I know many brides aren't fans of "non-registry" gifts. After spending hours adding and editing multiple registries and picking out exactly what you want, it can be hard to add something that may not fit your style into the mix. I've always gotten gifts from the registry, with the exception of additional gifts. Like something fun in addition to the registry item. Like a cousin registered for popcorn bowls, so I also included some movie items like a "Father of the Bride" dvd, popcorn, and movie passes for a date night.
Our house isn't huge, so I was hoping that most people would follow the registry since we spent so much time choosing everything. We don't have a lot of space, so we had to be real picky about what we added.
Well I was totally surprised when some of my favorite gifts weren't from the registry!
I looked at multiple stores to find a nice trifle bowl, and although I wasn't super in love with the one we registered for, I added it because it was the nicest one we found and Mr. Newport loves trifle, or as he calls it "goop". One guest at the N.J. shower gave us a trifle bowl filled with fun shore themed oven mitts and towels, and a little blue book with a new summer trifle recipe.
Mr. Newport's friend and her mom gave us two huge buckets filled with baking supplies. They gave us everything from the pans, spatulas, cooling racks, mixing bowls, cake carriers, mixes and everything in between. I love to bake and can't wait to use all these fun items! 
Newport Ant and her daughters gave us a grill and all the accessories we'll need to go with it, including fun summer plates and glasses, placemats, bbq sauces, and grill accessories. We are having them over soon for a cookout as a big thank you!
BIL Newport even sent a surprise gift to the Boston Shower, I'm sure Sister Newport picked it out though! He gave us tea cup cupcake holders, which were so adorable and totally fit our theme. Plus everyone who knows me knows how much I love cupcakes and tea, so it was perfect! He also gave us a nautical plate set. I'm in love with them. They remind me of our wedding theme. It's a set of four, which is the perfect amount for dinners with Sister and BIL Newport!
I always felt the need to purchase off the registry, but I realized if you know the couple and what they like, you might make their day by getting them something that is "so them" that's not on the registry. All these fun gifts have me thinking outside the box for future shower gifts!Do you normally shop off the registry? Did you receive any fun non-registry items at your shower?
After chatting with all the guests and a few photo shoots, it was time for the main event.... Opening the gifts. A wedding is one of those times in life when your just so overwhelmed by other's generosity. Between this and our 
I was super careful to not break too many ribbons, because I was told that each ribbon you break means another child. I was also told back in the day everyone used pink or blue ribbon, so if you broke pink it meant you'd get a girl, and if you broke blue you'd get a boy. I broke about 4 at the Jersey shower and I don't think I broke any at the MA shower. Can you guess how many kids I want? :)
The Newport Girls and Newport Mom splurged and got us our entire bed set! We can't wait to re-do our bedroom to match our 
While we opened presents our guests were served cake. Cake was made by 
Practicing for October!
You may have noticed no mention of games in this post. I absolutely love games, Me, Mr. Newport, Sister Newport and BILN have game nights with our friends and I love games in general, but I don't like games that draw attention to me, so you may have noticed there weren't any games at the shore shower and the only "game" played here was the timer game, in which guests receive a gift if the timer goes off while their present is being opened.
And the guests also got bottles of lemonade, which were pretty perfect, since they have a husky them! A fun way to include Sky in the day.
A few weeks ago, the Newport Girls and Newport Mom threw a beautiful shower at the Sherborn Inn in Sherborn, MA. The Newport Girls and Newport Mom filled the shower with a lot of my favorite things; friends, family, tea, chocolate, diy products, and beautiful flowers. 
The room was filled with yellow details. Everything from the linens, the candy bar, the cake, the paper products, the flowers, some of the guests attire and even most of the gifts. Yellow just makes me smile, and I couldn't stop smiling the entire time.
Sister Newport did all the paper products including invitations, table cards, escort cards, and menu cards. She had a friend help with the calligraphy. She found cute teapot and tea cup stamps on etsy, that I may need to borrow in the future!
personal photo
After taking in all the details, I spent some time with the bridesmaids and Mr. Newport and got to take some really fun photos. One of the coolest things they did was hire our wedding photographer, 
The Newport Girl's created a faux-to booth, which is quite popular with the Newport family. We had one at Sister Newport's 
I love the vintage effects Dave created on some of these. It looks like a vintage-y tea party!
I could show a ton more photos, since we did a bit of a photo shoot and there were a ton of fun candid shots, but I'll get back to details in the next post! But I had to end it with this adorable shot of Newport Flower Girl. She loves talking on the phone and it looks like this phone call was important.
Our photographer has been in the business for quite some time and said shooting a bridal shower was a first for him. I think he did a pretty awesome job!
I've never even thought to get the groom a gift, but I think I might do this in the future. It made Mr. Starfish pretty happy!
And since Mr. Newport was the only guy at the shower, which isn't typical near them, FMIL Newport made it special for him by including his favorite beer.
After eating lunch, it was time to open presents. I have been worrying about our showers for the last few weeks. The idea of sitting in the center of a room, opening gifts with all eyes on me was really stressing me out and I was a little more stressed about our Jersey shower, because I had only met a couple of the guests a few times. But, Mr. Newport sat by my side as we started opening gifts. We were sitting pretty close to the tables. About two minutes in, I was having a blast opening gifts. Everyone was talking with us and laughing, it was so much fun. 
We were overwhelmed at the generosity. We got so many of our favorite registry items and some really fun items not on the registry, including a TV!
The cake was amazing! FMIL Newport asked to have starfish on the cake to go with our wedding theme. She picked a cake that was half chocolate and half vanilla. I couldn't decide which I liked more. When we left New Jersey she packed it up for us to bring home, which was really nice, but not good for the wedding diet. I indulged in another slice on our trip home, it was too good to resist.
FMIL Newport picked a beautiful location and had really special touches. My MA bridal shower is hosted by Newport Mom and the Newport Bridesmaids, so it was really sweet of FMIL Newport to plan the New Jersey Shower on her own. I don't know why I was so stressed about the shower in the first place!
