For those of you who may not have seen the latest edition of Confetti Fair magazine, I thought I would give you a peek of our featured wedding. I am thrilled with the 8 page spread and am very grateful to the editor Claire for publishing our son’s wedding. I originally submitted this Rustic Pop baby shower , which she loved and wanted to publish. I then showed her photos of Caleb’s wedding and she preferred to publish them. Keep an eye out on the Confetti Fair blog, as you will see the baby shower featured there. It’s pretty exciting seeing your work in print, your children in a magazine and to have a permanent keepsake of such a special day.
At last I am so proud to share with you photos from my son’s beautiful Vintage barefoot wedding. I was honoured to have my desserts and styling featured in the March edition of the popular Party magazine Confetti Fair, and therefore needed to wait until it was published before I put the photos on my blog.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of different highlights of the wedding I want to show you. I have decided to create separate blog posts for each aspect of the dessert and refreshment stations I designed, so that all of the details can be seen. I will start with the sweets table and then move my way around the reception marquee, culminating in the actual bridal procession and wedding ceremony. So keep your eyes out over the next few weeks as I walk you through the prettiest vintage yellow barefoot wedding celebration.
Perhaps the best decision I made regarding the wedding was to employ a photographer to photograph my desserts. As mother of the groom, chief stylist, baker of all desserts, mother of the flower girls and wedding coordinator, I needed to outsource this most important aspect of the celebration. I am oh so glad I did. The lovely Josie from Josie Richardson Photography captured the essence of my desserts and styling beautifully. I would also like to acknowledge Ann and her beautiful family from Grace My Table for additional props, ceremony chairs and the most delightful afternoon tea styling and service which I will reveal in a later post.
And so, without further ado, let me introduce Part 1 of our son’s wedding.
The Sweets Table
Drawing from my collection of vintage props, I wanted to give the sweets table a ‘Nana’s kitchen’ feel. I achieved this by using old enamelware, retro kitchenware, scales and white hobnail compotes to hold the lollies. I used an old chenille tablecloth (from the Ukraine actually! Gotta love Ebay) draped over a timber trestle table and made a generous fabric garland to use as the backdrop. The yellow vintage fabric made from old retro sheets added authenticity to the look I was trying to achieve.
One of my favourite elements of the display was the marquee SWEETS sign. I bought the letters from Spotlight and put yellow vintage fabric behind each one. It looked beautiful as the evening went on and the lights shone onto the table.
As well as an abundance of sweets to take home, each guest was given a little mason jar full of yellow jelly beans as a Thank you gift from the bride and groom. My ten year old daughter made the crochet hearts tied to each one.
I mounted an old vintage frame onto a hessian covered board, attaching chicken wire to the back of it. I then meticulously tied sweet yellow lollipops with ‘best. day.ever’ tags onto the frame.
There was certainly no shortage of sweets for the guests to enjoy and take home!
Easter has come and gone for another year. I had been planning this rustic Easter display in my head for months, gathering bits and pieces from all over my house like a little bower bird. I knew I wanted it set up in front of our chicken pen and had been meticulously watching the movements of the sun in our yard to ensure I had just the right light when I whipped out my camera. As it happens, I came down with the flu over the Easter weekend, so we had a very belated Easter egg hunt with our precious kiddies and their friends. They were all very gracious and didn’t seem to mind waiting an extra week for their Easter eggs.
I loved using pieces from my vintage collection, including some recent purchases from new Instagram friends. I wonder if they can spot them! As usual, I was running around like a mad chook (pardon the pun) trying to set everything up, put out the food, organise the Easter egg hunt and direct children, while taking photos in the rapidly diminishing sunlight. I am truly envious of those who have assistants, photographers, florists and childrens entertainers at their disposal! I was, however, blessed by the willing assistance of my sweet ten year old daughter. She proved invaluable as we prepared the sweet treats and set up together on the day.
At the end of it all, we all had a wonderful time and sat around the open fire eating our charred sausages and easter eggs, enjoying sweet conversation and the company of loved ones.
Valentine’s Day is upon us! Last year when I created my inaugural Vintage Valentine’s Day party I had a simple revelation that this sweetly romantic day was the perfect occasion to celebrate in style by gathering a few ladies together to enjoy an afternoon of feminine beauty, fellowship and sweet treats.
