Rustic Safari Shower - Planning and Invitations

After yesterday's post about the time I [felt like I] was fired from planning a baby shower, I've decided to take you through the process of pulling this event together for both the chronological and emotional reasons.  Some will leave with a timeline for planning an event of this nature, others may learn how to enjoy this process of planning an event when it doesn't come naturally, and then there are the ones who will just learn more about me and mine.  Whatever the case, stay tuned!

The Venue.

I should've known when my mom, the super planner, agreed to host the shower, we would be in for some order in the planning committee.  When I say order, I'm talking teleconference lines, meeting minutes and task lists disseminated for all attendees.  Mama does not play!  During our first call, my mom informed everyone, based on her market research, the best option for our venue was the area Ruritan Club.

It was less than 10 minutes from the guests-of-honor's home, included tables, white folding chairs, a fully-functional kitchen, large windows, an affordable all-day rental fee and use of the entire facility.  Mom put the deposit down on the space and reserved our date.  We conducted a venue walk through and came up with a layout.

The date.

Ryan scheduled August 22nd as the date for her shower and she offered her grandparents' farm as the venue.  The moms agreed to the date and location BUT if we were going to surprise them and find a space available in the area (with air conditioning and protection from the sun because, well, pregnant people don't do well in the heat!), we'd need to be flexible with the date.  Ironically, the ONLY date available was August 1st... so, it wouldn't be hosted on her date OR at her selected venue.  Hello, surprise!  Well, that was easy.

The theme.

Ryan was planning a rustic safari nursery in neutral tones.  We decided to go with that theme and to see what we had in our homes that would work for fabulous decor.  For colors, we decided to keep it neutral - brown, tan and white.

The Inspiration board.

I pulled together an inspiration board for the event so we could all work from the same color palette and idea.

A table runner using kraft paper with a variety of jars filled with white flowers.  Burlap, poms, simple banners throughout... this was going to be a bright, rustic and chic event.

The Invitation.

I designed the invitations and I love how they turned out!  Invitations set the tone for the event and they build excitement and anticipation.  I wanted everyone to get as excited as we were so, I started with this design:

"A TOP SECRET safari mission! A fun trip ahead!  The Tillman party of 2 will now be 3 instead!"

I also designed tags to hang on the front.  Each invite had a small tag with one of the safari animals pictured above.  One side of the tag had RSVP and registry information while the other had a reminder NOT to spoil the surprise.

I used Vistaprint to upload my design and print but guess what!  Vistaprint didn't charge for double-sided invitation printing!  So, I threw together a quick back design to serve as ANOTHER reminder NOT to spill the beans.

They arrived in no time and I spent hours putting them together for mailing.  They were worth every glue burn too!

With all of the reminders, guests were sure not to say anything to the guests of honor.  Now, all we had to do was devise the secret safari plan...