Shannon & Kirk: The Rehearsal Dinner

Hey everyone!

Shannon and Kirk were married Saturday evening in Little Rock, Arkansas, and while the wedding photos are yet to come, we were also brought on board to plan the rehearsal dinner. It turned out absolutely beautifully! Their 60 guests came together in the stunning Ballroom of the Capital Hotel to enjoy a filet dinner, full bar, specialty cocktails, and each others' fabulous company.

One of Shannon's sweet friends was kind enough to email me photos she took from the rehearsal dinner and I'm so excited to show you the details we designed for them! Enjoy...

The soon to be Mr. & Mrs.!

And a quick Instagram photo I snapped of the room after setting up:

Overall, it turned out perfectly! Thank you to Mrs. Hall for bringing us in on the plans for this special rehearsal dinner. And to the Capital Hotel who's impeccable service made us look really good!

Vendor Love
Venue & Catering: The Capital Hotel
Event Design & Florist: Finishing Touch Event Design
Linen & Charger Rentals: Party Time Rentals
Paper Products (escort cards, menu, etc): Molly's Paperie

Delicious Baby Shower!

Sarah, a lifelong friend of my sister, is having a beautiful baby girl this fall! So, of course we had to throw her a fabulous shower to welcome little Adeline in style. Along with a few of Sarah's great friends, we designed a shower based around her favorite food - Ice Cream - which she claims to have eaten every single day of her pregnancy! Needless to say, in Arkansas, in August, when it is 105 degrees outside, Sarah's friends and family were thrilled for this cold treat!

We started with a beautiful invitation...

from zazzle.com

Friends and family were encouraged to leave Sarah advice, on cards we printed to match her invitations...

The cake was designed to look just like Adeline's beautiful bedding...

from Creative Kitchen, Fort Smith, AR

Then we created a fantastic Ice Cream bar complete with homemade ice cream (vanilla and chocolate of course!) and every topping imaginable...

Beautiful mom-to-be Sarah.

And a few of my favorite ice cream bar details...

Guests topped their ice cream with everything from fresh fruit, to hot fudge and caramel, to iced animal crackers and sugar wafers.
And notice the pickles sprinkled throughout as a nod to crazy cravings.

The guest of honor wasn't afraid to dig right in, topping her chocolate ice cream with crushed walnuts, strawberries, and iced animal crackers...

Bottled cokes were displayed on a vintage ice cream parlor chair with paper straws for guests to create coke floats...
Guests also enjoyed delicious strawberry crush with their sweet treats...
The strawberries and cherries were very simply displayed in rows on a beautiful textured paper...
And my favorite touch, the custom striped and argyle paper cups for ice cream...

To make your own, click here and here for templates from Eat Drink Chic.
The "silver look" plastic spoons were purchased from Party City.
And sugar roses from Hobby Lobby dotted the entire display.

Sarah was most definitely showered with gifts this weekend...

Other decor included pink and blue tissue paper poms from etsy.com, a sign above the ice cream bar that read "Adeline Elizabeth's Ice Cream Parlour", and gorgeous lush pink flower arrangements displayed in ice cream dishes and pitchers to complete the design.
Flowers used: pink and blush peonies, pink tipped roses, pale pink lisianthus, pink roses, and a few fillers.

It was a beautiful shower, with amazing friends and family. We're so happy for Sarah and Nathan and the start of their new family. Congratulations again. We cannot wait to meet Miss Adeline Elizabeth!

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Lydia and Joshua are turning 3! And to celebrate, we threw an amazing Where the Wild Things Are party based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

To keep the party from being cheesy, we gathered inspiration from the book rather than taking everything directly from it. To accomplish this, we used a jungle background for the invitations and took fonts and quotes straight out of the book. We also used lots of animal prints in the decor and created a jungle like feeling by bringing in trees and plants and draping streamers adorned with fabric leaves over the doorways. It was a truly magical party!

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day:

The popcorn bar was a huge hit! We made the display of treat cones trimmed with fabric and ribbon. The kids added to their popcorn a variety of toppings, including M&Ms, caramel, melted butter, grated cheese, and much more!
For a DIY tutorial on the cones, go to our previous post.

The children listened to the classic story at the beginning of the party.

They were each given a paper mask to make them a Wild Thing for the day! "They roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth!"
*Comment with your email address if you'd like the template for these masks.

The adorable Wild Thing Cake from Confectionately Yours.

Along with this Where the Wild Things Are coloring book, each guest took home Hershey Bars with custom "I'll eat you up. I love you so" wrappers.

The kids also played "Pin the Tail On Max" using a fantastic felt display complete with a hand drawn Max and fur tail.

The party was a huge success. The birthday girl and birthday boy wore their very own fur trimmed crowns and fur tails as they ruled over all of the Wild Things for the day! Their friends loved the story and had a great time pinning the tail on Max. It could not have been any more adorable!

To see more pictures from the party, go to the gallery on our website.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

My niece and nephew are turning 3 next month and they'll have a Wild Rumpus to celebrate! These are the custom invitations for their Where the Wild Things Are party.
We didn't want the party to be too literal. So, I used The Jungle, a cubist painting by Wilfredo Lam, as the background for the invitations, and bold lettering to resemble the font from the Where the Wild Things Are book. The party is just one month away. Stay tuned for all of the adorable details!

Our first book club party!

My friend, Anna, and I started a book club last month and our first meeting was tonight. Of course, we took the opportunity to go all out! And it was fantastic.
We used antique & beautifully bound books throughout the food table as decor. I also threw in a few gorgeous masquerade masks as a nod to Halloween and the mystery chosen for this month, The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard.
Here are a few photos I snapped at the end of the night:

The food table...it was SO much better in person!

top, left: Anna's homemade pumpkin ginger bread. DELICIOUS!
top, center: bread sticks, apple slices, and crackers
top, right: fresh brie
bottom, left: my favorite masquerade mask & a small arrangement of red mums.
bottom, center: water with sliced lemon
bottom, right: miniature caramel apples

My version of the miniature caramel apples I posted about last month.

