Lilac Baptism: The Reveal

This past Saturday was the day of the baptism I was prepping for all of last week.  I put off finishing the favors until Friday night and also had the centerpieces to work on, so I didn't get to go to bed until 3AM the morning of the party!  For some reason though, I had a lot of energy and didn't have too much trouble waking up 5 hours later to go to the venue to set up.  No coffee was required either!!  My lovely hubs helped me load/unload everything and was the best helper!  He has quite an eye for design and is very much a perfectionist (I'm more of a "ehh, that looks good enough" type of person -- it's the Libra in me), so he was a definite asset to me that morning. 

We finished setting up with plenty of time to get ready and head over to the baptism ceremony.  It was beautiful and Baby L is one of the cutest babies ever.  After the ceremony, we headed to the reception and had a great time with family.

Of course, as promised, here are some pictures of how everything turned out.  All photos were taken using our camera phones, since we still do not have a replacement for the point & shoot I lost in the beginning of this month.  (We were going to get a new one, but I decided I wanted the new iPhone 4 instead - the new cam will have to wait a little longer... maybe a D-SLR instead? That hint's for you, hubs)

I also included a breakdown of the cost for everything, in case you wanted to do something similar for your next party.

Favors:

80 Favors = $43.18/80 = $.54 each
-8 bags of caramel corn from Target = $34.55
-2 packs of 40-count favor bags from Michaels = $8.64
-20 pieces of white cardstock paper + staples + ink = FREE (leftover from previous projects)

Pom Poms:

10 Pom Poms = $5.35/10 = $.54 each
-Jewelry wire and fishing wire = FREE (leftover from previous projects)
-5 packs of gift-wrapping tissue paper from Target and Dollar Story = $.99/each

Banner:

Custom Name Banner = $7.23
-Cardstock from Michaels = $2.93
-Ribbon from Michaels = $3.22
-Design tape from Michaels = $1.07

Centerpieces:

10 Centerpieces = $140.57/10 = $14.57 per table
-9 bunches of flowers from Costco = $89.18
-10 sheets of cardstock = $6.85
-10 small bowls from Michaels = $12.72
-Floating candles: $14.80
-Design tape from Michaels = $1.07
-2 bags of decorative rocks from Michaels = $13.80
-Food coloring for water = $2.15
-Vases = FREE (had a ton of vases leftover from wedding)

And how can this post be complete without a picture of the guest of honor:

CIL J, Baby L (grabbing my hair), and me

Sneak Peek: Lilac Baptism

Remember the inspiration board I was working on last month for CIL J's daughter's baptism?  Well, the party is this weekend and I'm really excited but at the same time kinda nervous.  I hope my ideas are received well and CIL J isn't disappointed!

Last week during the few hours I have between dinner and bed time, I worked on finishing the centerpiece details and other decoration ideas.  It was a lot of work, but I had a really fun time shopping at Michael's and creating something out of nothing.  All I have left to do this week are the favors - woohoo!

I'll definitely post pictures after the event is over, but for now, here's a little sneak peak*:

*sorry for the poor quality camera phone images

Lovely Lilac Inspiration Board

I love all things pretty. I spend hours staring at beautiful wedding/birthday/shower pictures and envy the creativity and craftiness of all you amazing people out there.

I daydream of throwing my own parties with the same meticulous attention to detail, and from time to time, friends and family throw me a bone ask me to help them decorate a party. I have SO much fun scouring the interwebs trying to find beautiful inspiration and DIY ideas. There is SOOO much you can do and I am in awe with all the amazing creations people come up. Really - you guys are super cool.

Besides my own wedding, I've helped out two of my BFFs on different design elements for their wedding. More recently, I was Chief Decorator (self-given title - hehe) of my SIL M2's high school graduation. Her school colors were orange and black, so I was given the fun task of coming up with cute centerpieces and favors. (I'll post tutorials and pictures of what I came up with later). Overall, my ideas went over very well and I was commissioned to help decorate another event: CIL's baptism!

CIL J gave me the only requirement of using Lilac, Silver and White as the main color scheme. I have free reign to design the invitations, favors, and centerpiece ideas.

I love inspiration boards. They help me envision the larger picture and they are just so darn pretty to look at.

I've been on several party blogs and have been googling images all week. I think I came up with an inspiration board that looks pretty good and hope that CIL J likes it too! Since it's just an "inspiration" board we won't be incorporating everything below, but I hope to accomplish the same feel. I included the invitation design we are going with in the upper right-hand corner of the board, but replaced CIL J's baby with a stock image. CIL J's baby is such a cutie pie though! I hope to show you pictures once the event is over.

source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

I think I have the decorating elements decided, but I still don't know what to do for favors? Do you have any ideas or suggestions for me?