I’m sure Ryan won’t be thrilled at the fact that I’m drawing his birthday to everyone’s attention – but we both had “big” birthdays last year, and loved getting to celebrate that time in each others’ lives. We had plans to go to Germany for Oktoberfest, but football season caused some wedding dates to get moved around and we had to cancel that trip. Hopefully we’ll be able to make that up sometime soon, but I couldn’t let his special day go without mention. So I planned a surprise party with a few of our closest friends, and favorite wedding/party vendors to help pull off a wonderful dinner party at our house.
I sent Ryan off to play golf with a friend the afternoon of his birthday, and as soon as he left, my buddies started arriving and helping me set up for our backyard party. Our friend, Clay, with Panache Tents and Events, brought tables and the super lovely silver chiavari chairs, along with silver chargers and silverware for us. Then my dear friend (and bride), Catherine, of The Highland Gardener, came and created THE most magnificent tablescape. I gave her a large task – to come up with florals for an Auburn themed party – burnt orange and navy. She seemed a little hesitant at first, but you’ll see that she ran with it and made it more amazing than anything I could have imagined!
We met a wonderful new friend at Catherine’s wedding, Chase, who ended up being our chef for the evening. I went grocery shopping and met him in the parking lot the day before to give him all the ingredients, and he prepped and did all kinds of stuff, then showed up to serve us an amazing meal. He needs to start his own business offering this service….I’m trying to talk him into it.
Our friend Katie Gainey, of Katie’s Cakes and Catering, made all 3 of Ryan’s favorite desserts. An apple pie, and mini pound cakes and key lime pies. They were all perfection….and I enjoyed pound cake for breakfast several mornings after that.
The lovely Shari Arrington, of Arrington Calligraphy, helped me with some finishing touches of place cards, and menus. I’m planning to frame the menu as a keepsake from the day – I’m so glad she put the date on them!
Thanks to everyone for making it such a great day – I think Ryan was truly surprised, and I had a blast planning the whole thing. I spent about 10 minutes taking pictures, then put the camera down to enjoy the night. So I managed to miss taking photos of the beer flights I set up for all of us to do tastings. You’ll just have to visualize that.
Rentals: Panache Tent + Event
Floral Design: Catherine Shock with The Highland Gardener
Dessert: Katie’s Cakes and Catering
Calligraphy: Arrington Calligraphy
Our backyard doesn’t look too shabby, huh?
I put a different pint glass at each person’s table from our massive collection:
Menu and placecards from Arrington Calligraphy:
I still can’t get over all the cool blue and orange florals Catherine found. So much cool texture!
Rylie and I spent an afternoon making beer cap initials to spruce up the back deck:
Lobster bisque shooters made from lobster that we caught in the Keys (that was more for our guests to enjoy, since Ryan is allergic to shellfish. But he’s great at catching them!):
All the yummy desserts! And another beautiful display made by Catherine:
Our bestest friends in the whole wide world (who live in Tallahassee….it was hard for anyone else to travel with a Tuesday party). They were all instructed to wear their favorite college football attire so they weren’t all “stuck” in Auburn gear (as some of them root for opposing teams…ahem, Derryberries…)