Partaaaay!!!

First things first, thanks to my real-life friends Jennifer from Diary of a Working Mom and sweet Carrie from Carrie Smith Photography for their advice on my sad little camera situation.  I'm going to follow their suggestion to pick up a 50mm fixed lens for the time being; I have so much to show you this week!

Unfortunately, I had to continue using my zoom for the party on Saturday.  I sadly have no wide shots, so I will share some of my favorite details instead.  

Our great friends Jennifer and Nelson (they of the fabulous chevron dining room table) are FINALLY getting married in May..in Puerto Rico!  ("I think I'll go back to San Juan....I know a boat you can get on" Does anyone else do this?  I love me some show tunes.)  So we went with a travel theme for the shower, highlighting three of their favorite places they've been together: Paris, Barcelona, and good ol NYC.

These little heart shaped map garlands were so darling. No, I didn't make them (have we met?).  Check out Montclaire Made for more.

The Paella was FABULOUS.  If you're local, I highly recommend Cha's Cha's on Palm Beach. They supplied all of Barcelona with paella and tapas including hummus and tostones, and some delicious Spanish meats and cheeses.

NYC hot dog bar was a hit.  I borrowed the vintage American Tourister luggage from the darling Jennifer at Juxtapoze.  Her store featuring upcycled fashion design is beyond awesome, and I will bring you more amazing details later this week.

We bought the pink and gold quilt in South Africa about 6 years ago...travel theme, let's use something from our travels as a table cloth.  Works for me.

Ladies, I rented a few tables and chairs, and I bought some super cool fabric to make table toppers...but other than that, this party was seriously an ode to my thrifting.

I got to use my new gold flatware and embroidered linens. 

Inspired by the Atlanta Homes shoot you've all seen by now, I bought this large-scale chevron print for the tables.  I did a cheaters hem with heat 'n bond.  (Woo hoo, that stuff rocks!).

I rented some gold chivari chairs, but mixed in all of my dining chairs and some more nice wood folding chairs that I recently picked up at auction.  All of the white tablecloths underneath (there may have been a sheet or two, no judgement) I already had.

We left up all of our string lights from Christmas to give the backyard a little atmosphere...

We took the baby pool fence down and lined the area with an assortment of glass lanterns (that I always nab whenever I see them under $10).

I have a MAJOR candlestick addiction, so I have millions from thrifts, auctions, garage sales, etc. that I typically use everywhere for parties.  I'm not really into flowers so much.   

I used taper candles I had on hand in white, ivory, blue and pink....that's what's great about black and white tablecloths, anything goes.

A view of the Paris patisserie...I couldn't get a close up shot with my wonky zoom lens (sounds counter-intuitive, no?) because the tables were too close.  It was darling though...and my friend Liz served as mixologist for the evening and made a DELICIOUS chocolately french champagney concoction for dessert. Rocked! (Also, that may or may not be my frilly white Anthro bedspread)

The map confetti on the tables was in shapes of hearts and airplanes.  From the Candy Shoppe.

It was a lovely party!!  The guests all seemed pretty thrilled with everything as did the precious bride and groom.  Of course there were a million little details that I either forgot or didn't have time for in the end (procrastinators HOLLA!), but I reminded myself over and over that nobody noticed except me.

How was your weekend??

Also, sweet Ange at The Blooming Hydrangea included me in her Blooming Blogger series....won't you go check it out?  I give some fun little tidbits about myself (as if my blog isn't a complete overshare as it is).