A Purely Beautiful All-White Bridal Shower for Darcy Miller

Jennifer Miller Symonds hosted a white-themed tea party for her sister and guests at her apartment. The decorations, food, and favors were all inspired by her light, white apartment and its airy, open-sky vistas -- the windows were framed for the occasion with fragile white sweet peas lined up on the sills.

Here, the buffet is watched over by a white heart flanked by the first initials of the bride- and groom-to-be. They were created from paper roses glued onto foam board. The white finger food includes sandwiches, heart-shaped cheeses, iced cookies, candied grapes, meringues, and dragees.

Sweet peas in white mini vases line the windowsill. Later, they will serve as party favors for guests.

A jubilant symphony of pale crudites, including cauliflower, white asparagus, endive, and celery, is arranged in a triangular dish.

Darcy, center, with her mother, Madge, and her sister Jenny Miller Symonds, the host.

Heart-shaped petits fours are decorated with Darcy's and Andy's initials. "It was a way of making it more special for Darcy," says Jenny of the many personal touches.

A compote was filled with small cards bearing events and dates to be scheduled in the year ahead. Each guest selected a card and wrote her own name on the one she had chosen. Then all the cards were put into a scrapbook that became a monthly calendar of events, as well as a permanent reminder of who attended the shower. The plans include meeting Darcy for ice cream or a night at the movies.

Calla lilies arranged in a fourteen-inch glass vase are a serenely elegant decoration for the shower, enhancing the airy feeling.

Darcy with Martha Stewart Weddings colleague Rebecca Thuss, who helped Jenny with the shower.

Playing off pale and pastel in glass dishes, candied green grapes and cakes sprinkled with confectioners' sugar in a two-tier stand sit on the buffet table.

The shower guests put as much ingenuity into the all-white wrappings of the packages as into choosing the gifts inside: White satin ribbons, gilded lettering, and pen-and-ink illustrations of the future bride are subtle touches.

Scoops of coconut sorbet are served in paper cups with silver demitasse spoons. White paper strips, notched at both ends, are rubber-stamped "D & A" and laid between the cups and saucers.

Flags announcing "I do!" are a whimsical touch on the straws served with the tall glasses of iced lemonade.

A miniature white-chocolate cake, in a white box with a handmade "D," cut out from ivory paper, on the lid, is presented to each guest at the shower.

The four-tier cake with Spanish-style flourishes of buttercream is topped with a glass compote filled with the promise cards for the year book. A satin ribbon is tied around the pedestal.

A flurry of sweets in white dishes includes (clockwise from top left) white chocolate candy, white rocky candy, truffles, chocolate-filled heart-shape dragees, marshmallows, and candied coconut.

Here, guests look on as Darcy Miller opens her presents, all of them wrapped in white, at her teatime shower held in her sister Jenny's apartment in New York City.