Our Gender Reveal
Dress (wearing size medium ) | photos: Summer Simmons Photography
We're having a baby GIRL!! AHHHH! Gosh, it didn't seem real until now and I can't stop imagining our sweet baby girl and what she's going to look and be like. This weekend was everything we could have imagined all thanks to our family, sweet friends, and my friend & photographer/videographer, Summer, who made the reveal happen. I really wanted something laid back and intimate and I couldn't have asked for it go any better!
THE DOCTOR'S VISIT
So, we went to our doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago for our anatomy ultrasound to find out the gender of our baby. We knew we didn't want to know the gender until the reveal, but it was SO hard not to peek! Josh definitely tried.. lol. Our ultrasound tech checked baby's entire body measurements and everything looked great (praise the Lord!) that area she told us to close our eyes. She immediately knew within seconds what baby was and Josh said, "Uh oh! She knew pretty quick.. She must have seen somethin!" ;) He could have sworn he saw a baby boy when he tried to sneak a peek.. he was convinced! But then he realized we really didn't know what we were looking at so we had no idea what baby was going to be. He was huffing and puffing all day wondering "WHY we have to wait 2 more weeks to find out the gender of our BABY?!" I told him it will be welllll worth the wait :) She gave us an envelope with the gender inside and we IMMEDIATELY left the doctor's office to head to lunch and meet Summer so we could get rid of it!
I gave Summer the news and she was in charge of details like ordering what color confetti we needed and having to call the baker to tell them what the gender was for our cake! We had about 2 weeks until we would know the gender and then I would be about 20 weeks by the time the reveal. All of my family kept asking, "How can you wait that long ?! We have have to wait another 2 weeks?!" For some reason, I was never SUPER eager to find out what baby was and I think now I've realized that I am trying to savor EVERY waking moment of this journey and I don't want to rush a thing. It's already flying by so fast!
So, we went on our babymoon in Colorado and had A BLAST (blog post coming soon on that) and when we got back we were excited for the upcoming weekend.
GENDER REVEAL DECOR
For our gender reveal, I really wanted something intimate, simple, and beautiful. I think what made it so special were the family and friends that were there, but we also had so much fun decorating. Majority of our decorations were from Amazon and Etsy! Everything was very easy to set up!
Confetti:
We bought our confetti from two different retailers. The ones I really wanted only had 8 left in stock in each color, so we got those for family that was going to be behind us in photos and ordered more off Amazon for the rest of our friends.
The ones from Etsy performed SO much better than the Amazon ones. They were more dense, brighter, and ALL went off easily. Some people had trouble getting the Amazon ones to go off and some didn't even work. But, I liked that we had two different color pinks! I recommend the Etsy ones over the Amazon ones.
As far as photos/video go, positioning really made it! I wanted to be sure to have my family's reaction in the photos as well as ours so we specifically placed our family behind us. Then, we placed all of our friends to the side of us and in front of us in a U shape so that we could physically SEE their reaction in person. I am so glad we did!!
Balloons:
The balloon arch we had set up was so fun and easy to make! My dad brought an air compressor which made the process SUPER quick.. under 45 minutes! All the reviews said it took over 2 hours to make, so I recommend an air compressor to speed up the process of blowing up the balloons. After the balloons are blown up, the kit comes with a long plastic thing with holes in it that you just stick the ends of the balloons through.. that's it! No glue, no tape. Super easy!
BABY Building Blocks:
These were sooo cute! I loved having these for photos. These were also super affordable and easy to put together, too. All they were were blocks that are sent like gift boxes that you fold and put together and then they have letter stickers you just stick on the front of them. They also came with balloons to put inside! These would be SO cute for a shower! We saved ours for my showers coming up.
The Cake and Cake Topper:
My mother-in-law got our cake from VG's Bakery here in Knoxville! AND one of my sweet followers baked it and decorated it for us and didn't even know until I posted the video of our gender reveal.. how sweet is that?! I went with a super simple and classic white cake with pink icing inside in between the layers (Summer had to call and let them know the gender!) We also topped the cake with a cake topper that says "How We Wonder What You Are" and some baby's breath and greenery we had bought from the grocery store.
Team Boy Team Girl pins:
These were a hit! Everyone loved picking what they thought the gender would be.
Other Details:
We sprinkled blue and pink confetti on the food table. We decided to go with small bites like cheese and fruit, cheese dips, veggies and dip, etc. I think it was perfect for a noon reveal! We also had pitchers of drinks filled with a pink drink and a blue drink for another added touch. And we bought roses, baby's breath, and some eucalyptus from the grocery store.
And that's it y'all! Nothing crazy! It was so simple and beautiful and I couldn't ask for anything more! Special thanks to my sweet in-laws for hosting for us, to my parents and family who came in the night before and helped decorate, and our amazing friends who came and supported us. It truly is the people who made it so special.. I can't help but tear up when I look back at the video and see our people there.
And to our sweet baby girl.. we are SO excited to meet you. Gosh, there is just something about a sweet baby girl.. and I knew in my heart I really really wanted a baby girl. I can't wait to bring her everywhere with me and just have her as my little sidekick and love on her. Josh will also be the sweetest girl daddy.. I truly think he was born to be a dad. I can't wait to see him with our little baby!! I can't help but just thank the Lord every single day for this precious gift. For allowing this sweet baby to grow healthy and strong and for gifting us with parenthood. It's so amazing to think that He is knitting her perfectly together in me and that she is going to be her own little person. I can't wait to feel her, touch her, see her.. ahh! I am just so thankful.