Kamryn's 1st Birthday

A few weeks ago we celebrated my baby Kamryn's 1st Birthday with cupcakes and play time at Collins Hill Park. All pictures are courtesy of Photography by R. Harrington. Here is a board that sums up the day. I picked Collins Hill Park because the pavilion overlooks a beautiful lake. Luckily we had no rain but the wind did unfortunately interfere with some of my decor plans. But the kids had a great time running and playing in the sunshine, and at the end of the day that is what was most important.
The colors of the party were pink and green with polka dots. I have never been a fan of carnations but now I'm really starting to like them. They are extremely cheap and when you put a bunch together they really look nice.

I made a collage of pictures from Kamryn's 1st year to display at the party. It's always amazing to see how much a baby changes over the course of a year.

The kids had fun making birthday cards for Kamryn
while the adults wrote messages of their hopes and wishes for Kamryn to read when she is older There were a wide range of ages of the kids that attended, so I had toys that would be appropriate for everyone. For the youngest ones I put down pink blankets with big green pillows. I ordered play balls from Whimsy Wendy that were made from fabric in the party's coordinating colors.
There was a playground for the older kids and I also had Frisbees and pogo sticks
And popular for kids of all ages - a bubble machine!
I ordered pinwheels in coordinating paper from Crossroads Cottage. The smaller ones were used in the cupcakes.The big pinwheels were used to mark the path along the party area. But the kids loved them so before long they started playing with them.


Party favors were mini chocolate bars with custom labels that I ordered from Wrap It Up. They even did the label in a matching green and pink polka dot. I did a cupcake tower which makes it sooo easy to serve kids without having to worry about cutting cake.
I ordered the "k" cake topper from Shea Chic Designs. She did a custom design for me and even used the same polka dot fabric that I used for the table runner. I love the idea of continuing to use this cake topper for my girls birthday cakes over the years.


My cupcakes were from my favorite bakery Sugar Plum Visions. They even included a free smash cake for Kamryn.
And boy did she enjoy it!

OUT OF TOWN BOXES

For my birthday weekend in Las Vegas I had friends and family travel from all over the country to join me. As a welcome gift for my guests I ordered out of town boxes from a great company called Swell Sweets. Because I was traveling from out of state, it would have been a huge hassle to try to transport items for the boxes with me. I loved working with Swell Sweets because they did a free quote with custom designs, offered a wide range of products for inside the box within the budget that I specified, and they shipped everything for me directly to Las Vegas.

Here are the first designs they gave me to choose from ranging in price $8-10:


And here is my final box design

The price of the box also included two custom water bottle labels and two pieces of personalized stationary. I decided to not do the custom water bottle labels, but I did use the two pieces of personalized stationary to print a welcome note and a weekend itinerary to go inside the box.

Everyone at Swell Sweets were pleasant and easy to work with. They answered all me emails in a timely manner. And everything arrived to my destination on time and in order. My final box design and all items inside cost $8.50 per box, which actually came out cheaper than if I would had bought everything individually especially once you add in the two pieces of personalized stationary. I will definitely be using this company again for future events and clients.

Here are some pictures of the final boxes in my hotel room

Included in my boxes were chips, Oreo cookies, Las Vegas mint tins, rice krispy treats, chocolate playing cards, peanuts, and a "hangover packet" with Tylenol and Alka-Seltzer.

And as an extra item I added in two mini bottles of liquor.

Here are my two pieces of personalized stationary - a welcome note and weekend itinerary with my birthday logo

MY BIRTHDAY SNEAK PEEK

We had a great time in Las Vegas for my birthday. Once I get the final images from my photographer I'll post all the details. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek of some of the images from Jackson Photography:


The Brunch at Hash House

A view from my hotel the Signature at MGM Grand

My birthday dinner at Roy's

YELLOW & LIME

This is an inspiration board I created for a wedding I'm coordinating in July. The bride chose the colors yellow and lime. This is an unusual combination but together looks so modern and elegant at the same time.

