Bridal Showers & Rain Showers

I had my Bridal Shower today! It was a lot of fun getting together with all the local ladies in my family (both my life-long family, and the family I've gained through Opie) and my friends. Opie's Aunt Katherine and his grandmother Kathy hosted the event at Katherine's house, and it was beautiful, delicious and 100% lacking those awkward embarrassing shower games I really dislike. Score! They're truly gracious hostesses and I'm so fortunate to have been welcomed into their family with such open arms.

Driving to the Shower. In the shower.

The weather today was um.. a little less than pleasant? I mean, I enjoy a good Texas thunderstorm, but prefer them when I'm cozied up in my house with a good book to days like today when I'm running around all day and trying to look cute while doing so. Let's just hope the weather gets this whole raining thing out of its system this month. We've had rain, rain, rain for several days running, with the same forecast for the foreseeable future.

Mmm.. Petit Fours.

I showed up a little early to the shower to try to offer a hand with setup and such, but I should've known better. Katherine & Grandma basically had everything already ready to go, and they wouldn't let me help anyway.

They decorated for the shower with our wedding colors, which I thought was sweet. Even the petit fours featured green and brown!

Sweet picture of my mommy and me. :) I'm about to dig into a petit four, and she's enjoying a mimosa.

My sister-in-law Melissa, and my cousin Kathy.

Me, my momma, and my friends Flo & Mandii.


Future Mother-in-Law Andrea, and Opie's Aunt Katherine.

If my mental count is correct, we had about 12 or 13 folks at the shower, which was just perfect. It seemed like everyone found folks to chat with, and like most everyone talked to everyone else. Without the forced awkward games created with the sole purpose of embarrassing the bride-to-be, we were all free to chat 'n' mingle until it was time to get down to business with presents.

And presents are serious business.

To provide a proper sense of scale for this pile o' swag, here's a photo of my cousin Mary with that white bag on the right side of the pile:

Uh. Yeah.

Opening gifts next to FMIL Andrea and Bridesmaid Kelsey.

And so present opening commenced. Let's just say I made out like a bandit. Every gift was wonderful and thoughtful and perfect, whether from our registry or not. My friends and family know me. :)

In going through the photos of me opening gifts, I saw a funny trend emerge. See, I handed my point 'n' shoot camera off to Cousin Mary for bridal shower documentation. She did a wonderful job documenting everything, including completely ridiculous candid shots while I was opening presents. I was pleased by all of my gifts, so I honestly can't explain why I'm making 90% of the following faces:

...Yikes.
Also, when did I develop a triple chin?

And that, kids, is why the lovely Jenna Cole is shooting my wedding, however much I may love Cousin Mary. :P

Jenna makes me look slightly more.. composed, yes?

That being said, Jenna hasn't had the joy of shooting candid photos of me yet. With these gems in mind, good luck Jenna!