Wedding Wednesday is coming atcha hot! I’m so excited to do this series and share everything that went into the months and celebrations leading up to our big day. If you missed the first post of the series, click here!

I don’t know how I got so lucky but I was fortunate enough to have two bridal showers before our wedding. One was hosted by my Mother-In-Law in Pittsburgh while the other was hosted by Mama Newk (my own Mama!) with the help of my Maid of Honor, Jess, in Virginia. I loved being able to celebrate my upcoming marriage to Stephen with all of the women in my life that helped make me in to the person I am today! That time spent with all of them at the showers was so incredibly special to me.

The shower hosted by my MIL was at a beautiful wedding event location called Bella Sera outside of Pittsburgh, PA. My mom and I ventured from Kentucky (where I was living at the time) to spend the weekend at the Tupta’s and go to the shower. We had such a blast there that weekend that we were both so sad to leave. Stephen is one of five so it’s never really quiet in their house when the kids come home. Needless to say, it’s always a good time at the Tupta household! Mrs. T sent out the cutest shower invitations and asked each guest to send in their favorite recipes with their RSVP. She compiled all of the recipes to create a recipe book for each guest that we each got to decorate. I can’t wait to share a lot of these recipes with you all! They are so great. Do you know what else was great? The food at the brunch… My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was by far the best wedding soup I’ve ever had. I didn’t get very many pictures that day since I got really sidetracked talking with everyone (as it should be!) but I did get a picture of the food and my beloved Shark vacuum cleaner that Mrs. T got me us. It’s pathetic how much I love that thing…

The second shower was in Virginia at a local country club. We had a delicious brunch, followed by bridal shower games, presents, and most importantly, cake. My master’s thesis was on the inactivation of Salmonella on spices so my grad school roommate came up with a genius game for all of the guests to play that involved guessing spices in vials. It was the funniest thing ever to hear what people were guessing. We also played another game in which there was a card with a bunch of questions on it that Stephen had to answer ahead of time. For example, “If Stephen had to use one word to describe you (Jordan) what would it be?” or “What is Jordan’s favorite color?” Things like that. Each guest filled it out (including myself) and eventually we went through what Stephen and I answered. It was SO FUNNY to hear what he said and what the guests thought he would say! My MOH, Jess, asked my bridesmaids months leading up to the shower if each of them could make a basket of goodies with whatever theme they wanted. They used the baskets that they made as prizes for the guests for the games and other things throughout the shower. It was such a good idea and the baskets were so cute.

There are so many different basket ideas but here are some that my bridesmaids came up with and made. The best part about these baskets is that they are seriously each one of the bridesmaids wrapped up in a basket. If someone handed me this list and said, “Who made what?” I could guess each one pretty darn easily.

• Wine and chocolate basket
• Movie night basket
• Coffee basket
• “Rise and shine” breakfast basket
• Margarita/beach basket
• Nail care basket

I think my favorite part about the shower was having all of my bridesmaids and family members in one place. I cried like a baby in front of them when I tried to give a 30 second “Thank you for coming! I love you all.” speech. Each and every person that came means so much to me so it was so special to have them all in the same room. Oh my goodness… Weddings are emotional, you all! I remember flying back to Kentucky the day after wanting to cry again as I was reflecting on how people traveled so far just to celebrate with me. I mean I’m talking all the way from California, New York, Iowa, etc. That’s amazing to me! I was so sad I couldn’t spend more time with everyone but so thankful that we had at least a few hours together.

I received a lot of questions on the dresses I wore to the showers so next week I’ll be sharing an entire post dedicated to bridal shower outfit options. I can’t wait! I hope you all have a great hump day!