aria's Surprise Shower was held on February 24, 2001. Read Maria's account of the day and see some pictures below:

had my Surprise Shower on February 24^th and IT WAS AMAZING!!! I was completely surprised and felt wonderfully loved by my family and friends.

was completely clueless about all the planning going on - I mean I was even at the store with my mom and my friend Julie when they were buying ribbons and flowers for the favors for the shower - AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE...

he plan for the day of my shower was to go to lunch with friends who were visiting from Connecticut with their son - now these were plans that were made for weeks so I really thought nothing of it - but thankfully they were visiting because my friend Meggie is always 'dressed' even when she isn't that I got up early to get ready and actually do something with my hair - so I managed to look somewhat put together - like a normal person...(Kenny's job was to get me to leave the house in sweatpants and my Scooby Doo sweatshirt - needless to say he failed) Grant it I had already picked out my "shower outfit' because I was certain I would be able to figure out when it was going to be but alas I was caught in Jeans and a black sweater and never did get to wear the 'shower outfit'.

o our friends arrived early and we sat down to some chit-chat, coffee and cake. About a half hour after eating Kenny says let's go to lunch (and all I thought was this man has a bottomless pit for a stomach). Meanwhile Meggie and I were playing with my headpiece and veil and I was in the middle of showing her all the wedding stuffs tht I wasn't interested in leaving for lunch (yes I managed to arrive late to my own shower).

o we were off to lunch in separate cars - a notion that didn't phase me considering they had the car seat for their son and we don't have one - so they were following us to lunch. THIS is when Kenny tells me where he wants to go for lunch - and I explode. I start to argue with him because I couldn't believe that he picked such a pricey place for lunch and we have a wedding to pay for and what was he thinking and who did he think we were - the Rockefellers?!?! So you can just imagine the earful I was lashing out to him (did I mention that I am not very calm lately, and seem to overreact at the drop of a pin?)

nd so here we arrive and he stops at the entrance parking lot and he tells me to get out of the car - and I was livid - HE HAS NEVER IN HIS LIFE DONE THAT....OOOHHH THE FLAMES THAT WERE ESCAPING MY HEAD!

o there I am with Meggie and smiley because I didn't want her to know I was angry - (her hubby dropped her off too) and we are waiting like dopes for our men. So we proceed to walk in the front door - or rather what we thought was the front door of the restaurant (the restaurant is a renovated Victorian house with offices on the main floor and the restaurant is out back and below).

o as we are walking to the right entrance, I see my junior bridesmaid's head pop up in the window - and I turn to Kenny and ask what she was doing there - and he was like how should he know? And so I began to wonder what the heck was going on - I walk into the restaurant and it is very quiet - just like restaurants are at the beginning of the lunch hour and am greeted with a huge SURPRISE - and surprised I was! And I started to cry - firstly because of what a beautiful set-up everything was but mostly because of the people who actually came to celebrate - I started to feel like I was truly a bride! AND THE PILE OF PRESENTS - I WAS COMPLETELY DUMBFOUNDED - SPEECHLESS - IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. We made out like bandits - receiving almost EVERYTHING from our registries - and some gifts are still coming in the door!

he girls had made these gorgeous tea cup and saucer favors with Jordan almonds and herbal teas wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon (the tea cups were my favorite Royal Daulton casual diningware) the tables had mini porcelain vases with gorgeous purple tulips (courtesy of my flower girl!) and balloons everywhere! The food was yummy - chicken in a marinara sauce, with potatoes - and the dessert just the same - Kenny's family provided the cake from Mother Mousse on Staten Island - chocolate Cappucino - very yummy and I don't even like cake!

s I was opening our gifts - many commented on whether the shower was for me or Kenny considering many of our gifts were of the kitchen variety - and needless to say Kenny was very happy with many of our gifts - especially the Ice Cream Maker (which has provided us more ice cream than is really necessary in one household!)

nd so this is the story of my shower - and now for the thank you's.... If you made it this far thanks for reading!