Micah Ryan Designs

‘Once Upon a Time’

Last weekend I had the honor of hosting my little sister’s bridal shower. My sister loves all things fiction, vintage, and “cottage core”. She attends renaissance fairs and her favorite books are period romances.

She also has a preference for colorful decor with “moody vibes”. I had no idea how I was going to marry all of these preferences into one theme; but I was determined to make this beautiful and unique to her.

I searched many different combinations in order to inspire the vision for this shower. These included “book bridal shower, book theme party, enchanted forest bridal shower, enchanted forest theme, wildflower bridal shower, etc.”

After taking screenshots of everything that inspired me, I started to merge the themes into one. I landed on a book-themed shower, that would feel like you were walking into the fairly tale/enchanted forest. This would also allow for a tie in of wildflowers (her preferred choice of flower).

I broke down the party into 4 elements and started planning each:

  1. The Entry
  2. The Food Table
  3. The Gift Area
  4. The Guest Tables

For the entry I decided to create an open book backdrop that would welcome you ‘inside the book’. I purchased an 8 X 10 cloth book backdrop from Amazon, and after much trial and error, finally came up with a solution to make it look like it was an open book (the following photo was my test run prior to the bridal shower). I HIGHLY recommend doing at least one trial run of this backdrop prior to your event.

My final solution was to use the backdrop frame I owned and rig it up in a unique way to create an angle instead of connecting them straight together. The backdrop frame comes with 2 vertical poles that have “stands” at the bottom. It also comes with 2 horizontal poles that screw into the vertical poles and connect to each other to create the long straight back line to hang the backdrop on. So I rigged this up exactly as you normally would, but did NOT connect the 2 horizontal poles. I left the 2 horizontal poles fully extended, but connected only to their respective vertical poles and NOT to the other horizontal pole.

I then took my backdrop, folded down about 1.5 inches of the fabric at the very top, and safety pined the fold at the edge. Imagine the hole that you stick a curtain rod through on a curtain- in essence I used safety pins to turn the backdrop into a ‘curtain’.

I thin slid the backdrop onto the horizontal poles- which, fully extended, each reached exactly to the middle of the backdrop. I secured the backdrop to the horizontal poles only on the far left and right (edges of the backdrop NOT the middle), and then secured it to the vertical poles as far down as I was able to secure it before the tripod style stand begins.

From there I added firewood to weigh down the vertical poles- the whole thing falls over if it is not weighted well, and the firewood fit the enchanted forest theme. I set the vertical poles where I wanted them prior to weighing them down. Next I got an 8 ft pole and placed it behind the backdrop where the bridge of the book would be. I placed the 2 horizontal poles (open ends) on top of the 8 ft pole that was standing straight up at the bridge. This holds secure by tension between the poles, so I’d shift any pole that felt loose, and balance it on the other poles until the tension caused all of them to be secure on each other. Most of the security comes from the placement of the 2 horizontal poles, as they are the only thing holding up the straight pole in the middle.

I topped this off by adding long faux foliage garland to the top of each “page”, secured to the poles behind the backdrop with zip ties, then secured to the top along the backdrop with safety pins.

In the middle of the open book on a set of tiered tables I placed the guestbook (which was a circular ‘shadow box’ of a tree, when signed wooden hearts are dropped, it looks like the leaves on the tree) and instructions to the “ring hunt” game. Final touches sharpies, foliage, and faux flowers.

“Ingredients” to a ’Once Upon a Time′ Entryway:

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After being greeted by the backdrop and guestbook our guests would settle into one of 5 tables that were designed to feel like a fairytale.

To create this design I first laid on each an ivory linen tablecloth with tassels and an emerald cheesecloth table runner.

On each runner I placed 6 books along it (one alone, then 2 stacked, then one alone, then 2 stacked). I then put moss on along the entirety of the runner and on top of the books.

Note on the moss! I ordered 3lbs of moss condensed from Amazon. I started prepping it 1 week early. I soaked each brick in warm water, drained, and then set out in the sun to dry. Once dry I put it all in a box to transport- but you have to prep this part early if you get your moss in a condensed form.

The above shows one block before and after soaking in warm water for 2-5 minutes.

The above shows half of the moss used, drying, 1.5lbs. I ultimately ended up bringing this all outside into the sun (but it was raining this first day when I started).

One the moss was on place along the runner I placed gold candlestick holders and candles, lanterns, wood tealight candle holders and tealights, glass flower votive holders with tealights, small butterflies, small flowers, and paper book page hearts.

I also stuck a couple of loose book pages under the moss just enough that you could see the pages peaking under.

The final touches to the guest tables were rose gold disposable plates, gold disposable plasticware, green napkins, and 3 more bridal shower games placed at each and every setting.

“Ingredients” to a ’Once Upon a Time′ Guest Table:

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The next element for this event was the food table. While searching for my inspiration, I found something I’d never seen before- an arch that attached to the table! This was perfect for adding additional foliage and flower elements to the design.

I purchased an emerald tablecloth for the table and used the remaining moss and flower buds to cover the entirety.

I used a gold table arch and secured it to the 8 ft table, and zip tied foliage draping across the entire frame. I then added various flowers to the top by zip tying flora foam to any bare spots, and assembling flowers in the foam. I then stuck flowers directly into the foliage all across the remainder of the length of the frame.

To the far left I displayed homemade chocolate chip cookies on wood slabs, beautiful cookies designed by the talented cookie artist, and my personal friend, Caseyjo_Cookies, on a 4 tier dessert display, and a 2 tier cake on a raised wooden cake stand.

I ordered a custom cake topper and the bride and groom’s initials “H & T” and placed it on the bottom tier of the cake.

The cake was a cake ordered from Walmart Bakery and was a very cost effective option for a beautiful, colorful, detailed and delicious cake.

The shower was at 2pm, so no one would be expecting a full meal. We opted to have individual charcuterie boxes and trail mix glasses created for the event, which we stacked on the food table for the attendees.

Lastly we served tea and I added a framed glass sign that read “Once Upon a Time” to the right against the window with foliage on either side.

“Ingredients” to a ’Once Upon a Time′ Food Table:

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The final touch of any bridal shower, and decorations, is the gifts! I wanted the backdrop of my sister opening gifts to be beautiful- after all, this shower is all about her!

I wanted the decorations for this area to give her a special moment of attention, all eyes on the bride and a scene for the photos of the moment. So I landed on the primary backdrop to be 2 partial arches that I’d use together behind her.

I assembled and decorated the arches prior to the party so I could just throw them in my car and bring them right in, ready to go, day of.

These arches are great because you can assemble them a couple ways and the options to decorate are endless. I ultimately decided to opt for the asymmetric assembly and decorate using the same style garland as I used on the backdrop. I secured them with zip ties, then zip tied more flora foam to the tops and assembled some flowers into the foam.

I set these arches up behind a white bench for the bride to open her gifts.

For the gift table, placed to the side, I used a tablecloth matching those on the guest tables, ivory linen tablecloth with tassels. And the gift area is as simple as that!

“Ingredients” to a ’Once Upon a Time′ Gift Area:

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For the finishing touch we played instrumental music during the shower and shoutout to the real party MVP- hiding all the boxes and trash inside a closed kitchen!

At the end of the shower I transported the two arches from the gift area, and placed them on either side of the entryway book backdrop to create the perfect area for the bride to take photos with her family and friends to remember forever those who celebrated with her.

Thank you for joining me for this ‘story hour’! I hope elements from this shower inspire your own event.

… And they Lived Happily Ever After!

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