One of my issues with weddings is that they are expensive for everyone involved. The last time I was a bridesmaid it cost me well over a thousand dollars. Once you do the bridal shower, a gift for said shower, the bachelorette party, dress, shoes, hair and makeup, gift for the wedding, and possibly take a day off of work thanks to trendy wedding dates, you probably don’t want to look at the statistics on the success rate of marriages in the US. You have a 50% chance that this was just a wasted effort and cost. And you’re lucky to get a thank you note and possibly a crappy piece of jewelry to commemorate the whole fiasco.
Knowing I am in the “elope now or never get a sympathetic ear from me ever ever EVER about what stupid flowers/colors/shoes/food your future mother in law wants you to get” camp when it comes to weddings makes most people tread lightly around me when mentioning nuptials. Look, you can invite me to your wedding but I won’t be happy about it, okay?
Still, it seems to fall on me to take care of things for my middle little sister as she prepares for her small wedding next month. So I threw her a shower.
I guess because I have to be different, or because it is such a small wedding that there aren’t even any attendants, or maybe because Emmi dislikes being the center of attention, we didn’t do the traditional shower with gifts.
Have you ever been to one of these paint-your-own pottery places? The greenware (pottery that is already fired once) is layered on shelves and you pick a plate or figurine or whatever and paint it with special ceramics paint. (A quick lesson in ceramics: the paint is not paint but a glaze – liquid containing tiny bits of colorant and minerals that will actually melt into a smooth glass coating once the item is toasted in a kiln for several hours. ) There is more technique than skill involved in painting, but it is a fun and creative way to spend an afternoon. I may or may not have a slight addiction to painting pottery.
My baby little sister Lea and I made invitations with a cute poem and invited the 20-odd guests to just come and make something for Emmi instead of bringing a gift along. This solved my ethical hangup with showers: I’m already getting something for this greedy bride for the wedding so I have to get her a second gift for the shower, too?
We went to our favorite outfit, a great independent store called Star Glazers. Hey had tables ready for us, balloons, and extra staff. You can always bring your own food and drink.
So there is always a risk that people are terrible at following directions/using a paintbrush. I made a Pinterest board to collect ideas and bounce them off of the bride. CLICKY!
Was I successful in orchestrating a pottery class/party in which 20 women made coordinating ceramic dishes for a mutual friend?
You be the judge!
