One week ago I turned 28 (who knew the song by Sleeping at Last called Page28 would almost be prophetic?). This new year of my life marks the beginning of something new and awesome and a new season is ahead.
I want to start something new on this blog also. As I am planning many events and little and big parties and weddings here and there I want to start sharing these events and let you take part in it and see what I did, how it turned out and where my creativity went so to say. And as the birthday party this year was quite the bash I cannot think of any better way to start this Event section than with my party.
The most important thing for me was to bring my closest and best friends together around one table. Share a meal. Share conversations and grow closer in friendship. I love Kinfolk Magazine and their manifesto and their attempt at things so a lot of inspiration came from there. I mostly use pinterest to safe my ideas and inspiration. Pinterest has really helped a lot in keeping me inspired and not lose the things I see and love and I keep going back to my boards to get inspired.
I like it when events have a central theme and something to follow. It makes everything fit together and connects the dots.
Also I am not the person to do big puffy flowers and tons of cutsie colors and such. I like things to look effortless and as natural as possible. I like to use things I already have or make things instead of buying them.
It all started with some really basic invitations I designed and handed out to my closest friends. They really set the tone for everything else that was to come and people were already anticipating all of it!
For me personally invitations are one of the most important things when it comes to a party, wedding, event because they are the first thing your guest will see. It will set the tone and atmosphere and really the quality for the whole event!
After the invitations were handed out there were 3 important areas to take care of: 1) Food, 2) Decorations and 3) favors.
As I had planned it to be a garden party in my parent's backyard it was clear that everything would be focused around grilling some meat, along with having salads, cheese, bread and grilled veggies. My dad is the big "grill master" and sure loves making food for people so that was a big plus.
When it comes to decorations I didn't want to overdue it so I just used
some mason jars as candle holders and bought two bigger succulents. That
was basically all I had for decorations.
I really did put some effort into making the favors because I really wanted to bless my friends and give them something with meaning and something on the way for their summer/year/season of life. So I printed out the end of a Mark Twain quote in the same design as the invitations. I hand wrote all the tags with my pen and ink.
As an entree and appetizers everybody got homemade lemonade in cute little juice bottles with their name printed on. I bought the bottles on ebay and printed the name tags in the same design as the invitations. The recipe for the lemonade was from here and everybody loved it. With that I served nachos with guacamole because I always make guacamole. It is one of my favorite things!
Also for the first time I made my own focaccia bread (recipe taken from here) and it was sooo good.
I spent the whole afternoon preparing, baking, squeezing lemons, setting things up and all I could think of were my friends and how much they will enjoy it and be together and how we will have the perfect night together. I had of course put together a playlist with really great music like Mumford & Sons, Andrew Belle, The Novel Ideas, Josh Garrels and many other great musicians.
And then it started, music playing, lemonade ready and everything set up. And my friends came and ate and we laughed and took pictures and hugged and talked.
The whole time the sky looked like this I loved it more than having the perfect sky. Of course we were constantly thinking about rain and wondering when the storm would come but it didn't really affect us and only rained for 10 minutes. Everybody just lifted the tables and we cuddled up under the covered patio.
As the sun had set we made a fire, ate dessert, made s'mores and looked at the fire. My friend got out his guitar and we shared the perfect summer night.
I honestly loved every second of that party and because I had planned well in advance I was able to enjoy it and spend time with my friends rather than running around trying to get it all done then.
Yes I did put a lot of effort and planning into the party but truthfully in all the preparation I was so excited to see my friend's faces. I was so excited to honor them.
That is what planning events for me is. Creating an atmosphere where people come and feel home, feel welcomed and can relax. It is planning those moments which they will always remember and I really hope I achieved that this past Saturday.
xoxo
Ramona
PS: You can follow my pinterest to see what inspires me.
I want to start something new on this blog also. As I am planning many events and little and big parties and weddings here and there I want to start sharing these events and let you take part in it and see what I did, how it turned out and where my creativity went so to say. And as the birthday party this year was quite the bash I cannot think of any better way to start this Event section than with my party.
The most important thing for me was to bring my closest and best friends together around one table. Share a meal. Share conversations and grow closer in friendship. I love Kinfolk Magazine and their manifesto and their attempt at things so a lot of inspiration came from there. I mostly use pinterest to safe my ideas and inspiration. Pinterest has really helped a lot in keeping me inspired and not lose the things I see and love and I keep going back to my boards to get inspired.
I like it when events have a central theme and something to follow. It makes everything fit together and connects the dots.
Also I am not the person to do big puffy flowers and tons of cutsie colors and such. I like things to look effortless and as natural as possible. I like to use things I already have or make things instead of buying them.
For me personally invitations are one of the most important things when it comes to a party, wedding, event because they are the first thing your guest will see. It will set the tone and atmosphere and really the quality for the whole event!
After the invitations were handed out there were 3 important areas to take care of: 1) Food, 2) Decorations and 3) favors.
As I had planned it to be a garden party in my parent's backyard it was clear that everything would be focused around grilling some meat, along with having salads, cheese, bread and grilled veggies. My dad is the big "grill master" and sure loves making food for people so that was a big plus.
I really did put some effort into making the favors because I really wanted to bless my friends and give them something with meaning and something on the way for their summer/year/season of life. So I printed out the end of a Mark Twain quote in the same design as the invitations. I hand wrote all the tags with my pen and ink.
Also for the first time I made my own focaccia bread (recipe taken from here) and it was sooo good.
I spent the whole afternoon preparing, baking, squeezing lemons, setting things up and all I could think of were my friends and how much they will enjoy it and be together and how we will have the perfect night together. I had of course put together a playlist with really great music like Mumford & Sons, Andrew Belle, The Novel Ideas, Josh Garrels and many other great musicians.
And then it started, music playing, lemonade ready and everything set up. And my friends came and ate and we laughed and took pictures and hugged and talked.
I honestly loved every second of that party and because I had planned well in advance I was able to enjoy it and spend time with my friends rather than running around trying to get it all done then.
Yes I did put a lot of effort and planning into the party but truthfully in all the preparation I was so excited to see my friend's faces. I was so excited to honor them.
That is what planning events for me is. Creating an atmosphere where people come and feel home, feel welcomed and can relax. It is planning those moments which they will always remember and I really hope I achieved that this past Saturday.
xoxo
Ramona
PS: You can follow my pinterest to see what inspires me.
This is so lovely! -Nakita
ReplyDeleteAh I love the juice bottles! Where did you find them? xx
ReplyDelete