February | 2012 | Events by Elisa

I don’t know how closely you’ve been following my Twitter or Facebook… But if you’ve been paying attention you might have noticed some discussion of a photo shoot. You might have even seen a teaser or two. There will be a full post about this some time soon, but for now, some photos are up on Iliana Morton’s blog. Seriously. In less than two weeks. I know, she’s amazing. 🙂

This was a labor of love (and, yes, like Iliana said, we ended up putting it together in about a week). I did the print materials design and styling, and shared event design duties (including the gorgeous hanging ribbons and frames) with Desiree of Penny Blooms Floral Design. Hair and makeup were done by the oh-so-talented Ashley of Unbridled Beauty Makeup Artistry (also, I need to blog about her logo!), with a Sweet Table featuring a cake provided by Sweeter by the Dozen and cake balls by Calculated Whisk. And let’s not forget linens by Classy Covers (with custom runners made by Desiree and myself), rentals by Abbey Party Rentals (including those fabulous amber glasses!), and a FABULOUS Free People dress!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who was involved in the shoot. I’m totally in love! <3! More photos to come very soon!

I created this “Under the Sea” baby shower theme for a very special momma – my cousin Natalie! She wanted a big affair – 70 people, including kids and men – so it had to be anything but ordinary!

This shower was originally scheduled – and styled – for outdoors in a pretty, terraced backyard. But a week before the shower was to take place, we found out that our Southern California sun wasn’t going to behave. Instead of having a beautiful relaxing sun-soaked November day, we’d have soaking of a different sort. Rain. Buckets of rain.

I can’t lie – it was a bit of a shocker, since no one counted on rain during what was supposed to be a very dry November in San Diego. What was worse was that the home where we’d planned to hold the shower couldn’t accommodate 70 people indoors. So, thanks to a very generous coworker, we moved on to Plan B: the gourmet kitchen and bar areas of a private clubhouse (the rest of which was already rented out that day for a bridal shower!).

Luckily it was an absolutely gorgeous venue, and luckily even the rain didn’t keep away the throngs of guests. We showered this Mama in style!

We created some really fun touches, from GORGEOUS sea urchin vases custom made by the insanely creative Desiree of Penny Blooms to cascading bubble chandeliers made from clear glass ornaments provided by the mom-to-be to a wishing tree made from driftwood.

Natalie and Tony decided that they didn’t want to know the gender of their unborn baby, so we threw a completely gender-neutral party (complete with coloring pages asking if the kids in attendance thought the baby was a Stella – girl – or Brayden – boy, and a single game asking adults in attendance to fill in their guesses for birth stats and gender). I have to admit, it was kind of tough staying firmly in the “cute and gender neutral” category, but it was helpful that Natalie chose such an adorable “Under the Sea” theme, inspired by a set of scrapbooking stickers she found when she found out she was first pregnant!

I created a set of printed pieces including an invitation featuring original artwork (inspired by the stickers) an original poem by Practically Perfect Poetry, Prose, and Proofreading – I just love how much personality there was in that sweet little turtle!

Then of course there was my personal favorite feature of the party – a huge ocean-themed sweets buffet featuring a gorgeous “wave” backdrop of fabric that my amazing assistant found at Joann’s Fabric, hand-assembled clamshell cookies (made by me!), a sculpted sandcastle cake by Hey There, Cupcake!, and the most adorable sea creature cake pops by Calculated Whisk! The “sand” was actually brown sugar, and the rocks and shells were candy – and every kid there (and some of the adults) loved that they could eat every bit they wanted! Plus brown sugar was inexpensive, non-toxic, and looked and smelled amazing!