One of my favorite vendors to work with is my invitation designer Julie at Socially Write. When we get together we have so much fun playing with paper and ribbon and she always takes my vision and ideas and turn them into something spectacular.

These are the samples she created for this yellow and lime wedding and I just had to share them. Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them justice.

Here is the program and the invitation. The backing of the program is the same paisley print card stock that is used in the invitation.

Here is a close up of the invitation. I love the way the soft yellow ribbon accents the lime paisley print.And here is the inside of the invitation.

More Bridal Party Cookies

One of my new wedding clients loved the cookies that I did for a previous client asking her friends to be apart of her bridal party. So, we ordered a batch from Sugarplum Visions and customized them to match the wedding colors of blue and white. I love the big poof skirts and the blue and white are such classic colors together.

Here is the cookie for the flower girl.
In the box and ready to be finished with ribbon.
And here they are ready to be mailed!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Today is my 30th birthday! So, what does an event planner do for her birthday? How about a weekend in Vegas with friends. But of course it can't just be any kind of weekend in Vegas. Oh no, it's going to be a weekend extravaganza complete with a Champagne Brunch, Girls Night Out, and a private Birthday Dinner. I'll share pictures when I return, but in the meantime here are a few of the inspiration boards for the party decor:




GIRLS NIGHT OUT COCKTAIL PARTY

Photo credits: Yellow Shoes, Damask Fabric, Black Dress, Yellow Purse, Decor Photos from the knot

BIRTHDAY DINNER

Photo credits: Cake, Fabric, Flowers, Ribbon, Decor Photos, Purple fower bouquet, Purple Shoes, Silver Table, Purple Rhinestone Button, Purple flowers on table

EASTER

Unfortunately, my Easter event scheduled for next week has been canceled. I'm very disappointed because I had some great creative ideas for both the adults and kids. But these things happen. So I thought I would post the inspiration boards I designed for the events to give you some Easter inspiration.

This is the board for the buffet decor - robin's egg blue, brown, and white is the color scheme. The eggs nest brings in an element of spring. Photos from Pink Box Cake, the knot, Midori Ribbon, PresentPast Collection, Matthew Mead

And here is the inspiration board for the party decor - spring colors of pink, purple, and green. To me Easter means bright colors and beautiful flowers after a dreary winter.
Photos from Midori Ribbon, Brides.com The Knot, PresentPast Collection

Masquerade Party

I'm working on a big Easter event that's coming up in a few weeks. I can't wait to show you all the decor ideas I have for this event. In the meantime, I thought I would do a post on a 30th Birthday Masquerade surprise party that I did a while ago. I posted a few images in my Welcome post, but I wanted to show you more details on this fun birthday event.

The surprise party was held at Paschal's restaurant in Castleberry Hill - http://www.paschalsrestaurant.com/castleberryhill.htm - they have a great private space.

All photos are courtesy of the wonderful team at Blue World Studios - http://blueworldstudios.com/

The colors of the party were a dramatic red, gold and black.


In the reception area guests were greeted with a fruit display

and of course masks for the masquerade

The ballroom was set up with tables covered in gold organza linens


For the guest tables we alternated 3 different centerpieces:

A glass bowl with floating red orchids and a candle

A circular vase with red roses and votive candles
And for drama, a tall vase with floating gold spheres topped with an arrangement of red roses and black feathers

The cake table was equally dramatic with a centerpiece of red flower balls on branches

And the birthday cake - a masquerade mask to go with the theme
The table for the birthday girl and her close family was draped in red pintuck linen and at the last minute my florist (Angie at Birch Blooms http://birchblooms.com/) draped extra flowers in gold satin for the birthday table
I love this close up of a candle centerpiece on the birthday table - it almost looks as though the candle is floating on top of the red rose
As a surprise for the guests and to get the dancing started after dinner, we had Brazilian dancers perform

A great time was had by all!