NHIE Bridal Shower

Yes, you read that correctly. We here at NHIE Tampa Bay, THREW A SURPRISE BRIDAL SHOWER! As crazy as it sounds, we recently teamed up with some awesome, local brands to help pull off a unique and fun surprise bridal shower for our close friend who lives in Tampa Bay and it was a huge success.

For starters, we needed to find a space. Knowing we wanted something unique (because we have to be different), we went on a hunt for the perfect spot. After one drive down Howard, we spotted, Bumble Tampa, a local girl’s boutique located between Bella’s Italian Cafe and London Philips. We were intrigued and pleasantly surprised when we walked in to meet owner, Stephanie.

We immediately fell in love with the unique spot and cute decor. It is girly, but not foofy, and has the perfect flair we wanted for the shower. We chatted a bit with Stephanie about our idea and she was immediately on board. In the coming weeks, we threw around ideas and put together some really fun things for the party.

Cue Glitz Events Tampa, a local wedding and events planning business, who jumped on board to help with event planning! This was the fun part. We knew we had our florist, Florist Fire, locked down. She did such a BOMB job at our recent engagement, that we HAD TO have her back to make this event extra special. We also knew that the bride to be would love to have her favorite local eatery, Green Lemon, on board for food. We reached out and that was that! We then reached out to our favorite local bakery, SweetTooth Cakery, to help provide engagement ring cookies (that were delicious!).

Next up, we needed decor. We searched pinterest for “bar” ideas and decided on a Mimosa Bar and two Sangrias, white and red. In addition, Onli Beverages, provided some non-alcoholic drinks to sip on in the form of their fun, sparkling sodas made right here in Florida! They added an extra pop of color and tasted great too! Flair Exchange provided some fun decor items that were made here locally to pull our vision together. Buccaneer Party Rental provided the folding chairs at a very reasonable cost and we were on our way to pulling it all together.

Now, the hard part….PULLING IT ALL OFF! In the days leading up to the party, we did a final walk through of the space, discussed the set up and rearrangement of the boutique, met with the vendors, and brought it all together. We bought some frames and printed some pics of the fam and the happy couple to add our personal touch to the space and put together cute favors with help from a ring pop and wedding gift boxes shaped like a bride’s dress.

The day came and everyone pitched in to make things work seamlessly. With all of the help from the girls at Glitz helping with day of setup, it was easy for us to pull everything together. The weather was gorgeous and the space worked out wonderfully. We set our Spotify Playlist created just for the party and waited.

The bride pulled into an empty lot (since we had the party on a Sunday thanks to Stephanie at Bumble when all other shops in the lot are closed) to see all of her “Tampa Family” waiting to celebrate her upcoming nuptials. It was an awesome time. We even set up a photobooth in the dressing room of the shop and had a station for guests to share date ideas with the happy couple (thanks Pinterest and Glitz for making this work so effortlessly).

We enjoyed mimosas and sangria while chowing down on Green Lemon brunch and sharing our stories of the soon to be bride and groom. We played some games, opened gifts, and enjoyed a champagne toast courtesy of momma of the bride. All in all, it was a great day and wonderful celebration of love for our favorite Tampa bride to be. If you are looking for local vendors to help with making your upcoming event something EXTRA special, definitely reach out to the girls we worked with around town. We couldn’t have done it without them!

-Nicholas