Hi frandz!! Let’s rewind back a few months for this post. Back to when I got a call from my good friend Kim, letting me know that she has the cheeeeeese. (which in our world means something exciting she has to share). Carlos (our best friend’s boyfriend) is planning on proposing! We knew the day was coming soon, not only because they’ve been dating for a little while and just bought a house together (a bit of a give away) but also that we had personally each asked him when he was marrying our friend. LOL No pressure here.
After hearing about the impending proposal, the whole crew went into secret mode – trying to help Carlos figure out 1. how he was going to surprise Bianca, which is no easy task and 2. what we were going to do to help them celebrate! Carlos and Bianca’s moms got the idea to do an engagement party and recruited everyone to help put all of the pieces together.
First step: The guest list & invitations
We decided to do digital text invitations since it would be a lot easier to keep the secret if people could just delete the invitation from their phones vs having physical evidence lying around. lol
So I whipped these up on photoshop and we sent it out to the massive list of family and friends who planned on joining us for the engagement party!
(Shameless plug: If you want invitations made and don’t plan on printing physical paper invites – you can still enlist my help for the digital design and send via email or text!)
We ordered a bunch of decor items from amazon and a few from Etsy to help us put together a decked out party.
The Flowers and Centerpieces
We ordered a whole crap ton of flowers from a local Miami floral wholesaler – YM Floral Distributors.
I’m telling you – this florist was awesome!
We got 60 stems of hydrangeas, 100 white roses, 20 stems of ranunculus, 75 stems of cream carnations, 4 bunches of baby’s breath, 4 bunches of eucalyptus, and 3 bunches of salal (a greenery) ALL FOR $200. YES, you read that right. That was enough flowers for decorating the flower wall, like 24 quart-sized mason jars full of flowers and left overs. 0_O.
It was amazing. Their warehouse is right next to the Miami International Airport, and Julie was amazing to work with. I highly recommend if you’re in the Miami area – I know I’ll be using them again in the future.
Now, anyone that knows Bianca, knows that she has to take a picture EVERYWHERE she goes. That just meant that we had literally hundreds of photos to choose from to incorporate throughout the party. Madisen had a great idea to include the photo on a skewer stick and stick them into all of the arrangements which really added a personal touch to each table.
We ordered these thick cut 3 x 3 photo cards from Photo and go. This website allows you to pull in photos directly from your instagram or other social media and another plus was that you can order them in a thicker paper that is much more rigid than normal photos – more like a thick poster board material. You just upload online and they get mailed directly to your house!
We also included the photos on a jute string on the front of the dessert table – this is where we used the bunches of eucalyptus. Didn’t they come out gorgeous!
Hand Lettered Signage by Lovely Olive Living
Every party needs a welcome sign – this is where my hand lettering skills came in handy! (Want one for your next event? Send me a message!) We added a bit of left over eucalyptus to add an extra romantic feel.
We also put together this hashtag photobooth sign to set up on the photo prop table – I will keep kicking myself for not getting a good photo of it but here is a quick snapshot from the behind the scenes! (You can order one of these for your upcoming party as well!)
A flower wall for the books
The pride and joy of the decor was this beautiful flower wall. We rented the greenery wall separately, and used the hydrangeas we ordered to add into the wall. Each hydrangea also had a small water tube on the end so that it wouldn’t wilt. I will say though, hydrangeas in the Florida heat & humidity are not exactly a match made in heaven (LOL) so I would suggest using these in the cooler months and potentially a less fragile flower for the warmer weather.
All in all though, I would say the sweat and tears were worth it because this wall came out BEAUTIFUL! If I do say so myself. 😉 The #engaged sign came in one of the etsy decoration kits we ordered but you can pick a similar one up on amazon.
Tell me this literally doesn’t make your jaw drop – I’d tell you that you were a liar.
After the sweat and tears – a quick pic with Madisen before the party started. 🙂
We made sure to send off Mr. Fiance with a bouquet of his own for his bride-to-be.
A few hours later…..
Gosh, so good looking. 😉 Photo credit courtesy of Miami-based wedding photographer: Donna Irene Weddings
Not only was the engagement a surprise (sorta because she’s nosy. lol) the whole party was a surprise as well!!
I’d call it a success!!
If you are interested in any of the hand-lettered items you’ve seen in this post then send me a quick message and we can chat about creating something for your next event! And if you’re based in the Miami/Ft.Lauderdale area and are looking for an amazing planner for your next party – contact my best friend Kim Van Belle (Just send her a DM!!). She helped coordinate the caterer, the decorations and a whole lot more!
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