Vanessa Minnillo has "intimate" bridal shower

Vanessa Minnillo has attended an "intimate" bridal shower in anticipation of her forthcoming wedding to fiancé Nick Lachey.

The couple, who announced their engagement in November 2010, recently held a private shower at West Hollywood's London Hotel have decided to throw additional bashes prior to exchanging vows.

Minnillo and 16 of her closest friends joined the actress at her Beverly Hills home on Saturday to mark the occasion with a sit-down dinner, reports US Weekly.

"[Vanessa] gave a speech saying her friends represented the 'United States of Vanessa'. Then she teared up, sharing something about each person," a source told the publication.

Lachey recently confessed that he is "fearful" for his upcoming bachelor party but is looking forward to spending time with old friends.

He has revealed that he feels ready to start a family with Minnillo and would like to begin having children in the near future.

Nick Lachey Finally Moves On: Gets Engaged

Nick Lachey, former boy band member and ex-husband of Jessica Simpson, asked his long-time love, Vanessa Minnillo to get married. She accepted and since, has been sporting a pretty sick (meaning beautiful) ring on her all-important finger.

This is seemingly a huge step for Lachey, considering his heartbreak after he and Jessica broke up. Between the two, Nick has been more stable in the romance department. While he dated a bevyy of beauties, including maybe Kim Kardashian, he has been with Vanessa pretty steadily.

Jessica, on the other hand has had lots of high-profile “romances,” almost always ending in heartbreak, for her. I don’t know but I think she made a big mistake when she left Nick. He seemed to really love her. Since then, it sees that she has only found guys who wanted to bed her not wed her like Nick did.

Anyhoo, congrats to Nick and Vanessa. Hopefully, Jessica can find a good guy who wants to do right by her and get married. The new guy, the ex-football player, doesn’t look promising considering he just got divorced and none of her friends like him.