The Game (and some pictures!)

To give you an idea of what I walked into, here are two pictures of everyone waiting for my big entrance. Every person pictured here has a camera (obviously including the person taking the picture, Mrs. Zaccarelli). There were even more people behind her standing waiting with cameras as well. It was insanity!!


This is me walking in holding my parents anniversary card in my hand. It is estimated about 438 pictures were taken in the seconds following my entrance.
Below you can see one of the gorgeous fireplaces at The Newtown Grill. These combined with the candle centerpieces, decorative plates and various vases gave the room a cozy feel.

Not only did this cake taste unbelievable, look at it!! It's absolutely gorgeous. Above it you can see one of the candle centerpieces my Mom made and the favors framing the cake were care of Bridesmaids Mrs. Smith and Melissa.

From the left, Mrs. Smith, Melissa, myself, and M.O.H. Nicole.

A close-up of the favors...I LOVED them!!! Bryan's first question when I got home: "Why does everyone use that picture?" I think it's kinda funny that despite there being essentially no overlap in planning our engagement party and this shower (I don't think...), our engagement party cake had the same picture on it!

I personally like this picture. It was taken in

Asheville on November 8 after we got engaged.

I really liked everything about having a party thrown for me. I got to sit at the front of the room while opening presents that were exactly what we wanted while drinking wine!!! You can't have a better Sunday afternoon than that!!

Here I am posing with one of my place settings. There are alot of pictures of me posing with the 16-inch platter and opening the settings, but I figured I'd spare everyone. If the people demand it, though, I could do an entire blog devoted to fine china!!!

This is the base of the beautiful toasting flutes Bridesmaids Mrs. Smith and Melissa had made for us.

For those that are friendly with our registries, you may be thinking, "But you registered for toasting flutes at Macy's and this has since been fulfilled (meaning someone has purchased them). Whatever will you do?"

The answer is easy: We can toast with both sets!!! There is a Best Man toast and a Maid of Honor toast.

I know it's tradition for the Mother of the Bride to give her daughter some naughty gifts, but my Mom giving me a pink tutu (among other more traditional-looking lingerie) threw me off. I'm sure Bryan will appreciate it, regardless, especially since the bra and undies that come with it are kinda hot.

Here is Aunt Claire tying me into this massive hat made of the bows from the gifts we were given.

Come on, I look kinda cute in it. It's a good look for me. Maybe I can wear it with the tutu??

I also focused on not letting this white wine go to waste. It was hard to multi-task between opening gifts and drinking! I hope I did a good job!

Now we get to The Game. Here was the basic premise: Each guest at the shower received an envelope. Inside the envelope was a card and a lottery ticket. Each card contained a question about Bryan (and his answer to the question included). We went around the room and each guest asked the question in her card. If I got the question correct, I won the lottery ticket. If I got the question wrong, the guest got to keep the ticket.


Here's where trouble begins. The first question: "What is Bryan's favorite dessert?" My answer: "Bryan doesn't eat dessert." Bryan answered, "Ma's cheesecake." The reason I have a problem with this one is that Ma's cheesecake is only available to Bryan on Thanksgiving and Christmas. But, ok, whatever, I'll let that one slide...

One of the other questions at the first table: "What is Bryan's favorite movie?" My answer: "Star Wars" Bryan's answer: "Fight Club or Rounders" Seriously??? I love Rounders, but it would never occur to me that that would make the top of someone's (anyone's!) Favorite Movie list. Fight Club...yeah, I would've guessed that second, but ok, fine. I'm only slightly irritated at this point.

"What is Bryan's favorite candy?" Me: "Well, Bryan doesn't eat candy, but he obviously answered that dessert question!!! So I guess I should think of something!" Mrs. Zaccarelli: "No, he doesn't eat candy!" So one point for me.

Some of the questions were easy: "What is Bryan's favorite football team" (Green Bay Packers) "What is Bryan's favorite sport to play" (Soccer) "What is Bryan's favorite TV station?" (ESPN) "How does Bryan like his steak cooked" (Medium Rare) "How many kids does Bryan want?" (3 boys)

Then there was: "What is Bryan's favorite restaurant?" Me: "Well, we really don't eat at the same place again and again..." (In my head I was thinking, Mellow Mushroom? Raging Burrito?) The answer: "Duff's" Ok, now I'm pissed. That's in BUFFALO!!!!

"Who are Bryan's two favorite female celebrities?" Easy, I know this one: Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. No, "Megan Fox and Jennifer Aniston". WHAT??? When did Bryan develop a thing for Megan Fox? Don't get me wrong, I would fully support it. But I didn't know he was done with Reese?! Weird....

The questions go on to suggest that I ultimately know nothing about Bryan. His favorite color is Blue?? Really?? His favorite food is Sushi?? (Seriously, over chicken wings??) HOW DOES HE LIKE HIS EGGS COOKED?? My answer: Scrambled with hash browns, pepperoni, and cheese. This is how Bryan eats his eggs EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. There is slight room for variation in the meat - sometimes it's ham, sometimes it's bacon, but ALWAYS this way. He answered: "With hot sauce". That is not a way to have your eggs cooked, that is a condiment he puts on his eggs after the fact. Oh, this game made me so mad!!!

You have to know, as soon I got home, I proceeded to ask Bryan the majority of these questions again.

Me: "Bryan, what's your favorite color?"

Bryan: "That's a dumb question...what'd you say, green?"

Me: "Of course I said green, our WEDDING IS GREEN"

Bryan: "Well, what'd I answer?"

Me: "BLUE"

Bryan: "Well, I have a blue car"

Me: "Bryan, what is your favorite movie?"

Bryan: "Well, there are so many...what'd you say?"

Me: "Star Wars!"

Bryan: "Yes, great answer!!"

Me: "NO, YOU ANSWERED FIGHT CLUB AND ROUNDERS"

Bryan: "Oh, well I should've said Star Wars"

Me: "Honey, what is your favorite food?"

Bryan: "I don't know, what'd you say, chicken wings?"

Me: "I'm not talking to you anymore"

Needless to say, this continued throughout the night with Bryan saying he didn't have answers for most of the questions and that my mother incessantly called him for answers so he had to make stuff up. The funny thing is he knew how I'd answer the questions!!! Awesome. My head was going to explode over made-up answers.

In the end, I managed 14 out of 31 correct answers. I have scratched off 7 lottery tickets and won $6. But, it was $6 more than I had Sunday morning, so I can't complain.

Ok, so enough about Bryan not knowing his own favorite color and me being a bad fiancee because I don't know his shoe size.

One of the last pictures of the day is the family portrait you see to your left. My Dad and brother came back at the end of the shower to help carry gifts out to the cars and ultimately to pile them into my parents family room where they will stay until I drive up to get them (nice strategizing on my Mom's part - anything to get me to come home again!)

Needless to say, I am planning a visit as soon as next month because, let's face it, I am going to miss my China!