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Garden, Home & Party

Tag Archives: Engagement Party

{GHP} Engagement Party pics

01 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Dessert, DIY (do it yourself), Drink, Entertaining, Fall Entertaining and Decorations, Family, Food, Outdoor living

≈ 10 Comments

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Engagement Party

My friends in Turtle Rock and blog land will know that we hosted an engagement party for *Kevin and Sarah (formerly Son #2 and his darling fiancé).

*I’ve decided to use first names in my posts.  What are your thoughts on this?  Am I crazy? (Please don’t answer that last question) I’ve noticed most bloggers that I read use pseudonyms for their family members and friends.  I’m not sure I like the pseudonym for Lyn, my husband.  I found “Hubby” too cute and decided I’d make the leap and use first names.  I could have created other names for loved ones but decided against that in fear that I’d need a key to keep them all straight.  So as of now, first names will be used unless I hear from people that they really would prefer to stay completely anonymous.

Anyway, I digress, here are some images I took of the party and while I didn’t get nearly as many pictures of the actual event as I’d hoped, it was a success and I’ve been told a good time was had by all.

By hosting this party in late October, decorations were easy for me.  I love fall and everything about it.  In Southern California the season is generally mild, weather-wise.  I was hoping for sunny day-time temps in the high seventies and for nightfall to bring just a slight chill to the air…we were lucky.  That is exactly how the day turned out.

Guests included dear friends and family, Kyle (Son #1) flew in from Austin and Sarah’s family and friends were in attendance along with long time friends of Kevin’s.  It was so much fun celebrating the engagement with everyone.

{pumpkins in the birdbath, thank you for the idea, Carla}

Our home is small but we were able to utilize the yard.  We moved furniture to create  seating areas all around the back yard.  One thing I failed to take a picture of (darn it) was a picture of some Ikea lanterns I hung at different levels out in the trees that border the back yard.  Ikea had little battery operated strands of LCD lights that I bunched into each lantern.  Because the LCD bulbs are so much brighter than regular twinkle lights, the little lanterns illuminated the outer reaches of the yard.

I had 3 of these larger lanterns and hung a couple of them on hooks near the ground with candles.

I made the burlap pillows with burlap from JoAnns Fabrics and some down pillow forms I had saved from old pillows.  I used an acrylic paint and Martha Stewart stencil from Michaels.  I gave the pillows to Sarah and Kevin for their patio after the party.

Meanwhile, the menu for the evening was as follows:

Menu

 

Teriyaki Flank Steak Skewers

Herb-Marinated Chicken Tender Skewers

Roquefort Tartlets

Tapenade & Crostini

Salami Bites

Skewered Italian Salad

Feta w/ Caramelized Onion

Mushroom Turnovers

Brandied Sausages

Humus & Pita Chips

Mixed Nuts ‡ Potato Chips ‡ Pretzels ‡ Cheese Platter

Chardonnay ‡ Cabernet ‡ Beer ‡ Soft Drinks ‡ Water ‡ Pink Margaritas

Dessert (cookies, See’s candy and blueberries, strawberries and raspberries)

{we offered some wonderful cheeses, thank you, Julie; it takes a village to throw a party!}

Deadly, but delicious Pink Margaritas (from Barefoot Contessa’s latest book, “How easy is that?”.

{The dessert table was a hit with everyone, thank you, Glenys}

Email me if you want any recipes or have any questions.  Thanks for joining me at the party.

{Party} Planning a party (ENGAGEMENT PARTY)

06 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Dessert, Drink, Entertaining, Fall Entertaining and Decorations, Family, Food, Gardens, Misc, Outdoor living

≈ 2 Comments

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Engagement Party

My apologies for the photo formatting.  I’m still trying to figure out why/how to place a group of pictures together without WordPress re-formatting the groupings AFTER it posts as it has below.  Arrrg!

Hubby and I, as parents of the groom-to-be, are planning an engagement party for our newly engaged son #2 and his lovely fiancé.

via

I thought since I’m thinking of little else, I’d share with you the steps I generally follow when planning a party larger than 10, which is the largest number of dinner guests my dining room table can comfortably seat, so usually we invite a few couples over and keep dinner simple.  This will be a little more involved if for no other reason than we expect a few less than 50 guests for hors d’oeuvres and libations in celebration of the engagement.

