Guest post: doily bridal shower ideas from Marry You Me - Dairy Foods

I am thrilled to welcome Annie of Marry You Me as a guest blogger today on Eat Drink Pretty.  She is stopping by to share some great ideas on how to throw a lovely bridal shower on a budget using doilies.

As told by Annie:

Hello Eat Drink Pretty readers! I'm Annie of Marry You Me, and I am so excited to be here today sharing some ideas for entertaining with you all. When Jenna asked me to do a guest post I immediately thought of sharing budget ideas for a bridal shower. You may have been in this position - you're hosting a shower for a family member or friend, and you want it to be beautiful and special without breaking the bank. I wanted to show some simple ways to decorate for a bridal shower using paper doilies and ribbon as the main decor elements. (These ideas could also work great for a baby shower, but I'm all about the weddings!)

An ivory buttercream cake would be the main centerpiece for my tea buffet, and to dress it up I cut doilies at different heights and worked carefully pressing them into the buttercream.

Then I finished it off with double folded white satin ribbon wrapped around the bottom of each layer. I secured the ribbon with a straight pin in the back of the cake.

{Photo credit: Martha Stewart Weddings}

I hung two Martha Stewart Celebrate heart doily garlands from Michael's as the backdrop for my buffet, but you could also make your own using doilies and string.

Doilies wrapped around napkins and tied with ribbons make a sweet dressed up napkin ring.

For a menu, I wrote on a doily and attached it to cut colored cardstock, then popped it in a frame I already had.

Honey lace cookies made a sweet cookie to serve with tea, plus their lacy texture is doily-like.

Two bunches of white and pink carnations served as more than enough flowers! I made over 6 arrangements with leftover stems for under $17. Hope you liked my ideas of some quick, easy ways to dress up a buffet table for a bridal shower!

{Photo credits: Martha Stewart Weddings and The Loving Spoon}

Here are some more bridal shower tea ideas using doilies and a few great recipes that I love for a tea!

• A DIY Tea bag invitation via Martha Stewart Weddings
• A square doily "envelope" with a seating card inside via Martha Stewart Weddings
• Tea sandwiches! My favorite updated recipes are from Dave Lieberman, Cuke-with-a-Kick finger sandwiches and Genoa Salami with Manzanilla Olive Cream Cheese finger sandwiches via Food Network, and some gourmet versions of classics from The Loving Spoonful
• Rose-Water Madeleines with pink sugar via Martha Stewart Weddings

Thanks so much to Annie of Marry You Me for sharing these great ideas!  Be sure to head over to her blog for endless wedding inspiration (my favorite posts of Annie's are her inspiration boards, she is the genius/muse behind the inspiration board used in the Candy Shoot inspiration to reality feature on Style Me Pretty.)

We have a winner of the Sweet Treats Party boutique $50 gift certificate giveaway!  Thanks so much for all the comments/entries, I was thrilled with all the participation!

The winner is comment number 12:

Mayra said:

"My favorite is the Pretty Peacock Baking Molds, they are gorgeous! I can imagine those at a party!"

Congrats, Mayra!