Carol’s Bridal Shower

This past weekend I had the honor of decorating for my former roommate’s bridal shower.  I worked closely with her bridesmaids who asked me to create a theme involving books and coffee to represent the bride and groom.  The bride is an avid reader who majored in poetry and worked in publishing. The groom, who roasts his own coffee beans, owns a coffee shop (the Coffee Foundry) in the West Village and has a passion for perfecting his brew.  So it was so perfect to combine books and coffee into a shower theme, especially since books and coffee naturally pair together perfectly!  What a great analogy for how well Carol and Wilson compliment one another =)

Back when I was planning my own wedding, I came across many book themed weddings on the blogs I read.  Most used beautifully bound vintage books. But as much as I would have loved to use real vintage books, it can be quite expensive buying enough to decorate for an entire event. So we decided to wrap any hard cover books with decorative handmade paper (in the wedding colors) and brown paper.  I’m kind of obsessed with brown paper btw. Its cheap and it feels beautifully earthy and natural. I love it so much that I used it for my own wedding invitations.

Take a look at the final result.  Another thing that really added to the vintage feeling are the decorative lines drawn on the spines of the paper covers.  I think we replicated the vintage library look pretty decently.

"C" for Carol. This was the main centerpiece at the food table.

Many of the snacks and desserts were provided by the Coffee Foundry

This was a second centerpiece we used on a coffee table where people sat

The books were paired with jars full of coffee beans, iluminated with tea lights.

Sharpie marker decorated each book spine