Throw a Country Chic Wedding Shower

I threw a Country Chic wedding shower for my sister-in-law since that was the theme of her wedding. It was a lot of fun to plan and throw, but the best part is that these ideas also work great for the actual wedding itself, or any type of celebration from birthdays to retirements!

I've provided pictures of the party for you to use as inspiration for your own party, plus descriptions of the handmade decorations, as well as the food and desserts featured in all of the photos!

There are also plenty of suggestions and ideas for everything from décor to games to invitations. Enjoy browsing the photos, and get ready to plan an amazing party of your own!

This was a great conversation piece for the shower. I bought a white cowboy hat with pink accents (being careful to choose one for adults - not just kids!) and added some tulle to give it the appearance of having a veil off the back. It was adorable in photos!

It was very easy to to since there was already a cord around the hat, but if there isn't one on your hat, you could just add ribbon in it's place. I cut a bunch of pieces of white tulle about the length of my arm and slipped them through the cord so that half the fabric was hanging out the top and half out the bottom.

I didn't secure it any further because there was no need. It stayed just fine through all of the photo ops, including when the kiddos tried it out, but I guess if you're going to be outside on a windy day, you could secure it by tying each piece of tulle onto the cord.

These stylish invitations are perfect for a Country Chic wedding shower! On the left is an invitation for a bridal shower, and on the right is one for a couple's shower. More matching stationery is available; just click on the image for more information!

This was an idea inspired by the Bride, who wanted to make a family cookbook with favorite recipes from everyone. I personalized the recipe cards (below) with the names of the Bride and Groom and added a recipe card to each shower invitation, asking in the invite that people share a favorite recipe and bring the card to the shower or wedding.

Then I personalized the binder (below) with their names and wedding date, and changed the words "Our Wedding" to "Family Recipes." I put out the binder at the shower, along with extra recipe cards and a chalkboard sign asking people to add their recipe to the book.

The Chalkboard Signs

For the chalkboard signs, I bought cheap frames and spray painted the frame part white. Then I spray painted the glass insert with a few coats of chalkboard spray paint. Simple and fast, but elegant and fun!

We had three games: The Clothespin Game, a Personalized Word Game, and a Personalized Mad Libs Game.

The Clothespin Game

This game seems to be a hit at showers. It's a simple concept, really: everyone gets 3 or 4 clothespins, which they attach to themselves somewhere, like the hem of their shirt, and whenever that person is heard saying a specific word (such as "wedding" or "love"), the person who heard them say it gets one of their clothespins. The person with the most pins at the end of the party wins!

Personalized Word Game

I printed up some word games on pieces of cardstock that were personalized with the bride and groom's names. It had the date of the shower at the top, and the directions read, "Combine the letters from the Bride & Groom's names to make new words." I included both the first and middle names for the bride and groom so the party guests would have more letters to work with. Set a time limit, like 4 or 5 minutes, and whoever has the most words at the end wins!

Personalized Mad Libs Game

This came from a suggestion made by the bride. She found a similar concept online, and I simply personalized it for them. I wrote a little story about them, including personal details, like how he rides a motorcycle and how she loves dogs and how they have season tickets for the local baseball team, and left blanks for plenty of nouns, verbs and adjectives. On the back, I made a list for guests to fill in either nouns, verbs, adjectives, colors, foods or sporting events in the same order that they would transfer them to the front, so that everyone could do their own and no one would get a peek at the story until they'd provided all of their absurd suggestions for nouns and verbs, etc. My favorite part was that it ended it with:

The best wedding advice they received was from [your name]: Don't forget to [verb] your [noun] before you [verb] your [noun].

I loved the idea of the burlap sign. I actually found scrapbook-sized pages of burlap, but you could use any type of burlap for this. I cut out the triangles by hand, stacking them so that they would be similar, but still have the rustic aspect of also varying slightly in size.

I used a single hole punch to cut holes in the top of each triangle. This was easy unless there were thick strings intertwined in that spot. But, all the cutting was very, very messy. Make sure you cut them on a table where you can easily collect all the shavings.

