The Invitation- As the followers of this blog know, I am a big fan of creating a PDF or image file and emailing the invitation to guests. This saves paper and maintains the integrity of your design. If this had been a more formal shower, I would have printed out the invitations and mailed them, but as we all work in the same office, email was the perfect way to get the word out. The benefit of the image file was that I could also print a couple color copies to hang in the office as a reminder.
The Decor - To go along with the theme - basically a mix of love and crime - I incorporated the colors from the invite, turquoise and red, to come up with a centerpiece. All the tables had red roses in a turquoise vase surrounded by handcuffs or shackles (that the probation department kindly let me borrow for the afternoon!)
The Activity - The guest of honor wanted NO GAMES. And, of course, I listened to the bride-to-be! But we had to have something fun to pass the time and make this more than just a luncheon with presents. It was decided to have a photo booth. I'd seen photo booths at weddings, run by professionals, but as this was a lower-budget affair, the co-host and I created our own photo booth with a twist. We made a WANTED poster out of a cardboard display board. I found a bunch of crimes - some from the Ohio Revised Code that were actual crimes, and some that we just made up for fun. The "crimes" people could choose from were: Assaulting a Police Horse, Running an Illegal Gambling Ring, Hoarding Fabulous Shoes, Doing the "Footloose" Dance in a Public Place, Swearing in Front of Women and Children, Public Intoxication, Misuse of a Public Transportation System, Driving Too Slowly, Stealing Doug's (the groom's) Heart, etc. Actually, at the shower, the bride-to-be started looking through the crimes and assigned them to different people, which in itself was pretty funny. Plenty of props were around so people could be as silly as they wanted to be.
The Bonus - I edited all the photos from the shower and put them in an album for the bride as a keepsake of the day. I also posted all the photos on an online site so that all the guests could laugh at the photos. I filtered some photos in sepia tone or black and white so they would look more old-timey.
