Cocktails & Cupcakes Bridal Shower

All week I will post photos and recipes from Megan’s bridal shower.

How cute is the invite?!? Laura ordered them from HERE on Etsy.

Megan is Laura’s daughter. Laura is my best friend from high school. She was my maid of honor and I was a bridesmaid at her wedding. Laura is Marissa’s godmother and I am godmother to two of her sons. So, yeah, we have lots of loving ties to each other.

Three generations of beautiful women! Laura’s mom, Coleen, the guest of honor, Megan, and my dear friend, Laura.

The theme may have been cocktails and cupcakes, but the shower began at 5:00, so dinner was on the menu too!

Megan’s Bridal Shower Menu

The Appetizers

• Bloody Mary Shrimp Spoons
• Korean-Style Turkey Meatballs

The Cocktails

• Classic Tom Collins
• Maple Old-Fashioned
• Rojo Sangria
• Moscow Mule

The Savory

• Build Your Own Nià§oise Salad
• Cheese Board

The Cupcakes

• Mini-Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and Lemon Buttercream Frosting
• Toffee Crunch Mini Cupcakes
• Maple-Bacon Mini-Cupcakes
• Stout and Irish Whiskey Mini Cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream Frosting
• Mini Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

I had a lot of inspiration from my wonderful neighbors, Cindi and Cheryl.

Cindi is the queen of hosting bridal showers! She has some really unique ideas to make bridal showers memorable. She took her daughter, Stephie’s, vanity out of the bedroom and used it as a champagne bar.

Cindi generously offered the vanity for me to use. But I had already used Marissa’s mirrored vanity.

I moved it downstairs and outside and used it to serve the Maple Old Fashioned drinks. Such a glamorous look!

Cindi also loaned me a wedding dress that she used as the front door decor. Doesn’t it look fabulous on her gorgeous front door?!?

Not quite as impressive on my door, but the guests still thought it was beautiful, of course, they didn’t know any better! Since I have the double doors, I had to somehow balance it out, so I used the vintage window frame/chicken wire frame that Peggy made for me.

It’s pretty darn cute!

Lastly, Cindi loaned me big “diamond” ring napkin rings. Not the best photo of them, but they were darling. Thank you Cindi for all your help and inspiration. xoxo

Now it’s time to share the inspiration from Cheryl. Do you remember this photo from back in December? This is what she made for her annual Ornament Exchange and I’ve been dying to recreate it ever since! As you’ll see in the recipe below, I copied Cheryl’s salad down to the order in which the components are placed on the platter. No need to mess with perfection! Thank you, Cheryl! xoxo

And it was the perfect main course salad to balance out all those cocktails and cupcakes. Impressive! Beautiful! Healthy and Hearty!

I’ll give the quantities of the salad components that I used to make two platters. There was another platter identical to the one pictured above. Two large bowls of mixed greens and two dressings, sherry vinaigrette and balsamic vinaigrette were set out alongside the platters. Guests first piled greens on their plates, then picked what they wanted from the platters, and then dressed their salads.

We’ll start at 12 o’clock and go clockwise around the platter…

Build Your Own Nià§oise Salad

• 1 pound haricots verts (French green beans) blanched until tender, drained, and chilled
• 40 jumbo shrimp, boiled in shells, then peeled and chilled
• 2 ripe pears, cored and sliced
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 4 avocado, sliced
• 1 bag (1 pound) Trader Joe’s teeny tiny potatoes, boiled in salted water until tender, drained, then larger ones cut in half, chilled
• 1 pound beef tenderloin, seared and cooked to medium-rare, sliced, and served at room temperature
• 6 eggs, hard-cooked and sliced into wedges
• 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 boneless skinless salmon filet, baked until cooked through then broken into large pieces
• 2 cups arugula
• 2 mango; peeled, pitted, and sliced
• 1 cup Nicoise and other olives, placed in the center of each platter

• 1 large box or 2 large bags of mixed greens
• Balsamic vinaigrette
• Sherry vinaigrette

Arrange all salad components on a large platter and place them next to the large bowls of mixed greens and dressings and invite guests to serve themselves.

Serves 20