First we had to decide on a date.  I knew I wanted to host it while daylight savings time is still in place (giving us a bit more daylight into the evening) and didn’t want to interfere with Halloween weekend.  The date we selected is October 22nd and that gave me a little more than 1 month to get things done.  Phew! We also had to consider the availability of our groom and bride to be.

I’ve been to an engagement party for a dear friend’s son recently and decided to follow her lead with a cocktails  and (heavy) hors d’oeuvres menu. This made the details of the food more manageable for me.  I’ll be able to supplement the homemade appetizers with a few store bought favorites (thank you Costco and Trader Joes).  I will make sure most of the appetizers are mostly one-bite size and will use only cocktail napkins.  Reminder to self, have a few discreet trash cans available tucked in corners out of mainstream sight, to facilitate guests discarded napkins, picks and plastic glasses.

via Party Resources

After we had decided on a date I began our guest list.  We need to keep it to no more than 50 guests.  Our cottage has managed that number before and although it’s cozy with people, I think it could easily border on cramped once we go over that number.  I had to ask the happy couple for their list and then I began shopping invitations.  I wanted to try ordering invitations from one of the online sources (I’ve seen so many great looking invitations from a wide variety of online companies) and we all agreed on a style I found on Tiny Prints.  We’ve ordered the invitations and they will be here with about a week to address them  (in order to give folks a 3 week advance notice of the date of the party).

via Tiny Prints

I’ve lined up 2 servers, one young lady I work with and another that has served at events for another organization I belong to.  This is a bit of a luxury, but when it’s a cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, having help with final food prep and tray-passing is so nice.  It allows the hostess to enjoy the party!

The menu I’ve chosen will be fairly simple but will include several hors d’oeuvres that are substantive with chicken and beef, a variety of cheese based bites and some snacks that are tasty and easy to eat.  I want my guests to feel like they’ve had plenty to eat.

Cheese platter ~ {thank you, Julie!}

Teriyaki Flank Steak Skewers

Herb-marinated chicken tender skewers

Tapenade crostini

Salami bites

Feta with carmelized onion bites

Mushroom turnovers

Brandied sausages

Mixed nuts ~ Sourdough pretzels ~ Black pepper potato chips

Chardonnay ~ Cabernet Sauvignon

Champagne

Beer

Pink Margaritas

Water

Dessert (heart cookies) ~ {thank you, Glenys!}

 

 

These little bundles of joy are asparagus, arugula, baby greens salt and pepper wrapped with prosciutto.  I will toss the greens (lightly) in a vinaigrette before the wrap.  It’s a little salad wrap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The meat ball recipe I use includes Jimmy Dean sausage links with a sweet sauce that envelopes each bite; brown the sausage and allow to simmer in a blackberry brandy, chili sauce, soy sauce and molasses.  {Email me if you’d like this recipe}.

 

 

The little salami bites are a recipe I found when visiting my friend on Bainbridge Island.  Fill each salami round with a spread of boursin herbed cheese and add a row of capers, roll and secure with a pick…super easy and very tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I plan to use pumpkins and fall flowers on the dessert table, bar table and the kitchen island.  This time of year makes flowers and other table enhancements easy for me, it is certainly of the my favorite seasons.   We plan to have our Kooboo chairs out on the grass and we’ll push the patio table to one side to give the patio more room for guests that want to stand and visit.

 

 

I’ll try to  remember to take some pictures after we’ve set up for the event for a future post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll have the patio table pushed to one side with a cloth and flowers and pumpkins.  The Kooboo chairs will be situated in the backyard in groupings, to encourage guests to mix and mingle.

We’ll have our French doors wide open to encourage movement with the guests.  You know how some parties bottle neck in one spot and you can’t get folks to move around?  I’m hoping to avoid that by setting the bar up in the atrium and having the USC game on in the family room and then with seating and standing space in the back yard we’ll hope for plenty of milling around, visiting and general good cheer.

I’ll move this furniture to the backyard as well and we’ll set the bar up here…folks can grab a beverage on their way in (the atrium is one the left side mid-way in the entry.

 This is so exciting!  I’d love to hear any last minute tips from you!

 

 

 

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