A wedding is coming… in 5 months! While there’s still a good amount of time until the big day, Mike and I flew from Hong Kong back to New York City in October and wanted to use the visit to celebrate our upcoming wedding with our closest family and friends (on our 7 year anniversary, no less!). Rather than having a boring bridal shower, we decided to do it in the spirit of our favorite TV show, Game of Thrones. It’s only fitting since my last name is Balisi – #KhaleesiBalisi for life! My sister/maid of honor pulled out all the stops in planning the most epic wedding shower ever complete with an incredible themed dessert table, decor, dragon claw goblets, handmade dragon egg candle favors, and an unreal custom illustration of Mike and I on the Iron Throne with our goldendoodle Crosby. All Mike and I had to do was show up dressed up as Daenerys and Jon Snow.
Before I go on, I have to thank all of our amazing vendors who made this possible!
- Photographer & Videographer: Dream But Don’t Sleep (If you’re planning to share this, please credit them for all photos!)
- Venue: Kolo Klub, Hoboken, NJ
- Dessert table: Jamm Events
- Dragon’s Egg Cookies: MADE by Wendy
- Custom illustration (which was an amazing surprise gift from my sister!): LKQ Art
The whole thing started with the invitation by AiramDesigns complete with a House of Crosby sigil illustrated by Dani.
On the day of the actual wedding shower, guests arrived in furs like Northmen and medieval costumes. Kolo Klub ended up being a perfect venue thanks to its rustic interiors, and they served a royal feast of delicious penne alla vodka, short rib mac & cheese, eggplant parmesan, lemon breaded chicken, and kale caesar salad. We also had a signature “Red Witch’s brew” which was a version of red sangria. I definitely recommend this venue if you’re planning an event around NYC, as it was also super easy to get to from Port Authority in Midtown Manhattan.
Without a doubt, the biggest impact maker in our wedding shower was the dessert table by Jamm Events. The creativity, level of detail, and deliciousness of the sweets was next level! I included close-ups of all of the desserts at the end of this post, from Sansa’s lemon cakes to Fire and Ice cupcakes. Book her for your next event!
In true khaleesi fashion, we had dragon eggs all over the shower, first in the handmade candles that my sister made as favors. My fellow Instagram friend Wendy Kou also made incredible giant dragon egg cookies stuffed with peanut butter that were beautiful and delicious. She has a cookbook coming out for her giant cookies, and you can also do custom orders from her business MADE by Wendy!
Throughout the wedding shower, guests could write letters to the bride and groom and even put a wax seal stamped with a sigil on it.
There were also a number of games played during the party, with scratch-off lottery cards as prizes to whoever had the most points for each game. We tried to give them Game of Thrones names, like “You know nothing,” our name for who knows the bride best.
“Pay your debts” was our name for “Bring me” where guests had to find and bring the requested item (like a pen or Metrocard) to the bride, and the first person to bring it was rewarded with a gold coin to accumulate for points. To make everyone run, I moved around the room as the game progressed (or in one case was picked up by Mike and carried around the room). The final “item” was to bring me Mike.
We also played He Said, She Said (which we also called “You know nothing,” because really, know one knew anything haha). Everyone wrote down whether they thought the bride or groom would say a given phrase (like “I’m a better driver” or “I’m more forgetful”), and we held up the sword or dragon back to back based on who was most likely to say the phrase.
“Where are my dragons” was a game of hot potato with a stuffed animal dragon, and the final game involved guessing how old I was in various photos from infancy on.
While the Game of Thrones theme made our wedding shower that much more fun and memorable, the best part was simply being able to see our close friends and family all together before the wedding. I have so much to share as I continue planning my wedding with The Knot, so stay tuned! I’ll leave you with some more amazing photos by the team from Dream But Don’t Sleep.
