Julia is one of our day-of coordinators, and her enthusiasm for parties and handmade details brought her to Anticipation Events. Her friend Katie loves ice cream, so an ice cream social was the perfect theme for her bridal shower.
She prettied up her backyard with roses and mint in vases hung from tree branches, and made huge crepe paper flowers to decorate the chairs (inspired by A Blissful Nest’s tutorial.)
There are times in life when things line up. When what’s meant to be is. When magic happens. My sisters’ bachelorette party was one of these times. There were times during her planning where I had to put a lot of thought into things: writing a toast for the reception, how was I going to be a maid-of-honor AND wedding coordinator, if I should get chicken or fish, but choosing a theme for her bachelorette party was not one of those times. Hence, Saradashian’s Last Stand was born.
I designed and printed the invites (front to back) complete with photshopping my sister in with the Kardashians, tied them up with ribbon and stuffed each envelope with feathers and sequins. The liners were custom made because really, when other time am I going to get to do something like this? When you’re talking about the Kardashian’s, it’s got to be over the top. Bible.
I didn’t tell her anything about the party other than what the invitation gave away which was to meet at a hotel downtown at 5:30. At 4:30 I had an SUV (just like Kim Kardashian gets driven around in) pick Sarah and her bridesmaid Shannon up at her house and when they got in the car Shannon gave her a card I had had my parents write her (likely ending with, “be safe!”) Then they stopped to pick up two more bridesmaids and she got a card that I had my brother write (surprisingly sentimental). One final stop to pick up the last bridesmaid Molly, and Molly gave her a card I had written her (recounting some of our drunken escapades together to ger her in the mood to party!) I was so happy Shannon send me these pictures as a play-by-play!
So in this case, I had the party in a hotel room. This makes things difficult for a myriad of reasons: no access to your dishes, kitchen utensils or dishwasher, having just a tiny fridge and a microwave etc. Even though we used a lot of things that could be thrown away at the end of the party, I still wanted to make it special. Everyone got two glasses, one for champagne and one for kahlua and creams (my sister’s favorite) adorned with the Kardashian of their choice.
I made the kahlua and creams by freezing the cream in ice cube trays and pouring kahlua over them. A bathtub full of beer, and the party was on! As for food, choose lots of things that are easy to eat on your lap and don’t take a lot of prep. I did sushi, chips and dips, fruit and dip in individual cups and individual popcorn boxes. Mini cheesecakes and cupcakes for desserts, topped with engagement rings, perfect for taking to the bar afterwards to fend off any unwanted advances. Oh and candy. I just filled a bunch of patterened cupcake liners with all of Sarah’s favorite candy. She is ridiculous and eats it for nearly every meal yet still somehow manages to be as thin as a rail and never has any cavities.
You know I splurged and bought a life-size cardboard cutout of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe to greet guests. Much to her fiance’s chagrin, the girls are living in their basement, watching over the laundry pile, naturally.
Goody bags for the girls were in little felt buckets I found at Target and I created tags for each using a heart-shaped punch and ribbon. Easy-peasy. Included in each was a mini can of Sophia champagne (mini, pink straw included!), a mini-bottle of Kim Kardashian’s perfume, individual packs of Advil, a couple of blow-pops and a ring pop, a pack of Starburst and a pack of Skittles (see: candy obsession above) and then a few things to take to the bar: a stick on mustache, glow-stick jewelry, pixie sticks and mardi-gras beads. Sarah got a homemade veil and light up diamond to ensure everyone knew who the star of the party was. Classy, simple and accentuated her outfit. Seriously, how long did your sister/best friend/future-in-law spend picking out an outfit for her bachelorette party? Don’t ruin it!
Timeline wise, for a shower or bachelorette party I like to welcome guests with a drink as they are arriving, let them eat and chat for a bit, play a game, open gifts and call it a day. At a shower, people can stay and mingle, at the bachelorette party we keep drinking and told some hilarious Sarah stories. I really hate forced bachelorette party games, but think they can be a good ice-breaker when people don’t know each other well. I created a “Kardashian Kuiz” full of questions about the infamous family (which my sister promptly won) and then took a bag full of props out to the bar with us. And obviously the penis straws and Scott Disick. Did you think he was going to let us go without him? Not a chance, doll.
