The One with Arianna's Surprise

Our summer schedule seemed endlessly jammed with wedding events, so it was no surprise when I was told we were going to a ceremony planning meeting one Saturday afternoon. The drive to the church was thrown off course when Tom received a call from his mom asking us to stop by his aunt and uncle's house to help them carry something up from their basement. They live right by the church so I didn't mind, thinking it would be a nice gesture for us to do.

As we walked up to the house and rang the bell, the door opened and there stood an adorable little lady. After standing frozen and confused for quite a while, I realized the adorable little lady was indeed my 94 year old grandmother with throngs of people behind her yelling "Surprise!". I was so shocked I don't remember my next reaction, but I allegedly began to actually back away, and then I inevitably started crying. Every corner I turned there were more and more people who had showed up for, and pulled off, this awesome shower.

I come from a very small family so I knew it wouldn't be worth it to do a shower back in Indiana, and half of my bridesmaids lived in Chicago, anyway. It occurred to me at some point a bridal shower might happened, but didn't give it too terribly much thought with everything else going on! 

As a die hard Friends fan, one of the first details I noticed was not only did my shower have a name, but a blatant Friends reference. All of their episodes begin The One... except for the pilot, which was called simply The Pilot. Welcome to my shower: The One with Arianna's Surprise.

We had salad, pasta, an assortment of drinks and desserts, and these adorable monogrammed cupcakes. 

After eating and regaining my composure a bit, I opened gifts. Now, our registry was somewhat unusual. Our registry included 23 items. The recommended number of items? 300. Between moving immediately after the wedding and not having a specific house in mind to purchase items for, we didn't want to register for gifts we would regret or never use. We just selected a small number of nicer things. As for china sets, I am getting a few full sets from my family. We had no need for more. So, understandably, when it came time for gifts, I was unsure of how things would unfold.

That day I received nearly every item on our registry, along with some other useful items like a luggage set. I didn't have any luggage of my own and these were a life saver when we packed and moved, they are sitting under our apartment staircase now! A bridesmaid also got me a Europe travel book, Europe Through The Back Door by Rick Steves, which I am using to plan our trips.

My grandmother. Seriously, how cute is she? She's my life.

My flawless momma, grandmother, and me.

Once things died down, I had some time to reflect on the happenings of the day. Wedding planning can be a crazy and frustrating process. Moments like these allow you to know how much support you have from loved ones.