Modern Baby Shower

Lately I've gotten more and more requests for "modern" baby showers. Moms to be are sick of the same baby shower games and typical baby shower decor. I think it makes for a much more memorable and unique shower if you consider the guest of honor's interests and hobbies to use as a basis of the shower's theme and decor.

For my own baby shower when I had my second child, my friends gave me a scrapbooking shower. I really enjoyed making a scrapbook for my first child. But with the demands of motherhood and working I was worried that I wouldn't have time to make a scrapbook for my second child. So having a scrapbooking shower was both unique and very useful. At the shower each guest made a page for my baby's scrapbook so that later all I had to do was add the pictures.

Here is the invitation - baby footprints were used on the front of the invite - and I love the added natural element of raffia to tie it together

When guests arrived, they were able to choose the paper and embellishments to make their pagesHere is a set of finished pages made by one of the guests The cake had the same footprint as the invitationThe decor included colorful spring flowers

And party favors were lotion and lip gloss from Bath and Body WorksMy shower was a great afternoon spent with friends eating and enjoying each other's company while making my baby's scrapbook. Every time I look at her scrapbook I think of the friends and family that made the pages and the great baby shower that I had.

For anyone looking for ideas, here are some great resources for modern baby showers


Hostess with The Mostess has great ideas with instructions on how to recreate the party yourself


Social Couture makes it super easy by providing "party kits" for you to decorate the shower


Swanky Tables blog recently posted a Popsicle Theme party idea that I think would be so much fun for a baby shower - especially during the summer! Check out the post here

I hope this inspires you to think beyond the usual baby bottles and pacifiers next time you're planning a baby shower!

Maui Wedding

Last week a bride contacted me to design a wedding to take place in Maui. The bride's colors are blue, yellow and white. She wants a wedding on the beach with tropical flowers but without too much of a beach theme. Here is the inspiration board I created for this wedding

Sources: top row - brides.com, oli.co.uk, next exit photography

middle row - the knot, wedding style magazine, the knot

bottom row - the knot, monsoon

Vendor Spotlight - Connie Duglin Speciality Linen

Today I am featuring Connie Duglin Speciality Linen & Chair Cover Rental. Rachael Kimbler, the Account Executive for the Atlanta Division has stopped by today to tell us more about Connie Duglin.
Lemiga: How long has Connie Duglin been in business and servicing the Atlanta area?


Rachael: Connie Duglin Specialty Linen has been in business for over 20 years. We have had accounts in the greater Atlanta area and Georgia for many years but just recently established a Georgia Division of the company in January of 2008.



Lemiga: Do you have plans to open an Atlanta showroom?


Rachael: We do plan on opening an Atlanta showroom open to wholesale clients and also to retail clients by appointment-only in the Fall of 2008. The location and exact date is to-be-determined but we look forward to a great place to show off our beautiful linens!


Lemiga: What makes Connie Duglin different from other linen rental companies?


Rachael: We are different from other linen companies in several different areas. We focus 90% of our marketing efforts towards wholesale business and offer many unique services that benefit our business clients. As a business client, you’ll have your own Account Executive who will personally handle all of your orders and account information. For all of our clients, we offer a huge selection of colors and types of linen…everything from your everyday solid linen to high-end specialty linens. We also offer linen appointments for our retail brides. Instead of sending you a few swatches after 2-3 weeks of waiting and then calling in your order to a customer service rep, you can make an appointment with a Linen Representative and choose from all of the swatches available at once. Lastly and most importantly, we offer competitive pricing combined with an straight-forward and easy ordering process!



Lemiga: What types of linen products do you offer?



Rachael: We offer table linens, chair covers, sashes, runners and napkins in everything including solids, imperial stripes, crushed romance or “bichon”, pintuck, and array of sheer overlays. We are bringing on a ton of new fabrics this summer such as bengaline, crinkle taffeta, eyelash pintuck and several new colors in our most popular linens!



Lemiga: Choosing linens can be overwhelming for some people given all the choices and products on the market. Any advice on how to make it easier to decide what type of linen is right for your wedding or event?


Rachael: My advice to brides is to determine your color scheme first. Then when you have your linen appointment, we will only show you the options that will work with your event. Also, come with your budget in mind and communicate that to your linen representative; with so many options in our inventory, we can tailor our linens to fit most budgets! Finally, if you have pictures of your dream wedding or swatches of other colors included in the wedding, those also help to narrow down the options. Linens can make any event pop, so the more information we have the better able we are to help you make the best decision!

Thanks so much Rachael for taking the time out to talk to us about Connie Duglin Speciality Linen and providing some insight on choosing linens for weddings and events.

Connie Duglin will be showcasing all of their newest linen selections at our Open House Soiree on August 24th at The Solarium. So be sure to come out and meet Rachael and to see firsthand the range of linens that Connie Duglin has to offer.

SAVE THE DATE

I am very excited to announce my 2nd Open House Soiree which will take place on Sunday, August 24th, 4:00pm-6:00pm at The Solarium in Decatur.

Last year, I had my 1st Open House at The Chocolate Pink Cafe in Midtown. It was great to meet new people and have a chance to show off my designs.

