On Sunday, Lu and I had our wedding shower. Before I get into details, I just have to thank my Michigan bridal party crew for planning a wonderful event!

Thanks to Ms. N for sending out the invitations; Ms. L for decorations, games, and favors; Ms. K for hosting, games, and baking her delicious cupcakes (to be featured in the coffee shop that Lu and I plan to open circa 2025); and Ms. P for the ammaaazzing spaghetti she made.

Ms. L and Ms. K -- our hostesses and two amazing friends.

These girls definitely came through for me. If you can't tell by now, I'm a super planner. It was really hard for me to turn over the reins completely, but I really could not have asked for anything more. :-)

So what exactly is a couples shower, and why the heck would anyone want to have one?

A couples shower is a lot like a regular bridal shower -- there's mingling, food, games, and gifts. The only (big) difference is that there are also men.

The old school way of doing a bridal shower was for my 15-50 closest female friends and relatives to come together over punch and cake, make me wear "wedding dresses" made out of toilet paper and "hats" constructed from gift bows, and watch my face as I open the lingerie picked out by my great-aunt.... Can you say awkward?

Since Lu and I do practically everything together, including wedding planning, then we figured a couples shower would be a fun way to celebrate our impending nuptials. (I love that phrase.) Since his parents were in town last weekend, and some of our friends and family in Michigan won't be able to make it to the wedding, then it made it even more convenient to include everyone.

Ms. L and Ms. K picked out some great gender-neutral games to play. For the first game, everyone had to write a six-line poem about Lu and I. The men added an interesting element and there were a good mix of sweet, funny, and semi-but-still-appropriate raunchy verses.  One of the winning poems ended with a verse that was something like, "now that all the plans are made, just a few weeks until the panty raid."

Another highlight was the sweet poem from Jeremy's dad:

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Jeremy loves Ashley,
And his mother and I do, too.

Us with Lu's parents.

For the second game, everyone had to fill out a "love letter" from Lu to me using brand names of household products. Again, some of the guys grumbled about not cleaning and not knowing what to write, but the winner was one of our male friends. Another sign of the times: twenty-something men that live alone actually do clean their houses!

Then we opened some really great gifts. (I kinda want to start using some of them now. Are we allowed?!)

Lu and I opening gifts.

Then we closed the shower playing wedding bingo. The winner was an adorable and super-smart little boy from church, who was really excited. Although the shower was geared toward adults, the kids enjoyed themselves with the games... and the cupcakes.

Gian, our Wedding Bingo winner!

Lu and I had a wonderful time at our couples shower, and I really hope this trend continues to grow.

However, I'm also excited to see what my sisters have in store for my traditional bridal shower in Maryland. Even though regular bridal showers make me a little nervous, I think it's almost a rite of passage to be fussed over as "Ashley, the baby" (I'm 18 years behind my sisters and 23 behind my brother) becomes "Ashley, the bride."

Once again, I left them in total control with only one condition: do not encourage people to buy me panties!