How To Host The Perfect Garden Party

If you didn’t already know … my amazing, beautiful, kind, generous, younger cousin Sammy is GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!! I couldn’t be more excited for her and her fiancé Dustin. So … I of course had to throw her an engagement party!!!! With a garden party theme to boot.

Planning parties is something that I LOVE to do but have realized the more I plan … the more intricate they can be. But anyways, I want to share with you some of my tips and tricks of the trade of HOW I pulled together this perfect garden party on such short notice.

For starters, if you are one of those people who HATE planning, are too busy, maybe don’t have any creative direction or simply just don’t want to do the work that it takes to throw an amazing party … I HIGHLY recommend hiring a party planner!! I’m not going to lie, I wish I could have done this all myself. But, for it to have been as amazing as it was, on the tight deadline … I couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of Yuriko from Vintage Origami. I brainstormed all of my ideas of how I wanted it to look, where I wanted it to go and of course all of the little bitty specifics … Yuriko helped do all of the dirty work, sourced it all, brought it all together, and more importantly brought it to life for me!!!

If you are wanting to tackle this yourself … here are my top 5 tips on how to host the perfect garden party:

1. Food & Drink: If you think about the best parties you’ve been to .. they always have AMAZING food paired with cocktails to match the setting. I was lucky enough to have my cousin Tori of Fraiche Nutrition create the menu and make the food for the party. The party was in the morning so the food of course had to be breakfast nibbles and what better drink to pair with breakfast than mimosas!! In my family champagne is a celebratory drink so we of course popped some bottles of bubbly throughout the afternoon and poured them into gorgeous gold rimmed glasses that matched the setting perfectly.

2. Establish the Mood/Theme: Our party was of course based around the engagement of Sam and Dustin. It had to begin in the mid morning so that all of the family members were able to stop by throughout the day. With all of the gorgeous weather we’ve been having, I wanted it to be held outside in my beautiful back yard, so that is was easily accessible for everyone … and of course was a great backdrop for photos!!!!

3. Fresh Flowers: A garden party isn’t a garden party without fresh flowers!!! Classic Creations Floral Design did a wonderful job at pulling out the vintage feel that I was going for with a mixture of light pastels and aspiration blinds, creams and greens in all of the floral displays!!! And of course … Sam had to wear a flower crown, and you can also hire a company like Pasadena landscaping to help you get the are clear and clean for the party, looking for Landscaping near Yardley is a must!!!

4. Seating: Where will your guests sit?!? We brought in these AMAZING vintage couches, chairs , ottomans and pouffs … and placed them literally in the middle of the yard!! This was the focal point, along with the amazing garden of course. If you aren’t doing a sit down meal and don’t need to dress a table … I suggest creating a fun and comfortable alternate seating area instead. I was honestly looking at this bistro set for my garden, I´m still very tempted to bye this myself because I love its style.

5. Pretty Tables: We decided to go with appies, bubbles and finger food instead of having a sit down meal. Mainly because everyone was arriving at different times and because it was an all day event. So dressing a table was not necessary. INSTEAD I set up the island in the kitchen as a buffet and a vintage dresser outside as a statement piece. This gives your guests a place to put things down on and ties in the vintage & homey decor throughout your space.

Well now it’s on to the wedding planning … I cannot WAIT to see how it all comes together!!!!

xo

Jilly