Here is what Michelle had to say about the celebration-- “I had been planning Isabella's christening party almost from the moment I got pregnant. I was so excited to throw this very first party we would have for our little girl so I wanted something really memorable and pretty.
I always think of little Isabella as my miracle. I called her a little butterfly so I knew I wanted to incorporate butterflies into the theme. Since I decorated her nursery in a palette of pink and purple I opted for a classic color scheme of blush pink, purple, and pewter. I thought the colors looked great together and were both feminine and classic at the same time.
THEME:
I opted for a nice floral butterfly garden theme since the event would be in the afternoon. I thought this brought together all the elements I loved perfectly.
INVITES:
Since invitations truly set the mood for events, I wanted our invitation to say something about what we wanted the entire party to feel like. We opted for beautiful pewter gray pocketfold letterpress invitations with a purple band one of Isabella's newborn photographs on it as well. I really wanted everything to be special so we even had each envelope done in handwritten calligraphy.
THE STYLING:
There was truly a certain look I was going for and to achieve it I worked with Bambi Hernandez of Alice's Wonderland. She is an amazing event and production stylist and I knew she could put together Isabella's perfect butterfly garden. I had bought these beautiful handmade purple, pink, and white butterflies I gave her to use throughout the styling to tie everything together. She was amazingly meticulous with the details. She took my mood board and brought it life, putting everything together so beautifully.
Our event was at the Continental Restaurant which had large windows allowing the sunlight to stream in. We used purple and pink tablecloths on the smaller square tables. Each table had a low flat arrangement of fresh flowers with a mason jar at the center containing sand and a butterfly. Additional butterflies also accented the centerpieces which Bambi and her team handmade on the day of the event.
The dessert table had a tabletop mini trellis with suspended butterflies and flowers in floating glass balls. This was further accented with ISABELLA's name above the sweets and photos of her accenting the whole table.
The main decorating element though was a handcrafted letter "I" installation that greeted guests as the entered the venue on a large round marble table. It was made with silk flowers and was accented by floral arrangements and candles. On this same table were "Wish Cards" for Isabella that guests filled up and hung on her tree.
SWEETS:
The desserts were a large part of the event. Not only were there delicious but they made the dessert buffet look stunning. The sweets table were filled with floral cupcakes by Swell Sweets, personalized cookie pops, and cake pops from Cuppy Puppy Bakehouse, and a beautiful ruffle cake by Swell Sweets. It also had personalized purple M&M's my mom had hand-carried from Las Vegas home to the Philippines with Isabella's name on them.
GIVEAWAYS:
We wanted to give everyone something special to remember the day so we had handmade crocheted baby booties made in white and pink and I personally filled them with Isabella's personalized M&M's for the guests. For her godparents we prepared special gifts - purple Pashmina scarfs for the ladies and homemade chocolate chip cookies for the gentlemen.”
VENDORS:
Styling: Bambi Hernandez of Alice's Wonderland
Photography: Karen Ilagan
Cake pops and cookie pops: Joanna Romero of Cuppy Puppy Bakehouse
Cake and cupcakes: Gel Colet of Swell Sweets
