The Shower...

... is over and I'm calling it a success! People had fun (even though I made them scrapbook!), Taylor got some nice gifts, and everybody complimented me on the cheesecake and punch. =D So without further ado, here are some pictures of the shower decorations:

Flower arrangement

I love getting flowers from Costco. They always have the best, and you can't beat 2 dozen longstem roses for $14! When I brought them home, I looked at my compote and got a brilliant idea... with a little florist's foam, I could probably do a lovely arrangement in the compote! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I had enough roses left over for 5 smaller arrangements in custard cups and small vases to place around the house, too! I was a little nervous about doing the flower arrangement after the cake fiasco, but I think it turned out beautifully! This arrangement restored my hope for a wonderful shower!

Cheesecake

Here's the backup cheesecake, plus my own frosting decorations. I'm pretty happy with it, especially since my other cake decided to be so ill-behaved!! And it turns out that most of the shower attendees didn't even know you could buy fresh cheesecakes at Costco, so I could have even gotten away with claiming it was my own!! Of course, when they asked if I made it I did 'fess up and tell them the truth about its origin...

Set Up

It's hard to see from the picture, but this was the set up I used for the shower. I wish I'd thought to move the chairs and take a better picture, but this is the one I have, so this is the one I'm sharing! The table was decorated with an album (which we filled with scrapbook pages instead of playing cheesy shower games) and two rose vases. The counters were covered with table cloths (I'll do that again, too! I thought it made the presentation much better and it looked less like my kitchen and more like two buffet lines...) and serving dishes, and flowers. I used "the pink stuff" (as it is called around here), otherwise known as rose-colored depression glass. I thought it would make for a perfect baby girl shower. =D And since I don't actually own a punch bowl or glasses, but have 13 depression ware stemware glasses that are the perfect size for punch, it worked out well. From the pink stuff I also used a cake plate, pitcher, serving round for veggies, little dish for dip, and serving plate for mini quiche. I used a big frosted glass bowl for the punch with a silver ladle and it worked nicely for a punch bowl! I'll have to remember that for the future. Oh, and I served vanilla punch, which is always a hit. We had it at our wedding. It's super easy and elegant as can be. Here's the recipe if you're interested:

• 4 liters Sprite
• 1 C vanilla syrup (like you put in coffee)

That's it! Like I said... super easy and if you use the yellowish syrup (instead of the clear - it all depends on the brand you buy, but they all taste the same and just differ in color) it has a sort of champagne look to it, which is really elegant. This recipe serves about 24 punch sized glasses, and halves (or doubles) well.

Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that this is a secret family recipe. I think this is its internet debut, and all the credit goes to my mom. She made it up for my wedding! =D