HOME TOUR

My parents live in the Napa Valley and they aren’t short on beautiful party locations but since I was planning this from 3000 miles away in Boston and didn’t have the energy to plan it from the ground up (ie tent, caterer, rentals, etc) we searched for the perfect restaurant location. Having it at a restaurant meant far less / any party rentals since it would be a location, food and seating all in one. So that limits your choices since I was going for the right “look.” I wanted a neutral canvas so the party details could pop. Boy did we ever find the most lovely spot. Archetype restaurant is on Main St in St Helena and it could not have been more perfect. They have a enclosed front porch with beautiful white painted brick fireplace and wall to wall shelves with potted plants. Gorgeous windows and natural light and better yet, the tables and chairs are right out of a Paris bistro. Perfect for a spring garden party. I worked with the manager to select 5 entrees for a custom party menu. They provided grapefruit mimosas and we brought in Rosé.

I designed the party based off of my mom’s favorite colors–coral and navy. To make things interesting I played with the texture of materials, from navy ikat pillows and runners to the coral velvet pillows and raw silk ribbons on the favor boxes to the shiny vintage brass candlesticks. The variety of textures add dimension. When styling a party don’t forget to think about how textures layer upon each other. The subtle details really make parties extraordinary.

I knew I wanted a floral invitation so I sneakily asked her opinion on invitations by saying I was helping a friend with wedding planning. She fell right into that trap and pointed out her favorite. Bingo. Invitations found. Zazzle did a fantastic job with the invitations. I used the same pattern to make custom signs, favors tags and labels for the dessert table.

The beautiful two-tiered, hand-painted ikat design and sugar flower cake was made by Perfect Endings in the Napa Valley. They also made the cupcakes. The cookies are by my favorite baker, Kessacakes, an Etsy shop. Here cookies are art. And yummy! They were the stars of the dessert table. Dessert tables are my favorite part of parties. It’s where the sugar-loving kid in me really gets to come out.

This whole day would never have happened without the amazingly talented floral designer Morgan Honings and her team at Tulips & Toadstools. I was able to drop all of the homemade details–linens, signs, chargers, plates, etc off with her before the party for her to set up the day of. Such a blessing. If it had been up to me to set up the party it never would have been able to be a surprise.

When trying to find an idea for unique favor boxes I loved a picture I had seen on pinterest that used a fresh flower and various ribbons. Of course that was too much work the day of so I looked for alternate options that would allow me to make them in advance. I knew we were going to be filling them with Sees Candy Dark Chocolate Nougat (my momma’s favorite). But I wanted them to be lovely. Not loving the idea of “fake” or silk flowers I happened to stumble upon paper flowers that were almost too beautiful to be fake. After some searching I found the original creator of these beautiful paper flowers. I sent an email and we corresponded back and forth. Turns out sweet Christine of Christine Paper Designs is in Romania and was kind enough allow me to be her first customer in the United States. Thank you Christine for the most lovely flowers! She made the most gorgeous garlands for the big balloons.