This year I wanted to have a high tea party with the ladies and chose soft pink and white as my colour scheme. I steered away from the typical and often gaudy reds associated with Valentine’s Day, keeping the colour palette soft and feminine. It was also the perfect excuse to bring out my lovely white hobnail compotes and pink and white milk glass cake stands. I made a simple backdrop by gluing small pink pom poms in a heart shape with paper roses added to them. I found the prettiest pink tulle with ribbons on sale in Spotlight, which became my tablecloth.
The theme for my party was ‘Perfect love’. Let’s face it ladies, sometimes we can feel a little disappointed in our male counterpart on special days like Valentine’s Day. It’s just one of those days that usually slips by unnoticed by our husbands who aren’t quite sure what to do with it! I have come to understand that a woman’s heart is a deep and complex well that needs very special care and attention. Our needs are so intimate and peculiar that there is only One who can truly reach us in the deepest recesses of our hearts perfectly every time. I am talking about the Perfect Love of Jesus. Our Maker is the true Lover of our soul, and all that makes us uniquely women.
So this Valentine’s Day I gathered over 30 women together in my home to serve and bless with endless pots of tea in fine china tea cups, pretty sweet treats, beautiful flowers and most importantly, to share with them the love of Jesus, the One who can meet every need and romance our hearts.
When one of my friends announced her 4th pregnancy, it took me about three seconds to decide the theme of her baby shower. Her kitchen has bright orange cupboards which are reminiscent of my Nanna’s incredibly cool laminex. She adores this often ignored, yet fabulous colour, and so do I. Sadly, bright orange appears to be completely underestimated in the current party scene. It is such a gloriously intense colour which adds the most startling wow factor to any dessert table. As I wanted my orange to make a real POP in this party, I teamed it up with perhaps an unlikely partner…rustic timber and woody, earthy textures. I was determined to keep everything else neutral, so that my lovely orange could take centre stage. It’s effect was nothing short of spectacular!
My inspiration piece was an old set of vintage scales that had been painted bright orange and yellow. I instantly fell in love with them and knew they would provide a starting point for my “Rustic Pop’ baby shower.
I was so determined to let the orange shine that I even downplayed the cake, keeping it rustic, small and simple. My 12 year old daughter made the ginger spice cookies, dark chocolate covered Oreos and helped make the Tim Tam pops. I made the mandarin and white chocolate cupcakes.
As a special baby gift, my 10 year old daughter crocheted the most adorable decorative baby bib in the mother’s favourite colours with the beginning letter of bub’s name. The paper fans and pom poms gave my dessert table the pop of colour I needed, and a bright orange fabric garland tied the theme together. One of my favourite elements was the “Oh Baby” marquee lights. I find them so versatile as I change the template to suit different party themes. I use spray adhesive to stick fabric onto each template to match my colour scheme.
I hope you enjoy looking through my Rustic Pop baby shower as much as I enjoyed creating it! xx
It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you my Summer Boho New Year’s Eve party!! My absolute passion for bright colours found an unhindered outlet in this concept and design. As mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to break away from the traditional colour schemes usually associated with New Year’s Eve and bring a truer reflection of our lengthy Australian summer days to the table.
I found some beautiful multicoloured feathers on sale ( the pretty ones hanging down underneath the orange cake stand from Lark Store below) on one of my favourite online party stores, The Little Big Company, which became the inspiration for the whole design. I quickly added more feathers, bright coloured pom pom trims, fabric scraps and perhaps my favourite element in the whole party, four beautifully neon faux reindeer from a supermarket of all places!! Score! Nothing like a post Christmas sale!
I made all of my daughters crochet buntings for Christmas, so I used one of them to complement my backdrop. Again, I found another bargain in Spotlight with this gorgeous hot pink chalkboard frame on sale. The cheap wooden deer head, from Mega Chioce, was given new life with a coat of aqua paint and some feathers.
I discovered the absolute bliss of using a can of spray paint, transforming a kind of ugly coloured cake stand I had sitting in the back of my cupboard. My greatest triumph by far though, was making my own cake stands from IKEA candle holders that I also had lying around unused, and gluing old op shop plates to them. Winner!
Early on in my concept I knew that I wanted to use coconut covered white chocolate Tim Tam pops as the main dessert feature. I kept them neutral in order to decorate each pop with a bright feather and coloured string. This enhanced my Boho theme and I loved how they looked all together.
