Lauren’s 32nd birthday & bon voyage party
When I moved to England on September 1, 2022, I thought that was it — I fully intended on moving there permanently … which of course meant that I wanted an opportunity to say goodbye to all of my loved ones. I also had to get rid of as many of my possessions that I could bear to part with (I asked people I trusted to hold onto family photos & memorabilia like old letters from my late grandfather, but everything that I wanted with me for the next year+ had to fit in a few suitcases; the rest had to go). My 32nd birthday in July offered a perfect opportunity to gather people together, give lots of hugs, eat some cake, and try to get rid of as much of my possessions as I could.
Below are the invitations and signage that I designed, along with some of shots of the party that I took and that Mark Farrell was kind enough to document through his lens.
I printed the invitations with the rounded edges, through Paper Culture because I knew I could upload my original design, and I’ve used them before and been impressed with the printing and paper quality & their commitment to the environment.
front of invitation I designed: photo by Ava Huggins; handwriting by me; rose petals and ferns collected, pressed, and scanned by me; confetti also scanned by me. With these analog elements brought into the digital world, I played with scale in Photoshop for a whimsical scrapbooking/memory-keeping vibe. Keep swiping to see more of the event details.
The rose gold 32 bounced around in my wildflower garden all day. Rose gold was an essential component to my color scheme.
back of invitation I designed
photo booth signage
the photo booth signage near the photo booth set up, with the addition of the hashtag, hung above my wildflower garden
sparkly champagne-shaped bubbles, set up in the photo booth area
some of my family in front of the photo booth & guest book area; floral pastel Union Jack pennants were designed, hand-cut, and glued by me to emphasize the bon voyage aspect of the summer English garden party theme
a Paddywax candle holder reused as a pen holder because the quote from my favorite author was too good to pass up
I set up photo props, bubbles, and my Instax camera with spare film packets on the photo booth table.
Lights and balloons were important to create the festive ambiance I wanted
These signs, at the entrance to the backyard party, welcomed guests & helped them navigate the different zones of the party. I embellished with my handwritten script to match the front of the invitation and the photo booth sign.
As you can see in the background, I made signs to help my guests navigate the space, including: "garbage," "recycling," "bathroom" (including the light switch's location outside of the bathroom).
Behind some of my family, you can see the balloon arch between the kitchen and the living room, as well as the helpful hint that "ice is in freezer" sign.
Here is the balloon arch I assembled between the kitchen and the living room from the other side, with the luggage party favors (hand-lettered name tags) & the floral Union Jack pennants that I cut from scrapbook paper hanging in the kitchen window.
While I didn't design this banner, I couldn't help but source it (Amazon purchase) since it was too perfect to pass up. I did design all of the silent auction sheets & Venmo profile QR code mini sheets; you can see many of the books that I had to rehome on the left of the photo.
I designed, hand-cut, and glued the floral pastel Union Jack pennants (from scrapbook paper) and distributed them around the event. For the Union Jack-inspired flags, I kept the lose color theme of blue and pink (instead of the traditional red) and white. The scrapbook patterns allowed me some playfulness with this; it was a guide for myself but not a restriction.
These tiny luggage party favors (from Amazon) have handwritten name tags for each guest, lined up between the kitchen and the living room, under the balloon arch (not pictured here).
I hung solar-powered lanterns and paper flowers from the tree in the backyard.
A young guest took over running the photo booth & assisted other guests with putting on the fake rose gold tea party-themed tattoos I had laid out in that zone.
Guests were encouraged to take pictures of themselves and put them in the guest book I had set up on the photo booth table. Garden tea party photo props and fake tattoos were also available on this table.
The cake was topped with snapdragons that I placed (they're edible!) and candles embedded with dried rose petals.
Guests pose in front of the tree decorated with solar-powered lanterns and paper flowers. You can see some of the plates and cups that I picked out to go with the rose gold summer English tea party theme.
The solar-powered lanterns came on at dusk, adding a little magic to the atmosphere.
The photo booth and props were well-used.
I weaved a string of lights with fake roses into the very real rose bush, and it was hard to tell in the dusk why some roses were glowing and why some weren't.
The solar-powered lights above the wildflower garden I planted also came on around dusk.
Guests left incredibly sweet and encouraging notes (and photos from the photo booth) in my guest book!
The solar-powered lanterns were lit in the dusk, the cake mostly eaten.
interior decor
The decor that I set up in the living room dances in the air conditioning and dazzles in the sun. There’s a sneak peek of the decoration in the kitchen, too.
the food
I designed little signs for people to fill out when they brought their pot luck dishes so that other guests would know the ingredients (allergies to avoid, etc.). I had given people a general tea party theme and managed the list of contributions so we wouldn’t have redundancies. I was so grateful for all of the incredibly yummy food that people brought!