When Vlad and I got married, I didn’t want an engagement party, bridal shower or bachelorette party. We had our wedding, and it was stunning, but I’m someone who likes to celebrate others and doesn’t love being the center of attention. But when I found out I was pregnant, I was excited to have a baby shower. I wanted to celebrate our baby with my friends and family, and I looked forward to it. We first thought we’d have our shower in Florida because that’s where I was supposed to be, but being in NYC, I had a venue in mind that I always loved, and I was pretty excited about having my shower in NYC at one of my favorite places.
We had a brunch this past Saturday, October 1st, at the Gramercy Park Hotel Terrace. The Terrace used to have a restaurant that I discovered when we first moved to NYC over 6 years ago, and it ended up being one of my go-to spots. Now the Terrace is only used for private parties, and it is the perfect backdrop for any event. It was one of those magical moments where I went back to see the space, was set on it and they had the area I wanted on the weekend I wanted. It was meant to be, truly.
I have to talk about the flowers also, because I’m such a flower lover and getting flowers in NYC with only two weeks notice for an event is pretty tricky. Adore Floral NYC is a shop that I have used many times over the years to buy arrangements as thank yous and gifts, so when I reached out to them and they were excited to work with us, it was a perfect match! I didn’t want to go overboard with pink; I wanted the vibe to be very pretty and soft, with a palette of pale pinks, blush, peach and white, and Adore Floral NYC was able to create a dream world for our tables and venue. I can’t name every flower in the arrangements, but after I gave them the color palette I was looking for, the designers put together the most gorgeous centerpieces and flowers took over the entire area to make it come to life. They also added the flowers to my cake (which, by the way, was delicious: light and tasty lemon cake with vanilla whipped cream and fresh berries). Seriously, I can’t speak highly enough about this flower shop; if you are in NYC and want flowers or need to send flowers to someone in NYC, check them out.
As for the party itself, it felt somewhat like a mini wedding; there was a ton of planning and buildup, and then, before I knew it, the shower was over. We were so lucky to have friends from all over join us, and even many of my Florida friends made the journey up to NYC! I saw an idea of having books that guests can sign to leave well-wishes for the baby, so you have a little book collection to start her off. I was set on having this at the shower, so we had it set up when guests arrived and now we have 25 books with personalized notes for Baby D!
Brunch was one great course after the next, and after that, we gathered to open gifts. I won’t deny that I loved opening gifts for the baby; it is so fun, and I feel like a tad less gratuitous than opening gifts intended for you (or maybe I just want to feel that way)! Thankfully, my friends told me my running commentary was hilarious, but honestly it’s hard to come up with what to say with that many gifts without repeating yourself. This baby is one lucky little girl, and she was given some of the most adorable outfits and accessories. (She even got a little Ferragamo backpack–I mean, come on!) I laughed so hard, because I told everyone she is starting off with a better wardrobe than me. (I still have a far superior handbag collection, obviously!) We had everyone play bingo while I opened gifts, which included a bunch of presents everyone could win, and that made it more fun than just watching me open gifts.
This was the shower of my dreams, and I am still on Cloud 9 from it. I was exhausted afterward and had to lay in bed, order room service and watch TV until the next day. I found out last week my iron levels are low, so the Dr. has me on iron pills, and I think they are helping but this final stretch of the pregnancy has definitely been harder on me than the beginning! Hope you all enjoy the shower pictures; I wanted to share them because it was such a fun day and meant so much to me to have everyone there to celebrate this little girl.
♥ Megs
