Party Central:

This Sixteenth Birthday Was Hard To Beat

  

 

I love a good party and this young girl’s sixteenth birthday celebration was a very special one indeed. There wasn’t anything that this mom didn’t think of to make her daughter’s birthday party fit for a princess. It was a family tradition and nothing was spared to make it memorable. It always makes life easier when the mom’s attitude is really enthusiastic and positive. In every way her attitude was contagious and created a special atmosphere in which to work.

The party was a sit down dinner for about twenty-five girls, definitely a formal gathering. The planning of floral decorations was easier because we had already done a party for her older sister a few years before. The mom had an idea of the look that she wanted and the flowers were an important part of the plan. Our challenge was to take those main elements and create the right atmosphere and feeling. The party would be outside and so the gardens and pool would provide a colorful background - the flowers and table decorations would complete the package.  

When Colony is given a theme or ideas to work with, the planning is so much fun and probably a lot easier especially when we have the freedom to make many of the design decisions. The guidelines for this one were simple: use the colors blue, white, and silver and add fish – the rest was easy. We agreed upon all different colors of blue Beta fish, in cylinder vases, with turquoise rocks and a floating candle on top. We staggered the heights of the vases and surrounded them with multiple arrangements of simple white spray roses. To complete the look, the table cloths were white organza with silver stars. The silver votive candles completed the look.  In order to frame the birthday girl and create an intimate feeling, we placed a lighted archway, covered in ivy and white roses at the head of the table. Surrounding the other tables we placed a few ivy filled baskets complete with lights, a trellis, climbing ivy, branches and white roses. Colorful, lighted floats in the pool added to the magical atmosphere that they wanted to create.

There were a few other floral arrangements to complete the picture – a tall cylinder was placed on the kitchen island in the same colors to welcome the guests to the party. For the parents and other adults who were relegated to another room, there was a centerpiece and a few fish – so that everyone could experience the festive atmosphere.

The only complication, as it turned out was the weather. I like to think that this won’t ever happen but unfortunately it does. As a result, the party was moved inside - but nobody missed a beat. The good news was that we had a plan. With a few last minute changes we were able to transform the inside of the home into an intimate “bistro.”

The party was a success and from what they told me, it was everything they hoped for. It was elegant and intimate and the fish added a youthful feeling that you want for a sixteen year old. Let's not forget that the fish were a built-in party favor that (hopefully) lasts for a long time.

Wednesday Wedding: Exotic Flair makes for a Beautiful Celebration

There was a great celebration this weekend.  It happened to be for a wedding ceremony that actually took place ten months ago. Everything was going well until the weather forecast  for a tornado was announced. Since the party was outside and under a tent it was questionable. Fortunately, the host and hostess decided to go for it and everything worked out just fine.

The planning of this weddng party was incredibly uncomplicated since the mom and dad were very close friends of mine. This allowed me a lot of flexibility in terms of the flowers and that made it fun. There was a lot of room for creativity since they decided that the flowers could be fairly non-traditional and they wanted them to be unusual.

I wanted the flowers to be very special, unique and dramatic and they were. The planning was straight forward and so much fun. We picked exotic flowers that complemented the spectacular tablecloths and table decorations.  

I think the photos do all the talking.