I could not
be more excited to marry my fiancé. I
have been waiting for quite some time (almost 4 years) for him to pop the
question so when he finally did in June, I couldn’t wait to start planning the
engagement party. Yes, typically an
engagement party is hosted by a friend or family member but, as a wedding
planner, I could not relinquish that much control. I thought it would be “fun” to plan a party
for 110 of our closest friends and family at our home. I learned early in the process that being a
wedding planner made the planning even more stressful because I knew every
detail counted … especially to me. My
fiancé allowed me to handle all of the décor while he took care of the
food.
The
invitations dictated our color scheme of bright orange and peach. Our love of Miami dictated the overall look
and feel of the party. Since we were
planning on hosting our party in the backyard of our house, I loved the idea of
bright linen on the tall cocktails tables to add a bit of a color to an
otherwise green background. So, with the
help of Liz at DC Rental, I was able
to find the perfect orange cocktail table linen.
Bill and his amazing team at Edge Flowers helped to make the
cocktail tables and our pre-existing wrought iron tables pop by creating
gorgeous low arrangements that included orange orchids, fluffy peach garden
roses (my favorite!) and fun green accents.
They also created a 4 foot tall “C” and “V” that served as the
centerpiece of our main food buffet and also as the main focal point as our
guests entered the tent area.
My fiance actually prepared the entire
menu (along with his mother), which included items such as lobster tails,
seared tuna, homemade meatballs, BBQ ribs, crab legs, grape leaves, and exotic
cheeses.
The
furniture was very important to me so I brought in Jeffrey Fox of Fox Ventures to help me turn my
backyard into a Miami-style party. We
placed 2 white leather furniture groupings with a frosted Lucite coffee tables
in 2 corners of the tent. Accented with
orange and white pillows, this was a great area for our guests (specifically my
friends) to gather. The main buffet was
a chunky white 8ft long wood table. The
2 seafood buffets were 3.5ft frosted Lucite squares and placed on each side of
the main buffet.
Fox Ventures also
created 2 Lucite mirrored bars that served as a dessert buffet and self-serve
drink station that included blackberry mojitos, Lynchburg lemonade and mini
bottles of champagne (my personal favorite).
All of the drinks came with orange straws (flexi straws for the
champagne) and personalized napkins that included 4 different fun facts about
us. Fox Ventures also provided Lucite
benches that we added to a rectangular table for additional seating. Lining the center with orange vases and tall
glass candles created an intimate area for our guests to eat and relax.
Some of the
additional fun touches were the orange bow ties our bartenders and drivers
wore, the photos of the two of us throughout our relationship (printed on
orange paper) that were scattered around the party, printed signs for the
beverages and bar menu, and custom napkins with fun facts about us.
Not to mention the delicious chocolate peanut butter topped
with orange buttercream, vanilla with dolce de leche center and peach
buttercream cupcakes that Kendall of Kendall’s
Cakes crafted for us. Wow, is about
all I can say about them!
A special
thanks to
Occasions Caterers for
providing an awesome bartender that kept the drinks flowing all night! Thank you to
Remona for styling my hair!
Thank you to
Zach Gibson for
the amazing photos!
Oh, what a
night!
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