Houston 'House'-pitality

As I said before, everyone was excited to celebrate our engagement. So I flew down south with Mama Peep Toe for my first shower. Even though the City was just recovering from Hurricane Ike, we both got an amazing introduction to Houston 'House'-pitality!!

My future in-laws, including Mr. Peep's Mom, sister and two Aunts hosted an beautiful afternoon lunch at Grotto Ristortorante. I'd highly recommend it to any Houston Bride looking for a place to host a lunch or dinner!



Here I am with Mr. Peep's family. I was so happy for the few faces that I knew, and I felt so lucky that women I had never met had come to shower me with love!

Each attendee was instructed to bring their favorite recipe and they were given recipe cards to fill out and decorate. A few of the recipes I received had been family secrets for generations!! Yummy!!

Future Sister Peep crafted this amazing recipe box with old cutouts of 1950's ads. I love it!! I am getting such a crafty Sister In-law!


After lunch, we played one shower game, which I actually loved. FMIL and FSIL Peep wanted the ladies to get to know Mr. PT and I better, so they asked me a bunch of questions that Mr. PT had answered the night before! Even though I was hyped up on cough medicine with codine (I was so sick the week of the shower, I am still amazed I made it to Houston), I thought I did pretty well. Here I am laughing that Mr. PT knew my favorite dessert!!



And finally, the most terrifying part of any shower-- Opening presents in a room full of women that you barely know. There were times when I couldn't remember who was who, and had to ask FSIL Peep to tell me who to thank. I think by the end I knew everyone's name. My in-laws really do have the sweetest friends!! Growing up in LA-LA-land, I have always been suspicious of overly friendly people, but by the end of the shower I realized that these women were honestly the most gracious people I have ever met.

And what shower isn't complete without a Mixer. Yes, my future in-laws went above and beyond and got me my green mixer that I LOVE!! The best part- they shipped it directly to our house so I didn't have to worry about getting it home!

But my favorite present of the day was our Crate and Barrel Compost Pail. The women who gave it to me said she had to meet the Bride who registered for this item:



It now sits on our counter and collects all of our food scraps for composting!

I thought being the guest of honor at a shower would totally overwhelm me, but really what was overwhelming was how genuinely excited each women was about our pending marriage. Plus, the weekend gave Mama Peep and I a chance to get to know Mr. Peep's family better, and let me tell you- I can't wait to call them family!!

I also have to say, I left Houston that weekend with a better appreciation for Southern Hospitality!! You ladies in the South, are the most genuine people I've ever met!

How did your first shower experience go? Did you have to fly out of state or to another region of the US for it? Did you know everyone who was on the invite list?

Throwing etiquette a curve ball...

source.

As soon as Mr. Peep and I were engaged, Sister Peep (the original and best party thrower) insisted on throwing us an engagement party. (Seriously, before they even bought their new house she called and said that it has a great deck for a party-- an engagement party, hint hint. No joke). I personally, was a bit hesitant, I hadn't had a party thrown for myself since forever, except that one time when I was 22- we bought a keg and BBQ'd and decided to call it my birthday party- but I don't really think that counts.

Once we decided on a guest list of 60 for the wedding, I thought that the idea of throwing us an engagement party would be thrown out the window. Whoo hoo! Practically everyone on our guest list is from out of town- so having them come up for a pre-wedding weekend to celebrate us seemed excessive. And proper etiquette is to only invite people to your engagement party and showers if they are invited to the wedding. Or so I thought.

Sister Peep was so insistent on throwing us a party for all of our San Francisco friends that I decided to email a Wedding Etiquette guru to find out if it was appropriate to invite folks to our engagement party that wouldn't be invited to our wedding.

A bit to my dismay, she thought it was perfect solution to celebrate with more friends and family. The more the merrier.

And while I think the jury may still be out on this question, we gave Sister Peep and Brother Peep (he didn't want to get left out of the party planning) the go ahead to plan an engagement party.

But that was just the beginning of the party planning. It seemed like everyone wanted to throw us a party. Future MIL Peep wanted to be able to celebrate with her girlfriends in Texas; Cousin Peep wanted to throw us a shower in LA; and Parents Peep wanted to throw us a post-wedding shindig in my hometown (a la Mrs. Avacado) after the wedding.

And of course, Sister Peep and her hubby can't wait to throw us respective bachelorette and bachelor parties.

Here's the catch, the majority of the guest list at these parties- not invited to our wedding!! Yep, we are that couple. Back in October I had a shower hosted by Future MIL and SIL PT in Houston for a bunch of women I barely knew, and are totally not on the invite list.

Do I feel guilty or wrong? I did for awhile, and then Mr. Peep's Aunt said, "Everyone just loves the two of you and we just want to celebrate it. And it's always more fun to get together on a joyous occasion!" And she was right, the shower and the engagement party were both fantastic and most people knew they wouldn't be invited to the wedding, and they seemed ok with that.

So that's how our 60 person wedding has turned into a traveling party. I have just learned to sit back and accept the fact that everyone loves a good party and my only role is to just soak in the love.

Have you thrown etiquette a curve ball in your planning process? Or had a party thrown for you under a bit of protest?

PS I know etiquette can be a touchy subject so please keep your comments positive! Thanks.