Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com
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KELSEY’S TUSCAN KITCHEN WEDDING SHOWER


My good friend Kelsey got married on Kootenay Lake at the end of August, so a couple of weeks before the wedding, the bridal party threw Kelsey a wedding shower inspired by a beautiful Tuscan soirée! Kelsey is half Italian, has traveled to Italy, and really loves good food and wine (let’s be honest — we all really love good food and wine)! Today I’m sharing her shower details; complete with decor inspiration (and lots of sunflowers!), an authentic Italian menu, my White Citrus Sangria recipe, a cute kitchen-themed shower game, and a fun guest favour DIY.


Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Leah (Kelsey’s sister and MOH) hosted us for the party. Kelsey, Leah, Sheryl and I all attended the Alberta College of Art and design, and that’s how we met — we’re all creative types! It was so fun to dream up the vision for Kelsey’s shower with them. Leah came up with the kitchen theme idea, and we all chatted about how we could make the shower really represent Kelsey. We went with a Tuscan Kitchen theme, and the bridal party brainstormed about ideas. We decided on a classic Italian look and feel — red checkered table cloths, cream linens (that Leah actually picked up at a market in Florence), sunflowers, and vintage kitchen items to plate authentic Italian tapas.

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Working with a colour palette of red, cream, yellow and green with gold accents, I put together a little mood board outlining the details we had discussed, and sourced some vintage kitchen props.

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Then, it was time to talk about the menu! We all shared in food and drink prep — Leah made a batch of my White Citrus Sangria, fresh lemonade and prosciutto wrapped melon balls. She ordered a delicious meat cheese and olive platter, Italian cookies and the best tiramisu I’ve ever tasted — all from Lina’s Italian Market here in Calgary.

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

I made bocconcini skewers and brought over baguettes with oil and vinegar (a girl dinner staple), and Marlo picked up some olives and made her authentic bruschetta recipe. It was definitely a major feast — and we were planning on a ‘light lunch’. A lot of Kelsey’s friends and colleagues work in the food and events industry, so it’s easy to get a bit carried away! There were about 15 of us, and we actually did pretty well on that spread!

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Our friend Kate (who we also met at ACAD) is an awesome hand-letterer, so she did the chalk artwork for the sign. I made a little template for Kate to refer to, using Kelsey’s wedding invite fonts (which Kelsey designed herself), because we’re total design nerds! Kate translated it to the chalk board (which Sheryl sourced). We’re a good team like that!

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Sheryl and I put together some sunflower arrangements with lots of greenery and orchids. The sunflowers are from a local grocery store — they were in season. Sheryl’s a wedding planner, so she was able to source some beautiful accent flowers and greenery for us.

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.comKelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.comKelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

For games, we wanted to keep it simple and classy. So, Leah made a Recipe for a Happy Marriage mason jar, and each guest wrote a little piece of advice for Kelsey and Frank. Those little notes are something Kelsey will always have as a memory of her wedding shower.

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Then Kelsey opened gifts — a lot of which were food and drink related!

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com


FAVOURS

DIY Wooden Utensil Favour

We kept it simple but personal for guest favours too. I originally got the idea to paint wooden kitchen utensils from this pin, and thought we could easily use that as inspiration for a kitchen-themed favour. There were 5 of us working on them (thanks Leah, Sheryl, Kate and Elise for your awesome crafting skills!) and it took us about 3 hours to make 20 spoons, with the exception of the final varnish.

DIY Wooden Utensil Favour // JustineCelina.com

We decided on red for the handles, and then a simple “Kelsey {heart} Frank” for the hand lettering in white. Again, we referenced Kelsey’s wedding invites for typography. Here’s a breakdown of how we made them!

DIY Wooden Utensil Favour // JustineCelina.com

Materials

• Wooden utensils — we bought ours at Home Sense, in packs of 5
• Painters tape
• Red and white acrylic paint (or whatever palette you’re working with)
• Wide paint brushes (for painting the handle)
• Thin paint brushes (for the hand lettering)
• Matte or semi gloss varnish (to seal the paint)

DIY Wooden Utensil Favour // JustineCelina.com

Directions

1. Tape the utensil handles off where you want the painted section to end. Consider how long the words are that you’ll be painting on the handle to make sure you’ll have enough room.

2. Paint the utensil handle down to the tape with your coloured acrylic paint. We needed 2 coats for a fully opaque layer.  Allow enough time for the paint to completely dry between layers.

3. Once the paint is fully dry, start on the hand lettering, using the white paint. It’s easiest when you can reference a specific font. Kate did the first spoon (she had Kelsey’s wedding invite pulled up on her phone to reference), and then Sheryl and I used her spoons as a template (even though ours weren’t as good, haha!).

DIY Wooden Utensil Favour // JustineCelina.com

4. Once the hand lettering is fully dry, paint a thin coat of varnish over top to seal the paint in. We waited overnight, and Leah sealed the utensils the next day just to be safe. We wanted guests to actually be able to use these, so the varnish protects the paint from wear and chipping.

5. This is optional, but Kelsey designed a custom stamp for her wedding, so we borrowed it to make little tags. First we cut square pieces of construction paper, then coated her stamp in gold metallic ink and stamped the paper. Then, we hole punched a corner of the tag, strung twine through the tag and hole in the top of the spoon, and tied it off. This was a little nod to her nautical wedding theme. 🙂

DIY Wooden Utensil Favour // JustineCelina.com


Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

It was such a fun day, full of awesome company that to came together to celebrate Kelsey! It was so nice to finally meet all the ladies in person that Kelsey has talked about over the years.

Kelsey's Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower // JustineCelina.com

Here we all are — the bride and the bridal party (minus Frank’s sister, Juliana, who lives in the Maritimes). We missed you, Juliana! Left to right, top to bottom: Marlo, Leah, me, Kelsey, Sheryl. 


Are you planning a wedding shower for a friend, or looking for inspiration? I’m definitely not an expert, but if you have any questions about Kelsey’s shower or favours, leave them for me in the comments!


Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored, and contains my genuine thoughts, ideas and recommendations.

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6 Comments

  • Reply SOBER SEPTEMBER – Justine Celina October 7, 2015 at 7:26 pm

    […] wine-filled) week in the Kootenays for Kelsey’s wedding in late August (read about her Tuscan Kitchen Themed Wedding Shower if you’re interested) and I came home feeling run down and burnt out — with a mountain […]

  • Reply Kelly B. October 22, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    WOW, what an absolutely lovely shower for a lovely lady! I loved this post. Thank you for sharing your creativity, passion and amazing styling for the shower.

    • Reply Justine October 22, 2015 at 12:39 pm

      Hey Kelly, thanks for the comment and the kind words! This was so much fun to dream up with our friends. It was a beautiful day, and so ‘Kelsey’! 🙂

  • Reply DIY | MISTLETOE-INSPIRED WINE CHARMS - Justine Celina December 30, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    […] DIY | Personalized Wooden Kitchen Utensil Favour […]

  • Reply DIY | DISTRESSED BOYFRIEND JEANS - Justine Celina March 13, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    […] Personalized Wooden Kitchen Utensil Party Favours […]

  • Reply AL FRESCO SUMMER DINING INSPIRATION - Justine Celina July 29, 2016 at 10:30 am

    […] Kelsey’s Tuscan Kitchen Wedding Shower […]

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