Surprise Bridal Shower #FredNMimiSayIDo

In all the wedding planning, one thing that wasn’t on my list of things to do or plan was a bridal shower. It had never even crossed my mind to have one. I look back now and don’t know how it never came up in conversation with Fred.

What did come up in conversation was having lunch with a couple from church. It was something that was planned on a day when we had a lot of stuff going on. Fred was supposed to have gone to a concert with his daughter in the afternoon, but it was canceled. I was supposed to go to a baseball game, but the time was changed and I knew I’d have to miss it.

So, the day came. We dropped the youngest off at baseball, and headed over to hang out with the couple from church. You know what’s funny? Since the boys and I moved to the East coast, this is the only couple we’ve ever done anything with, and that was over a year ago. They had gone over to Fred’s to have dinner with us. Now we were visiting them in their new house!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and they are living on the Chesapeake Bay. As in RIGHT on it! The drive to their house on the dirt road was gorgeous. We were a couple of minutes late because of baseball, and all I wanted to do was walk around the property and go look at the water.

Gail wasn’t in the mood for dilly dallying so she marched us straight up to the house and asked her hubby to get changed for our meal. She opened the door, but because it was so bright out, her house was almost pitch black to me. I could see the silhouette of someone towards the back of the living room, and figured another couple was joining us. Hey, the more the merrier, and I was ready for more friends.


It took a second for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I saw a table with food spread all over it and a room full of women! I think they all yelled, “surprise!” but truly, those first few minutes are a blur. I remember feeling Fred push me into the house, or maybe it was Gail guiding me in, and I heard him say something like, “Have fun, I’ll see you later.”

I felt terrible because he didn’t know what was going on, and he wasn’t getting the lunch he was expecting to have. I also started bawling. I was so surprised and overwhelmed by what was happening I couldn’t stop crying. Someone said to me, “this is supposed to be a happy thing,” and the pastor’s wife came over to hug me. What they didn’t realize at first was that it WAS a happy thing. I have felt so alone for such a long time, I never would’ve even  known who to invite to a bridal shower here aside from a few people.



We all started in on the food and it was wonderful. One of the gals who came was Jennifer. She’s the youth pastor’s wife. I’d seen her at the church staff Christmas party, but that’s about it. She made my cupcakes and she’s a blogger at How To Cake That!! You’re going to love her site! Now I totally wish she’d be around to have made my wedding cake, but we already knew she would be out of town. Glad I was blessed by her coming to the shower and making the cupcakes. I know I want to use her again in the future!



Most of the women there I hadn’t talked to more than in passing and even one gal came who I’d only seen in passing. They all talked about various things, and it was fantastic! I have to say I just loved sitting around hearing the women gab. It was water to my thirsty soul!



THEN, they put me on the hot seat. I mean, literally made me move to a chair where everyone could stare at me as I opened cards and gifts. I’m not one who likes that kind of attention. I would’ve been perfectly fine sitting on the couch with the other ladies around me. Oh well.

 

I received amazing gifts! I got a crock pot, a blender, several gift cards including Starbucks, Home Depot, Home Goods and Visa, cash, a candle, a check to put towards whatever I wanted (the mission trip), and a certificate to a vintage store! I was overwhelmed. Here are these women, who barely know me or have known me for a very short period of time, and they showered me with these gifts and sweet kindness.

 

For the record, Fred wasn’t ever straight up told there was a surprise bridal shower happening. Gail hinted at something going on, but she never came out and told him. She knew that he’d say something. Turned out he almost blew it once because we knew we needed to leave the “couple’s lunch” by 3:15 because my oldest son needed to go to work. He said Gail would be done with me by 2pm, but he totally covered it, and I didn’t give it a second thought.
 
And, as you can see, I wasn’t prepared for a bridal shower. I hadn’t taken a shower that morning or put on makeup. lol I have to say, I’m glad I put on a decent shirt. HA! I was ready to hang out with another couple, not go to a party.



I truly was blessed. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been completely lonely and felt supremely isolated. If you have, then you’ll understand how meaningful this was to me. To all of the ladies who came, I want to say, “Thank you!” 99% of the time I’m the surpriser. It was great to be the surprisee for a change!

Do you like to surprise loved ones with a party?