Saturday was the big day here for the engagement partyfor my gorgeous daughter and her handsome fiancé!
After a week of preppingwith fingers crossed for a rainless nightthings went off beautifully without a hitch!
Every great party here always starts off with a beautiful invite.
I am a believer in invites you can touch and holdTo me there is a magical party spell cast with a proper invite!
Ellis and I found these in La Jolla at the Kate Spade store.They started out as New Year's cardsbut with an embellished sticker and gold penthey turned personal for the occasion.
Ellis's background in graphic design was put to use for the stylish insides!
These invites really had me with the beautifully dots sprinkled inside as well as a lined envelopewith a gray trimmed outside.It's details like these that make my heart sing!
I started off my holiday paper whitesthe day after Halloween.With the heat we have had herethey were ready for the party!
When my husband brought home the giant poinsettiahe receives each year from one of his vendorsI knew it would be a perfect backdrop for the table!
I start pulling together pieces days before a partyto make sure I have everything I need before hand.I never want to feel undone with last minute scrambles.I start at least a week ahead with a planned daily schedule of what needs to be accomplished.
This time I needed to buy a few more glasses to have enough for everyone.I found what I needed to add to my glasses from Ikeaat the flea market.
When I pulled them all together on mirrored traysthey looked much more impressive in massbut I still wasn't quite satisfied.
I decided my naked glasses needed a little accessorizing of their own.So with a quick trip to the craft store forsome earring hoops, gems and red jingle bellsperfect wine charms were added for a festive dash jingle!
With the table coming along nicelyI set off to dress the rest of the room.
Our chalkboard above the mantle was the perfect placeto write out a party message!
I simply copied the font from the invites that Ellis madeand custom art work was created in a flash!
With the party to take place in our backyardI moved our large farm table against the wallto create space for the bar andample room for traffic flow.
I used our dining chairs outside for extra seating.
Since the party was a cocktail partyI made sure to have lots of champagne on ice!the addition of this large bowl was the anchor for the tableboth for aesthetics as well as usefulness.
I dressed the table with textiles from Anthropologieedged them with kraft paper bannersand finally garnished the table with Christmas greens.
Ellis and I were absolutely tickled with the Engagement cake!Having been inspired from our Pinterest boardswe ordered a diner cake from the grocery bakery.I specified no frosting trim with clean sidesfor the three layer cake.
W thene topped the cake with some vintage findsa few cinnamon sticks a snowfall of powdered sugara ring of fresh cranberriesandVoilathe cake we had imagined came to life!
And all for under 15 dollars!
Since the party had no staffthe bar was set up serve yourself style.
I made sure to welcome and serve each guest upon arrivalthen had everything at the ready for refills.
I had pulled out everything else that would be needed for the party food and cake onto the table as wellso everything was always at the ready.
With the inside all ready to goit was on to the backyard!
After a rainy weekwe were blessed with the most perfect party weather.
One of the big hits of the partywas the photo booth we created on the back deck.
Jeff made an 8x8ft framethat we draped with a drop cloth then added a sparky table clothandgeometric garland both from Target.
I dressed all my tables in the backyard as well.
For almost instant holiday decorationI used greens all the way down both sides of my custom candle holder.
I sprinkled some more greens on the sitting area tables as wellso that all the spaces felt addressed.
When the backyard was doneall that was left was to get dressed for the party!
Then it was party time to celebrate the engagementof this fabulous couple!
A signature champagne cocktailmade with pomegranate juice, Saint Germaine and a garnish of pomegranate seedsonly needed to have the chilled champagne addedwhen guest arrived!
After dinnersparklers were handed out to all of the guestsfor a toast to the engaged couple!
Then it was time for cake!
With plenty of time left to play in the photo booth!
We ordered a huge ballon from Geronimoand
made the tassels ourselves from a Christmas garlandto finish the look!
The photo booth ended up to be just as entertaining as it was useful for great picture backdrops!
I think I might have one every party now!
I want to say a huge thank you to Jarrett Thomas(the handsome husband of the maid of honor)for the fabulous night shots of the party!I will be ever gratefulfor the wonderful captures on such an important nightfor family and friends!
Ellis is the baker in the familyand made gingerbread cookiestied with twine and jinglesfor everyone to take home!
Wishing my darling daughter and her wonderful fiancéso much love as they begin their journey towards wedded happiness!
As always my friends
I wish you love and joyas you style your life