Nowadays baby showers are wedding sized celebrations. Gone are the days of exchanging baby books and eating cupcakes – now it’s a whole production. The good news? I had SO much fun handing over all my ideas and wishes for our special day to our Event Planner Shamayne and even more fun celebrating our sweet little baby GJ (Gary Junior… which started out as a joke and now has kinda stuck) inside my belly. After much deliberation, Shamayne and I landed on a Teddy Bear Picnic themed shower. The theme felt like it married my love for the outdoors with a clean modern, cottage style interior design aesthetic. Gary likes to think he’s a hibernating bear and that we are having a little baby bear and I’m of course Mama Bear haha so bear’s definitely needed to be incorporated somewhere. Plus….the rustic teddy bear feel was SO.DARN.CUTE.

So, let’s get right into it. Guests arrived to the beautiful MAAN farms in Abbotsford. Believe it or not… this was a very last minute location change due to the rain (my planner and I weren’t crazy about that, but it ended up working out perfectly. I’m talking literally the day before yikes). On the short walk from arrival to the beautiful rustic barn that we hosted in, guests were met by baby bunnies hopping across the path.

The mood was set as soon as you neared the location thanks to amazing, warm and soothing music by The Coalmont Band. They married classic acoustic covers with some originals and (as per my request) played my favourite song by Neil Young, Harvest Moon. This is such a special song to me and now for my baby as it was the first song I have played for him with our belly buds.

Decorations started breathing their essence outside of the location with beautiful botanicals from Sheer Lace. If you know me, you know I love having fresh flowers in our home, so I extended that into the space. We went with a cream theme with pops of white, green and a dash of blue. Amber brought white Ohara garden roses, white spray roses, white Vendela roses, white waxflower, blue Tweedia, blue scabiosa, a few blue hydrangea, silver dollar eucalyptus, seeded eucalyptus, silver queen pittsporium, and Jasmine vine for guest tables.

Following the teddy bear picnic theme, we scattered different sizes and varieties of picnic baskets throughout the venue. Large picnic baskets laced the tables and mini picnic baskets held take-home favours. Wedding Star did a perfect job of subtly incorporating the basket theme into the space. Speaking of favours,  I wanted everyone to leave feeling like they had their very own picnic basket surprise. In the picnic basket was a package from Woodlot and everyone got a white pumpkin and juice from The Habit Project to take home. We went for a nice beige colour juice to go with our theme: CITRINE: filtered water, lemon, ginger, maple syrup, cayenne. Woodlot’s team put together muslin gift bags containing two Woodlot body care samples (skincare item + 2oz lotion or soap) for all our guests.

As you moved into the space, it was filled with thoughtful decor provided by Bespoke and Valley Weddings. One of the main attractions was huge, long rustic tables from Woodpecker (who so kindly built and took down these tables before and after the event). They were perfect for the picnic theme. Scattered across these gorgeous tables was an array (okay a plethora) of treats from The Cake and The Giraffe. The showstopper was a beautiful, two tier cake that read “Baby GJ” with a perfect little bear sitting on top. Three dozen bear themed cupcakes surrounded it – it almost looked too good to eat. I actually have the bear topper saved… I can be such a suck sometimes haha.

When guests settled in, the activities commenced. We started off the afternoon with games like pin your sperm on the egg and gave everyone cards to see “who knows mommy best.” After all the laughs, we were ready to eat. Food was provided by White Table Catering – it was absolutely delicious and catered to everybody’s dietary restrictions. Everyone was raving over the food (not just me with my pregnant appetite). Here is what was on the menu cards also provided by White Table Catering.

Welcome to Natalie’s Baby Shower

Today’s Menu has been prepared by

White Table Catering + Desserts by Cake + Giraffe

Roasted Beet Sandwich

goat cheese and arugula on rye

or

Rosemary Turkey Sandwich

apple, brie and arugula on sourdough

Red Quinoa Salad V GF

with roasted baby beets, yams, dates, goat cheese,

cranberries, kale, chopped herbs and pumpkin seeds

tossed with a honey-lemon vinaigrette

Apple Pie Pop

wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon

Provided by White Table Catering

Dessert + Treats

Baby GJ Cake

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing

Pumpkin cupcakes + vanilla bean cupcakes

Provided by Cake + Giraffe

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about drinks! Bottles of white wine and rose perched on the tables from the wonderful Evolve Cellars. We even had a mimosa bar for guests to enjoy a multiple of options! I wanted to use a local winery and cannot wait to have a glass once the baby is born. Evolve Cellers has the cutest hashtag, #raiseaglassto – in this case we got to #raiseaglassto me and my growing family. For non-drinking ladies like me, we had beautiful white ceramic jugs of apple cider from Taves Farm – anyone who knows me knows that this is an absolute MUST for pretty much any occasion (Monday, Tuesday, baby shower, Christmas, you name it).

To finish off the afternoon with a bang, (cue dessert) we had beautiful crafted baby themed boxes from Laudree housing the best macarons and gold trays with 24 assorted macarons. We also had pumpkin pie cheesecake bites and pastries from Temper. When I say that Temper makes the best treats I mean it. And I’m obsessed with pumpkin cheesecake right now (pregnancy craving) so sharing my guilty pleasure with my guests was a must.

 Last but not least… my dresses. I started the afternoon with this beautiful teal lace maxi dress which matched the theme perfectly. (Can you guys tell I go a little nuts for themes?) Next I slipped into this Pink Blush photoshoot look. This one was just for some maternity photos we did. And (on theme) for the main event, I wore this beautiful off the shoulder white floor length dress – it made me feel like a [pregnant] princess.

I write this with tears in my eyes with such an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I was so blown away by the love and support that I received from everyone I care about and my sweet baby boy is so lucky that he’ll be welcomed into this world with so much love and warmth. It was so surreal to celebrate our baby boy with you all. To everyone who contributed and to everyone who took time out of their weekend to be part of such a special day – I can’t thank you enough (Baby GJ will thank you in a few years when he can talk ;)). Now that this is said and done, it’s time to move on to the Nursery!!  I just can’t wait to meet my baby boy – November can’t come soon enough.

We hope you enjoyed that we shared all of our Baby Shower details as much as we did and this gives you some ideas of what you can do whether you’re attending or hosting a baby shower coming up!! Would love to hear form you in the comments below!! 

Lots of Love,

Gary, Natalie and Baby GJ XOXO

A special thanks to all of our sponsors.

Marketing & PR: @slapcommunications

Rustic wedding barn Venue: @maanfarms

Planner: @beaucoupdamourevents

Assistant: events.by.kate

Photography: @brooklyndphotography

Menswear – Blazer + Pants: @emilclothingco

Jewellery: @oliveandpiper

Dresses: ShopPinkBlush

Baby Attire: @mynestdesigns, @little.buck.shop

Hair: @hairbycasii, @ambitionsalon.xo

Make-up: @jasminehoffman

Catering: @whitetablecatering

Apple Cider + Pumpkins: @tavesfarms

Wine: @evolvecellars

Cold-Pressed Juice: @thehabitproject

Guest Favours: @woodlot

                                           Picnic Baskets: @weddingstar

Cake + Cupcakes: @cakeandgiraffe

Macarons: @ladureecanada

Mini Pumpkin Pies + Pumpkin Cheesecake: @temperpastry

Florals: @sheerflorals

Decor: @valleyweddings, @bespokedecor

Tables + Extra Seating: @woodpeckertables

Name Sign: @vancouverlasercutco

Glassware + Flatware + Dinnerware: Discount Party Rentals Ltd.

 

Photography by Brooklyn D Photography