Engagement Party Recap

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of hosting an engagement party for my best friend, Chelsie, and her fiancé!

I'm pretty pleased with how everything turned out despite some unfortunate weather circumstances. I had planned the party to be entirely outdoors, but it ended up pouring throughout most of the afternoon. Luckily, it cleared up right around dinner and we were able to have dessert out on the deck and have a bonfire late into the evening with all our friends which is exactly what Chelsie wanted.

Here's a photo dump of some of the details!

{I'm lucky enough to work with several graphic designers, one of whom is my closest friend in my office and she offered to make some signs for the party which I loved, and so did the bride.}

{I had all the invitations, recipe cards, signs, and "how well do you know the couple game" sheets made by Dana whose shop is on Etsy. She was amazing to work with & I highly recommend her and her work.}

{we had cases on cases of beer because my friends are drinkers and because my father, who wanted to contribute via alcohol, is a beer guy and knows his stuff}

{the groom doesn't drink alcohol, but his favorite soda is Mountain Dew and because I'm all about the aesthetics I got his favorite soda and Chelsie's in the glass bottle to put on display}

{for apps we did focaccia, black bean and corn salad with chips, bacon wrapped hot dogs for the groom, and peppers in hummus cups}

{dollar section find at Target!}

{my cousin is amazing and has been recently making cookies as party favors, so I knew I wanted her to make the favors for this party. She made some to look like bride and grooms and then some had the word "love" or their wedding date written on them.}

{we had vases of white and varying shades of purple flowers all over.}

{the bride and some of her bridesmaids!}

 {for dinner we did Italian sausage and peppers, chicken limone (both from Avanti's), caprese orzo salad, fruit salad, green salad, potato salad, and a zucchini and corn side dish. The food was a huge hit and I was so happy with how many dishes could be made the night before or quickly right before we ate.}

{the bride and some of her college friends}

{the groom, his father, and a groomsman}

{cutest couple!}

{for dessert I made mason jar lid apple pies because it's the groom's favorite dessert, and my girlfriend, Alicia, made carrot cake cupcakes because it's the bride's favorite dessert. We also had fruit salad from dinner and the mother of the bride brought key lime pie, cheesecake, and more fruit.}

{our whole group!}

{almost all of the bridesmaids!} 

{some cute guys :) Sammy fixed some lights so they could keep playing bags in the yard once it got darker}

{she's the best}

I've been planning the party since early March, so I was pretty thrilled to see all the details come together the way I had envisioned. I couldn't have done it without the help of my girlfriends who did some of the shopping with me, came early to help set up, and took care of little things throughout the day so they wouldn't turn into mishaps. God bless them, they kept me relatively calm all day, and if you know me in even the slightest way, you know that is no easy feat. 

Chelsie texted me later that night to tell me how much she appreciated and loved everything and both her family, and Dan's family, said how much they enjoyed the party which is all I ever wanted to hear. 

I hope they felt all the love that was present for them that day and everyday. 

Now I'm itching to plan something else! This time next year we'll be talking bachelorette party! ;)

xo