My youngest daughter is getting married in September, so I recently hosted a wedding shower for her and her fiance. Fiance didn’t really want to come. My daughter told him he had to, though. lol So I endeavored to make the shower as guy friendly as I could so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, and would have a good time.
We are in Kentucky, and fiance is from Tennessee. So I came up with the “Kentucky meets Tennessee” wedding shower theme. Once I had the idea, everything else fell into place.
I had my husband draw out a big K, T, and the word meets on poster board. I colored them with markers, and cut them out. We hung them on the focal wall with a poster of one of their engagement pictures that I had made. The poster looks crooked in the picture for some reason, but was not crooked in real life. lol
I put two gift tables on the focal wall. Covering one with a Kentucky tablecloth, and the other with a Tennessee table cloth. My daughter decorated the chairs with blue and orange tablecloths.
I also used blue and orange tablecloths on the tables.
Since I was trying to keep all the decorations guy friendly, I used these blue and orange sprays that I got for $1.25 each. I mixed the colors ups to keep it a little festive.
I served guy friendly food in the kitchen of the hall, using blue and orange paper products and utensils. I forgot to take a picture of the food! I served hot dogs, hot dog chili that I made, along with cheese, onions, ketchup, mustard, and relish. I had corn chips for those that didn’t want a hot dog, so they could put the chili and cheese on those. I also served nacho chips, the ones in the red bag, because those are a favorite of fiance.
I set up the dessert table on the wall to the right of the gift table. My daughter hung some or their engagement pictures on the wall above. I used blue and orange plates & utensils, Kentucky napkins & Tennessee napkins.
I made the “Kentucky meets Tennessee” cake myself. I used boxed mixes, chocolate & yellow side by side, and made the frosting myself. Except the black. That is from a tube. Because black frosting is really hard to make.
I orded 3 dozen cookies from a local person. I had 1 1/2 dozen in the shape of the state of Tennessee that said “TN Boy”.
And 1 1/2 dozen in the shape of the state of Kentucky that said “KY girl”. Unfortunately, the baker didn’t have time to do the writing. She did send along an edible marker. After I asked for frosting to do the writing myself. My husband did the writing on all the cookies. They looked ok. Not nearly as nice as the would have if the writing was in frosting, though. I was a little upset. As the baker still charged me full price. Didn’t even offer any kind of discount or anything. Offering a discount of even a dollar or two a dozen would have gone a long way. I probably won’t use this baker again. Unfortunately.
For a little decoration on the dessert table, we used a stuffed Tennessee dog and a stuffed Kentucky Wildcat. We had them hold the opposite color balloon, and they looked really cute.
On the wall to the left of the focal wall, I put all the drinks. My daughter hung more engagement pictures. Yes, they took a ton! Water bottles, Ale81 (a soda made in Kentucky), and Dr. Pepper, the fiance’s favorite soda. My daughter brought the 2 liter bottles of soda. I also served lemonade and sweet tea. Which is iced tea with too much sugar in it. lol
In keeping with the Kentucky meets Tennessee theme, I labeled the drinks. The lemonade became “Kentucky Moonshine”. And the sweet tea became “Tennessee Fire Ball”. No alcohol in either drink, just the names. lol
I tried to keep the games guy friendly, too. So no clothespin or safety pin games. So I came up with 2 word games. Not as guy friendly as a ball game, but not too bad. lol I came up with 20 words that had to do with the bride & groom, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I used an online word scrambler to do the scrambling. So I didn’t scramble my brain. lol For the other game, I asked them a list of questions, then used their answers to form 20 questions about them. Guests had to answer Abby, Austin, or Both.
Everyone had a great time! Including the fiance! So this unique wedding shower was a hit!
You can take this idea and make it work for any opposite sports teams, color schemes, or to combine the bride and grooms interest into one shower. This idea would also work for combined birthday parties for kids. The decorations, food, and games are all easily customize to your event.
Don’t forget to pin this post for later!
Vickie@Vickie's Kitchen and Garden says
What a great idea LInda. Everything looks so cute and perfect, right down to the cookies!
Vickie@Vickie’s Kitchen and Garden recently posted..Proven Winners Direct: Review and Giveaway of “At Last” Roses!
Linda @ Linda's Lunacy says
Thanks, Vickie!
Linda Manns Linneman says
What a great idea. So cute. I love this idea. Thank you for sharing
Kristin C says
What a fun idea – having lived in both states, I know how intense a rivalry that can be.