Baby Caroline's BaByQ!

This past Saturday 40 of our friends and family gathered together on the most gorgeous spring day to celebrate baby Caroline. I still haven't quite come down from the high we experienced and feel so overwhelmed with love that my heart could burst! It meant the world to us to have so many people travel near and far to spend such a special day with us and we truly feel blessed to know how loved Caroline already is! 

For weeks leading up to the party a committee of amazing girlfriends worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this day unbelievably special. Meeting weekly to craft, design and plan out all of the details of our perfect day, the girls did such a good job keeping everything a secret. Knowing how deeply involved Matt has been during this pregnancy (from picking out nursery curtains to having an opinion on every registry item) we knew we wanted the shower to be co-ed so he could attend as well as his friends and our dads too!  

On the morning of the party my mom, sister and I got mani/pedis at Polished Nail Bar, followed by blow outs at Blo Blow Dry Bar for our last girls day together before Caroline arrives! The weather was unbelievably gorgeous - 100% sunshine and 72 degrees! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to be outside. When we arrived to Kristen's house I immediately got teary-eyed as I walked around admiring all of the details of our party.

 Guests had the opportunity to write little notes on diapers for Matt and I to read when we're up late at night changing baby Caroline. It was so fun to come home and read all the diaper messages.

The sweet tea and lemonade bar was absolutely perfect for the party! And please take note of the cutest whiskey barrel (filled with vodka) that Kristen found at Pottery Barn {here}.

 You may recall that one of the first clues that led Matt and I to suspect I was pregnant was my intense BBQ craving {post here}, so of course the party theme was "BaByQ" and the food was catered from Mac's Speedshop, my favorite BBQ restaurant!

Mel rolled 200 pigs in a blanket for the party. Is she a good friend, or what? And how perfect is the pig tray? Kristen purchased it from Pottery Barn {here}.

Decorated with pictures of our most special pregnancy moments, Caroline's monogram and a custom "gifts" onesie, the gift table was absolutely adorable and we were thankful to receive our entire Pottery Barn registry and some of our larger items (stroller, pack n' play, monitor, rock n' play sleeper, etc.)!

To maximize our time with everyone at the party, guests were asked to bring their gift unwrapped for a "display shower" so we wouldn't waste any precious moments opening presents. I loved this and so did our guests!

Tags were provided for guests to pin to their gift so we knew who gave us each present.

We got so many amazing books too. But the funniest, most inappropriate book we received...

In lieu of cheesy baby shower games there were lawn games and a fun scratch off for guests.

The scratch off winner, Bobby, won a large baby bottle filled with peeps! Hilarious.

{Kristen's fur babies - Marlowe & Millie}

The dessert table was one of my favorite surprises of all. There were adorable pink pig cake pops, chocolate dipped marshmallows, a variety of bite sized cakes/bars, custom m&ms and my favorite, an ice cream bar with toppings!!!

The shower favors were also pretty dang awesome. Guests got to take home a bottle of "Sweet Baby C's" barbeque sauce and lots of candy!

On to the fun party pictures...

My beautiful hostesses {minus two of my besties that couldn't make the shower}! I am forever grateful for these ladies and their friendship!

 {our family}

{other bumps at the party!}

{April & Laura - blog friends turned real friends!}

 {Blog husbands turned real friends}

 {my lil seester}

Best day ever! I also owe a huge thank you to our wedding vendor turned friend, Amanda with Isabel's Corner, for capturing our special day!