Sweet Sixteen Soiree

While weddings have been keeping me very busy this summer, I also have been working on a sweet sixteen for a very deserving birthday girl. When I was hired at the end of the July, I immediately got a group of A-list vendors together and began pulling ideas that would make the party a night to remember. Given the size of the crowd, we decided to throw a dessert themed dance party.

The invitation was found at Village Press at the beginning of the planning process, so it quickly became the focus of our decor theme.

The party was held in the back yard of the birthday girl's home. The yard has two levels to it, so we created a dessert lounge around the pool and put the D.J. and dance floor a few steps above the pool.

For decor, we skipped flowers all together and mainly focused on lighting. Alex from A.G. Lighting hooked us up with pink "up" lighting for the gazebo, string lights, white lanterns and spot lights for the corners of the pool. I also floated 34 glass bubble vases into the pool. Each vase contained pink water and a floating candle.

Every birthday party needs a birthday cake, so I gave Olexa a call. They were able to create a cake beautiful enough to be the focus of the dessert bar.

Kathy G. & Co. created some amazing sweet treats for the party. Cake pops on a stick and red velvet cupcakes were displayed on the dessert table along with a variety of pink candy, the birthday cake and Osler's sandwich's (just in case someone didn't want sugar).

Cellophane bags and custom labels were available for guests to make their own favor bags filled with rock candy, jelly beans, M&Ms, taffy, chocolate balls and sour belts.

FYI...I ordered the 36 oz. balloons online and had them blown up at Party City. The balloons were definitely one of my favorite details to the night.

What better way to end a hot summer night than with an ice cream sundae bar. Guests were served vanilla ice cream in a Cosmo glass and then given free reign to pile on the toppings.

The entertainment for the evening was DJ Chris from Feel The Beat Entertainment. The laser show that went along with every song was all we needed to create the perfect atmosphere for the dance floor.

Raspberry spritzers were also available for guests as they danced on and off the dance floor.

We also brought in a screen and projector (vaguely seen through the trees in this photo) to play a photo slide show of the birthday girl and her friends. The photographer for the night, Will Dickey, was even able to upload photos taken throughout the night to play during the party.

All and all, this was definitely one of Gather's favorite parties. The clients were an absolute delight to work with and I was so happy how everything turned out!

Happy Planning!

-NB