SURPRISE!!

OMG - I had a SURPRISE bridal shower last night!!! I am still in shock!!! It was thrown by J's aunt and my bridesmaid J. Seriously, I have never been so shocked in my life. I totally thought I was just having the one shower at the end of July. Last night was my family shower, all of my aunts and J's aunts and cousins were there, plus my maid of honor K.  

We had been planning (or so I thought) to head up to J's parents house for dinner to celebrate his mom's and brother's birthdays, which were both last week. That was the ruse to get me up there. J even went so far as to stop at the store on the way up and buy them both birthday cards. We pull into his parents driveway and there was a weird car I didn't recognize. I was like "who else came to dinner?" and J's like "hmm I think that's my grandmother's car, I guess my mom invited her too". 

So we walk around to the backyard and SURPRISE!!! All the ladies were standing out back, and the backyard was totally decked out in navy, green and yellow wonderful-ness. They really went all out - they made the cutest centerpieces on all the tables with starfish and adorable little yellow glass candle holders. I never suspected a thing...I guess the key to a good surprise shower is to throw it on a weeknight! 

It was seriously such a shock, but SOOO fun and I totally loved it. I've always had mixed feelings about surprise showers (mainly because I like to have a plan for everything, and a cute outfit!), but it was totally fabulous. The funniest part was when we were driving up there, I actually called my maid of honor and we had like a 20 minute conversation....all the while she's driving up as well, with my mom and aunt in the car with her. 

And I'm SO glad that I did decide to wear a cute outfit last night...at the last minute right before we walked out the door, I threw on a dress instead of the more casual skirt and polo that I had been wearing. 

My bridesmaid J, me and my maid of honor K with my bow bouquet! That's the only picture I have on my camera, but J was taking a bunch and once she sends them to me, I will post more. 

Everyone was SO generous and we got some amazing gifts. Jake about died when he was loading the car at the end of the night. He was like "where are we going to put all of this". Introducing the "wedding closet":

One of the closets in our guest room has officially been taken over by the wedding. This just had a few wedding items in it before (bridesmaids dresses, my wedding shoes, etc.). It's now jammed packed with all our gifts and I'm really not sure if anything else will even fit in there. 

It was such a fun start to my weekend!!! Happy Friday!!