Bachelorette Party and Bridal Brunch

I don't care what anybody says. I had the best bachelorette party ever. At least, everything about it was so perfectly tailored to what I wanted to do. Alana was such an awesome maid of honor for planning something that was so perfectly me.

I didn't want to go bar hopping. It's loud, and I really wanted to spend quality time hanging out with my groups of girls. So Alana decided on nice dinner in Ohio City followed by drinks in a private lounge at the Velvet Tango Room (an incredible old Speakeasy style bar that serves classic cocktails like Ramos Gin Fizzes, Sidecars, and Dark and Stormies).

I'll just tell the rest of the story in pictures:

Dinner with all my favorite ladies at the Flying Fig

Dinner at the Flying Fig. This was the special that night; a frisse salad
with wild mushrooms and pine nuts and a wonderful sweet dressing.
One of the greatest salads I've ever eaten, hence the photo. I ordered duck
for my main course, but it was too delicious to interrupt with a photo.

The bachelorette party right after dinner, before we headed to the
Velvet Tango Room for cocktails.

At the VTR where we played bachelorette party games (A How Well Do
You Know The Bride one and a hilariously entertaining Never Have I
Ever game) over cocktails, with lots of laughs.

An awesome shot of us all sitting at the bar.

The next morning, I wanted to hold an elegant tea party/brunch as a thank you to my bridesmaids for being such amazing ladies. So I corralled my mother into helping me to host, and we came up with a delicious menu (sour cream coffee cake, vanilla french toast, fruit salad, and scrambled eggs), delicate teas (Harney and Sons Wedding Tea and Tokyo blends), and a classy and beautiful tablescape. I'll tell you, there's nothing better than drinking orange juice out of crystal goblets. After we ate, I gave them all bridesmaid gifts (including the jewelry to wear with their dresses for the wedding), and handwritten letters of love and thanks. 

I'm glad I had the opportunity to get a little girly and mushy on them. They know I'm not generally all about that sort of thing, but I can get pretty sentimental thinking about the people I love, and this wedding just highlighted how much love John and I have all around us.

Sour cream coffeecake, and teapots with my favorite teas in them.

The tablescape for the brunch. I loved my mom's green tablecloth; it
really made everything pop.

The top of one of the gift boxes. It's a vintage floral image I printed and
glued to the top to make the white box less boring.

A complete box as it looked when it was opened.

Not only was this a fitting present, this happens to be one of my
all-time favorite teas! It's a wonderfully fragrant white tea with
vanilla, rosebuds, and lemon.

A champagne Swarovski crystal necklace, which they wore to the
wedding with their bridesmaid dresses. I stole the idea from
a J.Crew necklace that was $60-something a piece...

The original J.Crew necklace. I loved the color of the stones, but
not the rectangular shape or how they were vertically suspended
from the chain. So I bought gold crinkle chain (much more
delicate), champagne-colored Swarovski crystals in an oval shape,
and I set the stones horizontally.

Just a little pretty card I printed off to tuck in with
the jewels and other gifts.

Erin's locket and handkerchief

Erin's locket

Alana's locket and handkerchief

Alana's locket had some pink tint on the bows.

Priya's handkerchief. Daffodils are our sorority flower.

Priya's locket close up.

Dani's locket and handkerchief

Dani's locket

Hilary's locket and handkerchief

Hilary's locket and handkerchief

What was in the lockets, you ask? Photos of me with that bridesmaid. I had the idea a long time ago, about the time I started wearing my grandma's old locket. I have a mini collection of lockets going, and I got the idea to try to collect five for my ladies, but it was an expensive endeavor. Vintage lockets go for at least $20 a piece on Etsy (and most of the ones I liked were $40-$60).

I had almost given up on the project when I saw a vintage locket charm bracelet. It had 10 or 12 lockets on it in different sizes and was totally affordable. I not only had lockets for each bridesmaid (and it was pretty easy to determine which one should go to each bridesmaid), but I ended up with the ones that adorned my bouquet, and a few spares to add to my collection. Win-win in DIY-land!

I also wrote each bridesmaid a letter telling them how much I loved them. There were some tears flowing at the brunch. I'm just glad I had a chance to show them how much they mean to me.

It was an amazing weekend. I had the greatest time. It's easy to forget just how much fun I had because the following weekend really was the time of my life...

Party Time!

I love the contrast in these images by russetplait: the red hair, the deep red lips, the black against the snow. So gorgeous!

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I love this look for the holidays; just a pop of deep red with black and a touch of sparkle at the collarbone.

I also liked E's look on Academichic for a party with professors: deep charcoal gray with bright red tights.

I would so wear this! Only I'd probably add a simple necklace with red gems;
I don't like my neck to go bare unless I'm playing violin.

My take on neutrals+red? I'm currently wearing red nail polish from Urban Outfitters.

This exact one, in fact.

This is a first for me, because I've always avoided red nails. They're just so basic, not much more interesting to me than a french manicure (eeew). Nothing against girls who want the classic look,* I'd just rather have an opaque pop of color if I'm going to take the time to do my nails. I don't often do it, because I'm impatient and smudge the nails before they can get a chance to really set.

Generally I'm all about the OPI Sephora colors, but it's hard to justify $9.00 nail polish when I'm not a nail polish maven. When I was at UO buying this nail polish (and Christmas presents for people), the girl at the checkout said "This is such a blood red. Like something out of Twilight." One of the other cashiers chided her, "DON'T TELL THAT TO THE CUSTOMERS!" I had a chuckle.

Anyways, back to party looks. We had a nice little shindig at our place Sunday evening. Just eleven friends, mulled wine, and appetizers. It was an awesome evening. It was the first time we've had more than a couple people over at once, and it was a smashing success.

I labeled everything.

The puppy chow/muddy buddies were gone by the end of the night.

The table with Christmas decor.

Snowflake garlands and pretty lights.

Our coffeetable with the "party tree"
and flowers from John's concert on Thursday.

Setting out the pretty cups and the veggie tray.

And, of course, I have no photographic evidence of my outfit, but I got lots of compliments. I wore a soft-as-can-be black cardigan over a quirky floral print dress I bought at Salvation army, my red nails, my grandmother's golden lockets, a black fascinator in my hair, and dark skinny jeans. The important thing to me was keeping everybody in food and drink and conversation, and I'd say it went off without a hitch.

Hope your holidays are filled with many nights of family, friends and fun!


*Unless you get a french pedicure. Those creep me out for some reason. A lot.