Katie and Sam's Enchanted Evening

Welcome to Katie and Sam's couple's wedding shower.

As a groomsman and the matron of honor (ew) / best-ish friend of the groom and sister of the bride, Eric and I wanted to honor Sam and Katie with a couple's shower.  I knew Katie's girlfriends would love to throw girlie-girl showers for the ladies.  Since that's not my thing, and since Eric and I are both in the wedding party we decided a couple's shower for our families, family friends, and Sam's friends would be perfect.

As little girls Katie and I's late grandfather used to sing "Some Enchanted Evening" to us at random whispered into our ears.  It's such a special memory of him that Katie and I share so I chose the theme to remember him.  With both families being Italian, an Italian menu was the perfect fit.

As guests arrived they were instructed to fill out a "recipe card".  The directions said, "Leave Katie and Sam a recipe for an enchanted evening".  (I collected these for another project for them down the road)

 I had a great time putting together the wine, wedding, and Italian themed decorations.  It took two weeks of Evie's afternoon naps and a few late nights to get everything done (it's really hard to spray paint when it rains for 6 days straight!).  But it was so fun and SO worth it!

See my inspiration for the decorations here.

Coming up with the menu was rather challenging but it worked out really well!  In our combined families we have 2 gluten sensitivities, 1 vegetarian, 2 primal and 1 lactose intolerant.  Oy. We made a gluten-free corner of the kitchen so the guests would not dip pasta or breads in the gluten-free dips. Everything else was obvious.

Menu:

• Bow-tie crunchies
• Fried ravioli
• Spinach Artichoke dip (the guest who was supposed to make this got sick. Trader Joe's to the rescue!)
• caprese salad skewers (we've made these before they were Pinterest-ing)
• pizza dip with trader joes pizza dough fried on cast iron for dipping
• antipasto (traditional)
• bake ziti (my dad's secret recipe)
• meatballs (sam's dad's secret recipe)
• veggie tray with 3 home made dips from Primal Blueprint Healthy Sauces, Dressings and Toppings 
• baked brie (guest)
• blue cheese & caramelized onion filo cups (guest)
• homemade pesto bites (guest)
• GF lettuce wraps with a PF Changs copy cat recipe (guest)
• sangria (guest)
• Dessert: assorted Italian pastries from a local bakery

What's a wedding shower without a game?  I hear you grumbling already.  No cliche shower games at my house. That's a rule. Instead Eric and I found 16 video clips of "enchanted evenings" and made a 8 minute montage.  The guests were given an answer sheet to guess all 16 video clips.  

We chose romantic videos from almost every decade since the 40s.  We wanted everyone to have a fair chance...even the older crowd.  Not one guest answered all 16 correctly! (You can view the video challenge here)

Then it was on to presents!  Katie and Sam received seriously good loot. They registered and Crate & Barrel and Macy's like we did so a lot of the gifts looked rather familier (as in, we were using ours for the party that night!)

 (Katie was rather pleased with herself that she broke a single ribbon twice while opening the gift.  As she did everyone yelled "TWINS" -- according to the old tale for every ribbon you break you have a baby. Also, Sam is terrified of children and Katie wants a dozen.  This made it even better!)

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know our family can't get together without a series of awkward hilarious family photos.  This party did not disappoint.  

You might also know that all of us on my mom's side of the family have really squinty eyes when we smile...this is us keeping our eyes open.  I think I win.

To the beautiful Bride and Groom -- Eric and I hope you had even half as much fun as we did putting together and hosting this party for you.  It's so great to see the two of you together, as you're two peas in a pod.  Absolutely perfect for each other.  Cheers!  Manga!