Mini vanilla cupcakes complemented the pops and my signature Nutella Cheesecake mousse pots tied with bright fabric scraps and hot pink party spoons were placed in neat little rows along the back of the table.
For weeks beforehand, when I should have been focussing on my Christmas preparations, I was a busy bee decorating mason drinking jars. I discovered the versatility of Washi Tape and had fun decorating jars, bottles and straws for the drink station. I found cheap hot pink paper roses for $1:00 a packet, which I tied around each jar with coloured string.
My daughters helped by decorating individual name tags and writing the sign to instruct guests to keep their jar with them for the night!
I keep thinking that every party I do is my favourite. This Summer Boho theme was definitely one that gave me enormous pleasure to create and was a fitting way to bring in the New Year. I hope you enjoyed it too. xx
I have been sitting on this wonderful vintage rainbow party for some months now. Our son’s wedding kept my blogging at bay for a good while, but I am excited to finally be able to share this very special party with you.
In July our vibrant fun loving daughter turned 10. We have four family birthdays in three weeks (!!) around that time, so it’s a tricky balance trying to celebrate everyone accordingly. As neglectful as it may seem, this particular daughter had never had a real party before. I need to clarify that I don’t feel bad about this. Her birthday has been celebrated every year, with lots of love and presents, but somehow the big party had eluded this sweet child. In an age of instant gratification and spoiled children, it’s not a bad thing to have to actually wait for something! And I can tell you that this made her party even more special.
The rainbow party theme was a challenge for me. It has been done so well by so many amazing Pinterest worthy party stylists and wealthy mothers. Firstly, I didn’t have a fortune to spend on it, and secondly, I didn’t want a party that looked like everybody else’s. I wanted to put a twist on the rainbow theme by keeping to my first love of vintage styling. I am crazy about chenille bedspreads. They flood my memory as a 70’s child who had a bright orange one, and they make the BEST vintage tablecloths! I based the whole theme on my sunshine yellow and bright blue chenille cloths. I also wanted to use coloured wool and ribbon to satisfy my love of texture, and also because they are cost effective. I spent many a night wrapping wool around my vintage milk bottles. I brought out my lovely white milk glass cake stands and hobnail dishes and sweet little ferris wheel cupcake holders for all of the treats. As Miss Charlotte is our flamboyant, dramatic child, I wanted her name to be a feature of the dessert table.
The backdrop was made up of cheap paper like coloured fabric from Spotlight, that I picked up for less than $2:00 a metre. I bought white paper pom poms on Ebay. The sweets included an array of cloud cookies, coloured lollies, white chocolate Tim Tam pops, my own Hummingbird Cupcakes and a rainbow cake hidden inside an unassuming white buttercream cake.
I’m not really into party games. By the time I bake and set up the whole dessert display, I just want to sit down, talk to the mothers and drink tea. The last thing on my mind is Pin the tail on the Donkey ( I’m a bit slack like that!) I’m also a firm believer in old fashioned play, and like to give children unstructured time to just enjoy each other and be. However, I did want the children to have one activity to do, so each guest was given a cupcake to decorate. This was a real winner. As it was our Charlotte’s first real party, I did splurge at the local discount shop and bought a range of colourful hats for the kiddies to dress up and take home. They were all very proud of their creations…and my hope is to instill a love of cake decorating into the next generation!
My own children helped me with many of the handmade elements. Our invitations were made of hand sewn felt clouds with rainbow ribbons hanging down. We also carried this design through to the Thank you take home bags. The girls made all of the clouds.
As you can see, the birthday girl was beaming all day and had such a wonderful time at her party. I probably say this often, but this party comes pretty close to being my favourite. I hope you enjoy looking through the photos and get inspired to give your next Rainbow party a vintage twist! XX
As you are aware, our oldest son is getting married this year. I was delighted to be a part of their gorgeous vintage engagement shoot a few months ago. The happy couple didn’t really want a large engagement party, but rather a small gathering of some of their friends. I happened to have my lovely vintage doors still set up from my Ladies tea party so I just changed the colour scheme and added a few vintage bits and pieces to create this simple dessert display. I found a cheap 70’s dresser at the op shop, which I will give to my son after the wedding. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect drink station. A simple buttercream cake adorned with flowers and some sweet daisy cupcakes on vintage props made up the desserts. This was a very easy display to set up. You don’t need a lot of food to make a dessert table look fabulous. Sometimes less is more if you have an intimate gathering of friends. Just put your effort into creating a simple backdrop, a splash of colour and hunt around your home for some matching vintage pieces.