This year the Soiree is going to be bigger and better in every way. First, The Atlantan Brides magazine has signed on to be the media sponsor and will be doing a fabulous giveaway!

Second, in addition to being treated to live entertainment, appetizers, and getting great wedding and event decor ideas with my creative table displays, this year all of my talented event partners will be there to meet you in person!

So far the list of vendors include:

Media Sponsor - The Atlantan Brides Magazine

Invitation Design - Socially Write

Linens - Connie Duglin Speciality Linen

Photography - Altmix Photography

Photography - Sky + Carla Photographers

Caterer - Tucker's Catering

Event Draping - Atlanta Drape & Event Design

Videography - CMV Productions

Lighting Design - Active Production & Design, Inc.

Photobooth - WOW Photobooth

Floral Design - Flora Design Studio

Mobile Spa - The Spa Flow

Bakery - Sugarplum Visions

Entertainment - Avalanche Entertainment

I will be posting all the event details very soon - and you can also check out the June issue of The Atlantan Brides magazine in the calendar of events section.

Over the next couple of months I will be doing a blog spotlight of all the wonderful vendors who will be at the Soiree so you can get to know them a little before you meet them in person at the event. And I hope to see all of you there!

Graduation Reception

Last week I did a graduation reception following a high school graduation ceremony. Luckily, we were able to use a room in the school building which was both economical and convenient for all the guests. The school colors were black, red and gold and I used the same colors in the decor.I covered clear vases in gold fabric and used red carnations to top them off. Next to the flower arrangements I framed old photographs of the graduate as a little girl which was fun for the guests to look at as they sat at the tables. The food, provided by Tucker's Catering, included honey pecan chicken, marinara meatballsrolls and pasta salad. It was the perfect comfort food after sitting through the graduation ceremony.The guest book featured more pictures of the graduate through the years with room for guests to leave her a message.And the delicious and beautiful cake provided by Sugarplum Visions, featured an edible image of the graduateSugarplum Visions even included a graduation cap mini cake with a matching gold tassel.

Vegas Birthday Part 3 - Birthday Dinner

The final event of the Vegas weekend was a birthday dinner in a private room at Roy's Restaurant. Pictures are once again from Jackson Photography.The colors of the night were purple and gray. Socially Write designed the place cards and menu cards in coordinating colors.The table had a dramatic centerpiece with rectangle cylinders holding purple flowers and crystal strands hanging from a silver satin ribbon wrapped pole.The birthday cake from Layers Bakery was 3 tiers consisting of cookies and cream, strawberry, and lemon. It tasted even better than it looked! The candlelight made the room sparkle in a magical way. It was a very special evening and turned out even better than I had planned!I want to thank all of my great vendors who helped to make my birthday in Vegas one that I will never forget!

Photography - Jackson Photography
Florist - The Palette
Personal Assistant - An Immaculate Touch

Vegas Birthday Part 2 - Girls Night Out

Jackson Photography did a great job once again capturing the Girls Night Out. The night started with a cocktail party in my hotel suite at the Signature at MGM Grand.Here is a picture I took of my hotel suite before I transformed the room into a modern glam cocktail party. And here is the suite transformed.The colors of the party were black and yellow, with a white and black damask pattern. As the girls entered the hotel suite they saw martini glasses with personalized drink tags and inside the glasses were the party favors - a tin of lemon drop cocktail jelly beans, lemon lip gloss, and a yellow and black bead bracelet. After the girls took their party favors out of the glasses, we served lemon drop martinis in them. As part of the decor I had a damask print board with pictures over the last 30 years. We munched on appetizers And lemon and chocolate cupcakes that I imported from of course my favorite bakery in the whole world Sugarplum Visions
And even the toilet paper matched!!!! How excited was I when I found damask print toilet paper! And here we are in the hotel lobby before we went out and danced the night away.

Vegas Birthday Part 1 - Welcome Brunch

If you guys remember from my previous post, I spent my 30th birthday in Las Vegas with friends for a weekend. I just got my pictures from Jackson Photography and wanted to share with you. I had three events - a welcome brunch, girls night out and birthday dinner. I'm going to split them up into 3 posts. I'll start first with the Welcome Champagne Brunch at Hash House A Go Go.For the decor, I was going for a modern casino feel. The restaurant had long stainless steel tables and I put a black table runner down the center and had cylinder vases with red gerbera daisies swirled on black wire and in between the vases white carnation squares with black carnations mixed in to look almost like flower dice.The menu cards were made by my invitation designer Socially Write. It was a Z fold out card.(Note the next 3 pictures are mine and not the photographer's). So when guests folded out the menu card it looked like this. The top part listed the menu items. And the bottom part was a thank you note from me with the party favor - a $5 casino chip for the MGM Grand where we were staying at. Many of the guests did not know each other before the trip. So to avoid awkward moments of silence, I did an ice breaker game that we played before the food arrived. I had a custom cootie catcher made by Caroline's Fortunehearts. She included my birthday monogram on the outside and on the inside I had fun questions and conversation starters like - when was your first kiss?, what was the worse thing you did as a child?, etc. Everyone had fun playing it and we got to learn fun tidbits about each other.And of course in true Hash House form, the food was gigantic and delicious!