craft lovely » perfect parties

Caitlin’s Book Lovers Tea Party

Colleen — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:29:14 +0000

This past weekend was my cousin Caitlin’s bridal shower, a wonderful afternoon for one of my favorite people in the world. Caitlin is an avid reader and like many of our family members, a big tea drinker… so the bridesmaids and I thought what better type of shower for Cait than a Book Lovers Tea Party?

For the design and color of the invitation, I was inspired by vintage book covers along with the colors of autumn. For favors, the maid of honor suggested we do custom bookmarks, so I found the perfect tea & book lovers quote from C.S. Lewis and created an illustration of a stack of books with a tea pot and a tea cup.

The menu was put together by the bride’s mother and the bridesmaids: an autumn butternut squash soup, various tea sandwiches, tea bread, scones (homemade with all the accompaniments), and finger desserts. For serving, the entire extended family went through their fine china and everyone brought tea pots, tea cups, platters, and the like. For anything that we couldn’t find or share, we rented from a local company called Fancy That Tea Boutique. I recently visited their retail space and it is gorgeous! They have the most amazing collection of vintage china & glassware and the pieces we used made the tea party extra special.

For decorations, I collected vintage books from a local library (and a few special ones from Ebay) and bought tea pots from thrift stores to hold the floral centerpieces that we put together ourselves. The bride’s sister-in-law (and fellow bridesmaid) put together paper flowers made from book pages, handmade thank you notes for Caitlin, and two gorgeous boxes that looked like books to have as memory keepsakes.

It was a lot of planning but the women in the family really all came together, and you could tell how much love everyone put into the event. Now I’m very much looking forward to Caitlin & Alex’s wedding next month!

{for more of my perfect parties images, check out my Flickr}

Old Faithful Cottage

Colleen — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:32:08 +0000

With the last bits of summer fading right now, cooler temperatures moving in, and the sunlight fading more each day, this cottage via frolic! really makes me pine for long, warm summer days. Looks like a wonderful place to stay!

{images shown via frolic, photography by Lisa Warninger}

Colleen’s Shower – Details

Colleen — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:34:45 +0000

Here are some photos from Colleen’s shower from this past weekend. I created little cupcake flags to match the type on the invitations and Colleen’s cousin Sarah created handmade clutch bags as favors for all the guests, in varying patterns and colors. It was such a wonderful shower thrown with lots of love from everyone involved. Kudos to Mary, Kathleen, Sarah, Jane and Margaret for making this event so special.

{for more of them perfect parties images, check out my Flickr}

Colleen’s Shower – Invitations

Colleen — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:56:55 +0000

This weekend was the first of many wedding events for my wonderful and dear friend, Colleen. I’ve been waiting for this event to not be a big secret anymore so I could share the invitation with you all! We decided to go with a fuschia pink and antique gold to match the colors of the room where it was held at Upstairs on the Square. I wanted to keep it simple but elegant to reflect the venue, and also picked a flourishy typeface to echo Colleen’s calligraphy.

Tomorrow I’ll share my images with more details from the shower, including my little cupcake flags and Colleen’s cousin Sarah’s custom clutch bag favors.

{for more of my letterpress work, check out my Flickr}

Tea Bridal Shower

Colleen — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:17:23 +0000

White can be such a striking color and is the strength of this elegant white bridal tea shower styled by Bo Peep Productions for 100 Layer Cake. As a mega tea drinker (I love a good cuppa!) I could have a tea party for any occasion and be utterly over-the-moon. Love the tea bar!

{images shown via 100 Layer Cake; photography by Natalie Hunfalvay}

Baby Shower

Colleen — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:37:06 +0000

With so many little ones being born to our family and friends lately, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for well-designed baby shower ideas. This one takes the idea of a shower literally and is too cute for words! Love the raindrops and clouds on the cupcakes. Found via Tabitha Emma.

{images shown belong to Lisa Storms on Fiskars website}

Cyclist Wedding

Colleen — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:05:26 +0000

I have quite a few cyclist friends who would love this idea… getting all of your wedding guests to participate in a giant bike ride! This wedding looks like such a fun time.

{images shown via Oh Happy Day; photography by Rachael Thurston}

Christmas Inspiration

Colleen — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:52:36 +0000

Loving this Christmas table decor from Sitting in a Tree (via 100 Layer Cake). The colors are non-traditional (not the same old green & red or red & gold) but are so festive and bright! And I LOVE that dress.

{images shown via 100 Layer Cake}

Cake Bunting Flags

Colleen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:51:53 +0000

Today I literally gasped when I saw Kiki La Ru’s cake bunting flags made of vintage fabrics (discovered via design*sponge)… how cute is a mini bunting flag! Over a cake? Pure genius.

{image shown belongs to Kiki La Rue}

Hip Hip Hooray!

Colleen — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:00:54 +0000

Check out Suann‘s new blog, Hip Hip Hooray! It covers all things kids parties: invitations, decorations, themes and such. I will definitely be checking this site out when I help my sister plan my nephew’s first birthday party this August!

{images shown belong to Hip Hip Hooray}