Instead of the miniature cupcake papers, I chose metallic doilies & they were adorable! This was my first attempt, so they're not quite as perfect as they will be next time. And yes, there will be a next time! Probably for Thanksgiving.

Thanks to all of the girls who came tonight! We had a great time and cannot wait for next month!

House Warming Party For My Sister

My sister and her daughters just moved into an adorable new home and we couldn't resist throwing them a house warming party. 35 of our closest family and friends came to help celebrate. Everyone is thrilled for them and this new beginning, so the party turned out wonderfully!

Here are a few photos of the details...

top, The Dessert Bar: mini petite fours from Confectionately Yours, home made cookies by my neices, blue M&M's to match the party decor, and home made chocolate marshmallows from Whimsy & Spice.
bottom: close-up of the delicious chocolate marshmallows from Whimsy & Spice.

top, left: custom created toothpicks by Kio Kreations.
bottom, left: sushi bar of tuna, miami, & california rolls, maguro sashimi, edamame, and home made Laotian egg rolls.
center: orange ranunculus flowers arranged in a vintage milk glass vase.
top, right: champagne.
bottom, right: tissue poms from Party Poms hung above the sushi bar in varying shades of blue. We also hung purple and pink poms of different sizes in the girls rooms.

Adorable Lavender Sachet Favors:

from Veronica Sun.

Thank you to everyone who came to help us celebrate with Anna and her girls! You made the party perfect for them. We love you all!

More photos from the party are on the Finishing Touch website.

Paper Suite for Housewarming Party

I had some toothpick flags made for a Housewarming Party I am throwing for my sister and her girls. They say "Welcome to Our Home" and our absolutely the cutest things ever. After I received them and fell in LOVE, I decided to make a matching paper suite of food labels, thank you signs, etc. I'm crazy about how they turned out....
I will post better photos of them set up for the party in 2 weeks! They'll look absolutely fabulous in her new, beautiful home.

Happy Birthday Doc!

Doc's surprise 60th birthday party was perfect! The golf themed soiree was held in a private room overlooking Tablerock Lake at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, Missouri, which is his absolute favorite place to vacation. Jim was completely surprised by the party and totally in shock when he realized that his amazing wife had flown in his daughter from Napa, California as a part of the surprise!
His granddaughters writing their birthday wishes. We sent "score cards" to about 75 of his family, friends, and colleagues which were put into a book that was presented to him at the party.

Details galore:

top, left: floral arrangements & custom labels to match the invitations.
top, center: his golf trophies adorn the cake table.
top, left: his favorite cake -White Chocolate Mousse- atop a clear stand containing grass & white football mums (our stylized version of golf balls)
center, left: framed collage of vintage golf images surrounded by submerged flower arrangements.
center: centerpieces were created using aluminum trays of grass & mums.
bottom, left: place cards were made using golf bag tags as napkin rings.
bottom, center: custom sign created by Finishing Touch.
bottom, left: head table adorned with pintuck runners & mum centerpieces.

My favorite details:
Because the guest of honor doesn't drink alcohol, instead of a traditional champagne toast, we arranged a "Diet Coke Toast". The champagne glasses looked fantastic set up on clear acrylic boxes trimmed in black ribbon and adorned with mums.

A "Guilty Pleasures Bar" was brought in during the party for the guests to enjoy. It is the perfect addition to a party for a junk food addict!

A full gallery will be added to our website soon!

Come One, Come All to Annaston's Birthday Party!

The best carnival birthday party ever...

Signs throughout the back yard said "Popcorn, Get Your Popcorn" and "Hot Dogs, Get Your Hot Dogs" or "Step Right Up" for each of the games.

We purchased vintage popcorn bags from Hey Yo Yo's Etsy Shop and filled them each with regular microwave popcorn & a handful of M&Ms

In addition to the pop corn and M&Ms, the kids snacked on Hot Dogs served from a carnival style hot dog stand and Cotton Candy made on site with a rented cotton candy machine.

My husband (the birthday girl's uncle) enjoyed the cotton candy too!

The colorful pennants throughout the party were cut from paper bought at Hobby Lobby and strung on cheap balloon ribbons.

I saw this recipe for Rainbow Cake on the Hostess with the Mostess blog months earlier and thought it was perfect for this birthday party! The birthday girl, her little sister, and their mama and kiki (grandma) made this cake and cupcakes themselves the day before the big party. It turned out perfectly!
The beautiful cake was displayed on white square cake pedestals from Organize.com and the table was covered in graphic, orange and white circus fabric from Owl Bot Again's Etsy Shop.

The cupcakes were topped with custom mini pinwheels from Crossroads Cottage on Etsy. The kids all took these home as favors. With over 200 papers to choose from, they can create the perfect pinwheels for any party!

The birthday girl! Are we sure she's only 5?! She's already acting like a teenager.

See more photos on our website.

More Party Details:
1. The kids were given cotton tote bags with their names on them when they arrived. They spent a few minutes decorating the bags with feathers, circus animal stickers, pom poms, sequins, and much much more.

2. While their bags dried, they played on the jungle gym and see saw.
3. There were 3 different carnival games to play: the fish bowl game (toss a ping pong bowl in a fish bowl), ring toss, and a bean bag toss. After each turn they won little prizes like punching bags, bubbles, and friendship bracelets which they put in their bags.
4. Swimming - we had a hard time getting them out of the pool to sing happy birthday!