Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Teeparty by Night 2014


Every year for the 5th time this year we host a teaparty by Night for all the women in my church. It is normally set outside in the park. The women from my church gather for a beautiful evening with food and drinks and laughter and inspiration and friendship!
This year due to a whole week of pouring rain we had to do it inside. It was nonetheless a wonderful night and the women loved it.
At the teaparty we usually host about 100 women and the planning is always a team effort. In this post I hope I can help you plan parties where you host a lot of people. The key is working in a team and not trying to do it all on your own.
By now we all know how much I love a good concept and I kind of feel like a broken record but I can't stress it enough. If you have your concept down and a clear line to follow it makes all the difference not only for you in the planning process but especially for the guests.
So in the past we've had all kinds of colours and themes but this year was different. We went for a rustic elegant American barbecue theme. In order to keep it light and fresh the colors were yellow, grey and mint. I love this color combination. It's totally summer and cute and elegant.
We have this amazing Café which is part of our church. It is very cozy and warm.
Some of you might remember this winter wedding - it's the same place. We had a really fun photo wall were the ladies could take pictures all night long. I think using a personalized hashtag is a great way to reconnect all the pictures after the event.
We set everything up the day before except for the flowers. I already loved everything then but when we brought in the fresh flowers on the day of the party it just made all the difference. We used very simple garden flowers to keep that outdoor feeling and bring in something fresh.


One of the girls from the team made all the ribbons and the fringe garlands which turned out so fun. Again we used some lanterns to hang them in the trees just like we would have done outside.
As you can see some of the main colors in Elemenz are brown and purple but it didn't clash with our yellow and mint and grey. It kind of complimented it perfectly. We brought in some fresh pillows for the sofas to make it super comfy for the ladies.

And Stefanie created this amazing display of old windows and frames. It was one of my favorite parts of the decoration - just a little different and cool. When it comes to decorating I believe in keeping it simple and working with what you've got. I love Kinfolk and how everything they do is so natural. This honestly always helps me to look at things a little differently. Instead of spending a ton of money on decoration and flowers and what not I tend to ask myself what is really necessary, what will really be great for the event, what do we have and what can we create and then we just simply start building from there. We always work on a budget and what I love about that is that it makes you stay creative in the most essential way and seeing the outcome be amazing is a big encouragement.




Another favorite part of the party was our balloon installation which Stefanie created. I first saw this idea here and thought we could pull this off too. I love how it worked out and how it was the first thing the women got see upon arrival. As they all stood in line to get to the party they were surrounded by these balloons and you know first impressions matter. Then they were greeted with lemonade from this super cute pitcher with yellow striped straws.
As we had a buffet we didn't really set the tables with everything but instead used the napkins as place mats. The favors where little s'more packages.




My favorite part of any party or event is right when you open the doors. Everything is set and ready to go. Seeing the faces of women as they entered and just loved it. Seeing their smiles and seeing them happy with their friends makes all the work you put in it so worth it and I wouldn't want to miss it for the world.
It was one of my favorite teaparties and I am so thankful for everybody who helped from food to decorations to setting up (thank you to all the men who we really need to make it happen) and the greeters.
And to summarize it here are a few tips I have learned along the way
1. plan well in advance.
2. have a concept and follow it
3. keep it simple, work with what you've got
4. work as a team.

I hope you like all the pictures and ideas - pin ahead, share and talk about it.

xoxo

Ramona

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