacation!” – Phoebe Buffay

‘Friends’ is one of my favorite shows of all time. I started watching it in 1999 and my mom and sister got onboard. The three of us watched new episodes together until the show ended in 2004, and my sister and I still regularly watch it on Netflix or DVD sets. We quote it back and forth to each other constantly, and we can always find some way to reference the show based on our surroundings. We both have had people ask us to stop quoting the show while watching it because we keep spoiling the jokes. Whoops!

The fabulous sister in question.

Usually I’m the one throwing the extravagant party. My bridal shower is, to my recollection, the first ‘surprise’ party I’ve ever had. I knew it was happening, but I didn’t know who would be attending or what the decorations would look like. It wasn’t easy to relinquish control. I like to know ALL of the details, I want to get my hands around every piece of the puzzle to make sure it comes together properly! I blame every disastrous group project I was ever subjected to in high school.

My mother and me with Pat the Dog.

“Oh yeah? You don’t know about Hugsy, my bedtime penquin pal!” – Joey Tribbiani

I’m not sure which part was my favorite. The huge Central Perk set poster? The teeny guitar? The Yoo-hoo? Perhaps it was all of the name tags (I kept mine, by the way). Guess we’ll never know. I’ll simply have to think back on it as a single unit, one whole perfect party that was put together for me, leagues more than the sum of its parts.

“And I can’t say ‘croissant’. …Oh my god!” – Phoebe Buffay
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“Checking out the Chan Chan Man!” – Chandler Bing

“Do I have a middle name? …Monica… Felula… Geller.” – Phoebe Buffay

“The neighbors ate all my candy!” – Monica Geller

No, no wait. I think my favorite part was when Rachel revealed that she found tiny pigs in a blanket breakfast bites from Jimmy Dean! Ignore those low star ratings, those people either cooked them wrong or got a bad batch because those things were crazy good.

Thank you to my powerful, beautiful, magical, brave, shimmering firefly of a friend, Rachel. You made me feel loved and cared for in ways usually only experienced in fairy tales! I am one lucky little bunny.

Next week I’ll be sharing about the cabin retreat I went on with my bridesmaids the weekend before my wedding. It was another perfect event ❤

x – happy beast