So you’ve already seen the invites and read about the inspiration for the coffee and wine themed shower and bachelorette party. Here’s how it all came together.
I decorated using the brown and pink scheme from the invites and made deceptively simple but pretty stinking awesome coffee filter poofs. Whitney’s sweet mom kept calling them peony’s which just made my crafty heart sing. (When in doubt always bring a mom to the party—they are the best at gushing over the details!) I hung clusters of them over the kitchen table and island where most of the food action was happening.
We served lots of delicious brunch fare: french toast casserole, egg bakes, croissants with apple butter, honey and jam, coffee cake muffins and fresh fruit skewers!
Lots of mimosas to wash it all down and an artsy shot of the glasses by one of the bridesmaids, Megan.
We (of course) put together a hard-core coffee bar that included hot and iced coffee, vanilla and caramel syrup, soy milk, skim milk, half and half and some homemade vanilla whipped cream.
Each guest picked up their own personal coffee cup for the morning which doubled as their favor. Each coffee mug had a picture of the guest with Whitney and Whitney got a special little one with a picture of her and John! I used a special paper to transfer the images to the cups and baked them on so they’d be permanent. (I also made her three extra so she would have a set of four: one of the two of them, one of Whitney, one of John and one of their dog Duke. Awesome.)
We set them up on the kitchen table with bowls of chocolate-covered espresso beans to munch on and extra coasters for people to use during the party.
Whitney hates to be the center of attention so we just played a few games that wouldn’t embarrass her. The ever-popular guessing game, this time using coffee beans and a coffee filter for holding guesses.
And then while she opened her presents guests participated in a homemade BING-O game dubbed “WHIT-O” that really took a lot of the attention off of staring at Whitney opening gifts. Plus, Whitney’s future sister-in-law won and could not have been more ecstatic. Both of the game winners won coffee mugs filled with flavored coffee samples and iced coffee blends.
I’m just getting over my caffeine buzz now. Less than a month to go until their big day. We can’t wait to celebrate your love again in June!
So I promised you Whitney’s bridal shower and bachelorette party invitations. To make things easier for the guests who are coming in from out of town for the weekend the shower will be held Saturday morning and the bachelorette party will be that same night. It’s a great idea if you have bridal party members and friends spread across the country.
There are two things Whitney loves almost as much as she loved John. Brunch, and more specifically, six or so cups of coffee at brunch. She makes the coffee guys eyebrows raise with her eternal request for a refill at Nookies. And that is no small feat considering the amount of coffee that guy pours. If you accidentally sleep through brunch and don’t catch up with Whitney until dinner, rest assured there will be a glass of Riesling in her hand and she’ll lead you to a wine bar after dinner. So that was all the inspiration we needed to go to town on the invitations.
Everyone received a kraft paper-wrapped box in the mail and when they opened the box, this is what they saw:
Each invitation was two coasters tied up in a pink satin bow and nestled on a bed of coffee beans.
They likely all brewed a pot of coffee while they untied the ribbon to find two coasters. The first coaster was an invite to the shower with a coffee mug ring and this quote by Josephine Baker: “He was my cream, and I was his coffee- and when you poured us together, man it was something.” LOVE. The second coaster was the invitation to the bachelorette party with a wine glass ring and this quote from Vinny of Jersey Shore fame: “Sometimes when you meet the right girl who deserves to be wined and dined and you know, wifed up.” DOUBLE LOVE. Definitely setting the tone for each separate party.
When you flip the coasters over you have all of the party information. I gocco’ed both sides of these and actually dipped mugs and wine glasses in coffee and wine to make the rings. Realism at it’s finest.
Oh happy day! We’re so happy that John decided to “wife up” Whitney. He really is the cream to her coffee and I am loving getting to be a part of their big day!
What do you think?