come fly with me

i've been waiting to share the pictures from my sister's engagement party with you and i think these cold, dark days of winter could use a shot of color, so here we go...

when we started planning the party to be held at my parents' house, we decided on a black, white and yellow color story with a 60's mod vibe. with black linens, white serveware and yellow accents, it was a really fun look. we had my favorite cocktail napkins for pre-wedding celebrations...i've used them for showers too and they always get smiles -- they capture that OHMYGOD feeling when a wedding is coming up, but they seem to be unavailable now! these are a cute alternative.



we played standards and lots of cocktail music by gilberto and getz inside and outside, which set the perfect mood. you know that moment when a party becomes a party? it was this song that did it, along with the setting sun and twinkling lights we strung all through the backyard. the yellow lava lamps (sadly not pictured) helped too.

in addition to the standard bar, we served the love potion, a tangy citrus tequila cocktail (otherwise known as a margarita) because we wanted peoples' glasses to act as moving points of color throughout the party. it worked! and of course, we had the servers circulating with fresh-poured glasses throughout the night.

we served classic fare reminiscent of a 60's cocktail party, some passed, some tabled - pigs in a blanket, cocktail meatballs, cheese and crackers, italian meats and deviled eggs which my dad expertly whipped up that afternoon. then we added in my family's favorite wings and a mashed potato bar, replete with crumbled bacon, sour cream, cheese, scallions, gravy, crispy fried onions, jalapenos and some other goodies.



the piece de resistance was definitely the cake and cupcakes, made by the amazingly talented christina barry. people were DYING over them, and with good reason. the adorable cupcake wrappers from etsy sealed the deal and the fact that it was all right in front of a hanging trio of big black and white photos of the happy couple made it even sweeter.


it was almost a shame to cut into the beautiful cake. almost.

even though we had meticulously planned every detail of the party, there were a few things we didn't plan that made the whole thing feel meant to be. look how the wrapped gifts, one partyer's colorful top and some fancy footwear pulled it all together!




love when things like that happen!

most photos courtesy of danielle barbieri

cariño!

cariño just sounds like a fun word, doesn't it? so yesterday i shared some pictures from the screening i planned, and today i wanted to share the afterparty. with only two weeks notice, i was able to find a terrific venue - a new restaurant called cariño (which means love or dear in spanish, fyi), just a few blocks away from indiescreen. they were the only place in the area i found that was willing to section off some space for a group of 75-100 and not charge a rental fee, and once dani and i visited and met with the lovely owner, it was a done deal.

another one of their owners who also wears the mixologist hat made two special drinks for us as a nod to the film's title - one was called "lady," a hibiscus-infused margarita, and the other was called "lily," a cucumber mint agua fresca. they also brought out chips and salsa for everyone when they arrived. it turned out to be a huge crowd, much larger than expected, and as they all walked up the street together, the evening kicked off with a champagne toast that dani treated everyone to, and everyone had a great time.

budgetarily, i had $80 to spend on everything i bought, for the screening as well as the party. the popcorn, popcorn bags and lollipops came to exactly $40, so i had $40 left for flowers and i was careful to spend it wisely. originally dani wanted to do lilies, as another nod to the title, but regular lilies smell too strong and callas are too expensive, so i went another way. for $40 exactly, i got a dozen cream roses, 2 small bunches of cream gerbera daisies and three big bunches of baby's breath.

as i often do, i grouped them into a bunch of small arrangements in my footed glasses and was excited that i got to try out something i'd been wanting to - tying the stems nice and tight with twine so it's visible in the glass. love that!

then i drove to brooklyn with them very sloooowly with only a little water in each vase so they wouldn't spill. they spilled. just a little. i pulled over to the side of the road to move the boxes around and almost left my handbag on the side of the grand central parkway.

once i arrived - with flowers and bag in tow - i was really happy with the way the flowers looked lining the tables carino had arranged for us. each table had a single arrangement, and no two were exactly alike. the tables were covered in craft paper (love!) and there were white tealights all over, as well as green glass bottles filled with water - i always like guests to have unlimited access to water at parties. it's nice to not have to ask for just a glass of water, and carino believes the same thing - it's standard procedure for them, so that was great. i loved the fact that so many of the things i would have requested were par for the course with carino, and i look forward to planning another event there at some point.

i love the way all the glass looks - the glasses, the bottles, the votive holders and the vases - so shiny and glimmery.

love! or should i say cariño!

salty and sweet

a couple weekends ago i planned a screening and afterparty for an independent film called lady lily (adventures in god's country). i wanted to share the pictures i took at each of the events of the night, and i decided to break it into two posts because the images are so different.

the screening was at a very cool new screening room called indiescreen in williamsburg, brooklyn. the filmmaker, dani, had already secured the location when i came into the picture, but the venue didn't have their liquor license yet. they were supposed to, but there were delays, so we had to figure out how to handle the crowd expected for the screening. we decided on an afterparty in the immediate area of the screening room, but didn't want to serve the guests nothing at the screening itself, so we decided on soft drinks at the "bar" (which dani treated everyone to) and fun movie snacks.

i never turn away from a retro theme looking me in the face, so i pushed for old timey bags of popcorn and colorful lollipops and dani happily agreed. i got the bags at a party store which luckily had them, because i didn't have much time, but i did discover lots of online sources here. i got the popcorn at pathmark where i looked like a deranged popcorn fiend, buying out their stock of jumbo sized popcorn bags that are placed so far back on such a high shelf because they don't actually expect anyone to try and get the ones at the back. i got the ones at the back.

i used the highly adorable and mod-looking tolsby frames from ikea to hold the sweet and salty signs, as well as signs on the bar that let guests know that their hostess was treating them to soft drinks and that there was to be a champagne toast at the afterparty following the screening, along with the address of the restaurant.

my biggest concern was that i wouldn't have enough popcorn bags made up (i had plenty of popcorn and bags on hand in case i had to quickly make up more) or that no one would eat it, so i was happy to see this final sight before i packed up and moved on to the afterparty venue.

that's a wrap.