Since things have finally calmed down a little bit after my wedding, I'm happy to be able to share a few things from it! My bridal shower was thrown for me by my mother and sister in October at one of my favorite restaurants in Marin,
Tavern at Lark Creek. I do a lot of weddings there, and it is the quaintest place with some of the best comfort food, plus their famous butterscotch pudding. I got to pick our our three course menu options for the guests, which was a late brunch. We started with a Greek yogurt fruit and granola parfait, a choice of a country eggs Benedict, a veggie scramble or a Cobb salad, followed with their butterscotch pudding for dessert. Along with perfect mimosa's, it was an amazing meal!
My sister took over everything regarding the planning and went all out to create an "Around The Clock" shower theme. I was so busy in October with the business weddings as well as the finishing touches on ours, that I had to hand it all over. It was hard, but she really paid attention to every single detail. It was so nice to be honored and showered with love by my friends and family. Enjoy these photos by
Nicole Paulson (there are some more images over on her
blog as well).
Each guest received a personalized escort card packet that let them know what table they were seated at as well as all the game forms
The invitations gave each guest a time for them to structure their gift around. If they forgot the hand stamped time clock tag my sister included in the invitation, she had more for the guests when they arrived. She thought of everything!
It can be hard to throw a shower in the middle of high wedding season, but I wanted to do something for my sister to show her how special she is. She is also planning my bridal shower, so I needed to make sure I didn't disappoint!
We picked a date, and that it would be a lunch. I then decided on doing a picnic theme, and scoured all the rental books at the studio, and found the most adorable little pine picnic benches and red checkered napkins, so I knew I could run with it. I was working with a limited budget and time, but I found a lot of what I would need online, and started making things on my own as well.
My sister took the photos below that I am sharing of the set-up. I purchased glass bottle Coke's at our local market weeks prior, and since I don't drink that much soda, I had to really turn it on to get as many as I would need for my floral arrangements. My first idea was to put down green astro-turf on the patio, but in the end, the cost and labor was too high, so I purchased little strips for the centerpieces instead. The mini picnic baskets from
Beau-coup were not only holding the guests favors, but also a part of the centerpiece. I picked up Gerber daises that morning, and mixed up the colors on each picnic table. I used all the rental items from
Hartmann Studios for the place settings and the picnic tables, and I loved the red checkered napkins.
The guests and my sister had a great time, I hope you enjoy the photos!
I am so excited to share with you a personal event, our engagement party! We hosted our party with my parents on April 30th (which turned out to be the most beautiful day so far this year) at their home in Marin County. We had to plan the engagement party before the wedding season was in full gear, and the wedding is planned for after the season, less than eight months from now.
At first we were planning to do something extremely simple; late afternoon cocktail party with just passed appetizers, and we would be done. March came along, and Joe and I changed our minds as we were driving past Sol Food Puerto Rican Cuisine in San Rafael, and we both said, "let's do that!". So, all of a sudden, our engagement party turned to a Puerto Rican theme with lots of color, Buena Vista Social Club on the stereo, great food and lots of drinks! It was so much fun to put together, especially since it is completely opposite of what our wedding will be like.
We picked the menu with
Sol Food and the appetizers with
Thomas John Events. Everything tied into the theme. I met with
Natalie Bowen to talk about the flowers, and staying with lots of color and bright tropical blooms. She is so great that all I had to do was give her the theme, and she would create something magical!
Hartmann Studios has so much to choose from for furnishings, I decided to go with an outdoor resort style lounge in the front of the house, and more cabana cigar bar lounges in the back of the house, and use my parents existing furniture in the main floor of the home.
My sister was amazing with making all the signage for the bar and the drink stirrers for our signature drink, a Mojito, served in mason jar glasses. The drink stirrers had Salute on one side and Yiasas on the other, which both translate to Cheers! in Greek and Italian. The other little homage to our heritages was the Peroni Italian beer and the Mythos Greek beer served at the bar.
Night Owl Photo Booth was literally the hit of the party, and it was one of the best photo booths I have seen. The picture quality was perfect, and our guests got to take home photo strips instantly. Maybe I will share some of those images in a future post. ; )
There were 125 of our closest friends and family there, and we honestly had one of the best days of our lives. We didn't want it to end, and I know the wedding will feel the same. I hope you enjoy this peek into our party with the beautiful images from
Adi Nevo.
The lovely Kathy Goodman from Well Rehearsed and Natalie Bowen, our amazing florist
Thank you for letting me share such an important day with all of you. Salute, Yiasas, Cheers!