This was such a special afternoon. I gathered together a group of ladies, many of them mothers with young children, with the aim of creating a relaxing and indulgent tea party where they would sit and enjoy being served. As women, we are so often the ones who tirelessly meet the needs of others, so I wanted to give these special ladies an afternoon off, where they could finish their conversations, have fresh tea poured for them, leave their diets at the door and indulge in decadent sweets and treats.
A shabby chic theme was chosen, with a slightly vintage twist. Blush pink, mint green and white was the colour scheme, with accents of blue. Two vintage doors with doily buntings provided the backdrop and a soft pink chiffon table skirt added a feminine touch to the display.
The sweets menu included White chocolate and passionfruit cupcakes, French breakfast tea cupcakes, White chocolate covered Oreo biscuits, Vanilla bean sugar cookies, Raspberry melting moments, White chocolate Tim Tam pops and a small lolly buffet. Savouries were served at the tables on fine bone china plates.
As my goal was to make each lady feel special and loved, I decided to make personalised name cookies to put inside each tea cup as place settings. Each guest also had a fragrant soap favour wrapped with shabby fabric scraps.
The entire afternoon was so relaxing and gave me great joy as I buzzed around pouring tea and ensuring everyone had enough to eat and drink. It was such a success and brought refreshment to all of my guests, who truly felt loved and spoilt. A definite win win!
This post is dedicated to Shirley Parr, a beautiful woman who unexpectedly went to be with the Lord just 11 days after joining our tea party. She told me that this was one of the best afternoons she had ever had and sent me a beautiful card of appreciation in the following week. I am so glad that I was able to love on these special ladies. Shirley was able to enjoy a lovely afternoon with two of her daughters in law, who I am sure will treasure those sweet memories for a long time.
As most of you are aware, designing and styling baby showers is one of my all time favourite creative pursuits. New life just grabs me every time. There is such diverse styling potential for each shower, and opportunity to reflect the personality of each precious mama to be.
This rustic lace shower was designed to be gender neutral with a focus on texture rather than colour. Lots of wood, hessian, sticks, timber crates and vintage glassware and china contrasted with the generous amount of lace curtains and doily embroidery hoops which softened this rugged display.
One of my favourite elements of the dessert table were the Peanut Butter Tim Tam pops. I had fiddled with my own recipe until I was happy with the consistency. They looked and tasted delicious. The clean twigs added to their rustic charm.
I had been collecting vintage glass salt and pepper shakers for a few months, with the idea of using them as food tag holders. By simply twisting thin wire into loops around the tops, they easily held my hand stamped cards.
I wanted colour to be kept to a minimum, so even the sugar cookies were decorated in white. Hard for this colour crazy Mama Bear to do I might add! It took a lot of discipline to keep to the theme on this shower let me tell you! I did however sneak in a whisk of colour with my lovely vintage baby cards which were pegged across the wooden crate.
I felt it important to use sweets which matched the overall theme of the party too, so lots of jersey caramels, caramel kisses, milk bottles and chico babies were enjoyed.
These Nutella cheesecake mousse pots mark the beginning of a new love affair for me! They were deeelicious, and were the first desserts to be enjoyed by the guests. I love them so much that I am planning on bottling up close to 80 of them in a few months for my son’s wedding dessert table. (spare a thought)
Have you ever seen a more beautiful pregnant mama, who at the time of her shower was close to 38 weeks pregnant? ( I never looked like that! Ha …more like a whale…hmmm)
My gift to the Mama, a hand stitched doily singlet. x
These personalised baby shower calico tea bags were give to each guest as a thank you favour. They were customised by Green Acres Cottage on Etsy. Each bag was filled with a selection of gourmet teas. Guests were also encouraged to take a cupcake home in sweetly decorated baby boxes.
It was such an honour to put together this very rugged and rustic baby shower for a wonderful mama. The planning of this took many months and gave me a creative focus which helped me through some challenging weeks.
Always a joy to bake, create, love. xx
Welcome to the world, precious Arlo. There are many hearts and arms that love you.