For the letters, I choose three sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper, one color for each name and the heart. They each only have 4 letters in their name, so I didn't need a lot of paper. I cut out the letters by hand. You could print the letters in reverse on the wrong side of the paper and cut them out that way, or use a stencil, if you'd prefer.

I hot glued the letters to the burlap triangles and threaded a hemp cord through the triangles. I had to tie some knots in the cord between the triangles to keep them from sliding around. Then I tied loops in the ends of the cords to hang the sign.

I enjoy this kind of lighting. It's really simple to do, as all I did was buy mason jars, remove the lids, and drop in tea lights. But the effect is charming as the light shimmers within the glass.

I placed a mixture of the 3 sizes of jars in clusters on side tables and counters, in groups of 3 or 5, even putting a few between the food dishes and on the bathroom counter.

You'll need a stick lighter to light them all. To make it easier, be sure to straighten the wick before dropping the tea light into the jar.

I found this Love sign at a local craft store, and I liked how it contrasted against the pink lemonade.

We actually had two drink dispensers, one with pink lemonade and one with sweet tea. You can always add a few lemon slices to the dispensers for decoration.

I also had a cooler filled with bottled water and some drink boxes for the kids, but my favorite was the steel tub, seen below!

This 16 gallon steel tub held plenty of drinks! I love how it looked filled with bottled sodas. A smaller one (or 2 or 3 small buckets) would have worked as well.

It kept the drinks very cold, and contained any melted ice. We had an indoor party, but it's perfect for outdoors, too!

I filled a bunch of favor-sized mini metal pails (found below) with different types of candy. They were the perfect size to hold gourmet lollipops (in the bride's wedding colors), mini Cow Tails, and Mary Jane candies.

They would also be great for other small treats, like jelly beans, m&ms, mints, or any other candy, especially candy in the colors of the wedding!

I can't say the cake turned out exactly like I was expecting, but it seemed to be a hit. For the inside, I made three layers, the bottom in chocolate, then two white cakes dyed blue and pink, which were her wedding colors.

For the frosting, I dyed that pink and, after a thin coat of pink icing, covered the entire cake by drawing on roses in a swirl pattern using the Wilton decorating tip #352, beginning each rose in the center and spiraling out. If there was space between the roses, I added a little "leaf" with the same tip.

The words for the top were simply written in melted chocolate on wax paper and allowed to harden before gently pressing them onto the just-iced cake. Same with the butterfly. I made it ahead of time by drawing the outline of the wings in chocolate, letting that dry, then filling it in with melted pink candy melts and sprinkling it right away with white pearl sprinkles. Once completely set, I made a "body" for the butterfly with the chocolate and attached the wings at an angle, resting them on a balled up clump of tin foil. I let it harden overnight and added it to the just-iced cake, before the icing set.

I loved these adorable cupcakes - I wish I had made more!

I used the same colors of batter as for the cake (the same batter, actually), simply scooping a tablespoon or so of each color into the cupcake wrappers: chocolate, then blue, then pink.

For the tops, I swirled the icing to resemble the roses on the cake, simply drawing a spiral that started in the center.

To display them with a Country Chic flair, I placed them on a wood slab I got at a craft store, like the examples I've listed below.

For a fun sweet and salty snack, I dipped pretzel sticks into melted candy melts in the colors of the wedding: pink and blue. Then, while still wet, I sprinkled some of the pearl sprinkles all around, and laid them on waxed paper to dry.

I also took some of those pink and blue candy melts and drew a quick pattern in a chocolate mold with the two colors, to accent the chocolate cowboy boots. Then I filled the molds with either cocoa or dark cocoa candy melts, tapping the tray to get rid of any bubbles. They harden quite quickly, especially in the fridge. Then I popped them right into a container until I was ready to set them out for the party.

For the favors, I decided to go with something simply yet colorful. I found little pillow favor boxes with the word "Love" printed on them, and filled them with jelly beans in one of the wedding colors.

More fun options can include treats in small mason jars, like tea packets and sugar cubes, or small jars of local honey. Or fill some of those tiny metal buckets with candy.