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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Live, Laugh, Love to Read Books...A Sweet 16th




I'm proudly sharing with you the details on a very sweet 16th birthday,  for my oldest daughter who just LOVES books.  The party was created and inspired by her favorite books and book series.  Mixing dark and light colors was a lovely challenge. I tried to incorporate the sweets and treats she enjoys the most into the dessert table.  I'm grateful to her wonderful friends that helped keep it a secret and at the end we had a lovely surprise celebration!



 I found this precious birthday banner at a local gift shop,  Bradley's
and it called my attention,  the writing on top and the Scrabble looking letter tiles that spell Happy Birthday!  The beautiful beige and black butterfly fabric is from Hobby Lobby.












The cutest little books are from LCCakes !!






I handmade this banner, that she now proudly shows off in her room,  and also made the Cake Pops to match one of her favorite series, The Bride Quartet by Nora Roberts .  The small butterflies on the Cake Pops are made in edible wafer rice paper by Sweet Deja Vu .
























These beautiful cookies were made by Lori's Place custom made.  Lori saw the book cover and it inspired her to make the design for us!  















The gift table was inspired by the book The Giving Tree ( a must read if you ask me! )  by Shel Silverstain.  Another one of Tiana's favorites by Silverstain is Where The Sidewalk Ends.  



 I made Twilight Apple Cake Pops






Her own cupcake!!  ( 16 already, ouch!! )  The cupcakes wrappers I bought at Sweet Treats Party  with a $50 shopping spree I won, hosted by Eat Drink Pretty  !!






...more wrappers

























Got books?



Don't forget to check out last year's big celebration and Tiana's Quinceañero  Blue Dreams and Butterflies Sweet 15!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Blue Dreams and Butterflies Sweet 15th, A Celebration to my Daughter

As my oldest daughter Tiana turns 16 right before Thanksgiving this year,  (we had ourselves a 'little turkey', on a Thanksgiving morning)...I found myself wanting to put together a post on the most beautiful celebration we had for her last year, as she turned 15.






In our hispanic culture is a tradition to celebrate a girls 15th Birthday with a big gathering of family and friends.  It it's called a Quinceañero.  She is given a Tiara and a Sceptor and her Dad changes her flat girly shoes into high heels to simbolize her turning into a woman. 






We had the privilege of having friends and family share this joy with us as we celebrated Tiana's Quinceañero in blue shades, hydreangeas and butterflies, in Harmony, Florida







Tiana had damas beside her that acted as "bridemaids" and they all had a special meaning to her.  We gave tradition a little twist, as the damas usually simbolize a year of the Quinceañera's life;  we had 'themes' instead, to simbolize the most important things in Tiana's life:  faith, laughter, reading, music, education, fashion,  family and friends.    The Tiara and Shoes were carried by family,  with her little brother carrying The Shoes and her cousin carrying The Tiara.



 



Below I share with you the most exciting photos and facts about the celebration.  Our beautiful photos were taken by a dear friend,  dperspectivephoto





  
Tiana's Guestbook featured pictures of her and family and friends throughout her 15 years for them to sign by their picture.  These also had year dates by them.



"Our Sweet Little Girl" Dessert Table and Favors


The tables were named after favorite songs and her own cake on the Head Table with a clear replica of Jeff Gordon's #24 car (Her favorite number and Nascar Racer)


Fifteen Butterfly Candles for the Guests Cake








Very Proud Mom and Dad


Our Family Picture


My favorite picture of our family of 5! It shows exactly how we are...






View our other post,  "A Quince Diary" to see our ideas and inspiration to make the event.  From how we ask the Damas for their company,  to How the wonderful cookies were made....  




 







A Quince Diary...

I found myself surrounded by dozens of Bridal Magazines for months ( the ones I can't see to just throw away now! ),  and I found inspiration and ideas on ALL of them of course,  but the most important details to giving our daughter a great party and celebration as she turned into a young woman was to listen for what she wanted and that was blue colors, butterflies, paper lanterns,  little on the silver and some Enchiladas to eat!!  





  Even to our family and friends some of the details of how it all became together might be unknown and I can do that now,  given the great opportunity that I designed this blog to share the wonderful details and ideas of Party Planning!



 One of the first inspiration board that caught our attention was this one from Davids Bridal.  The girls with the different shades of blue and the outdoors.



 Image from Martha Stewart Weddings.




The Candy Buffet was one of the first ideas I wanted to incorporate.  COLOURlovers.com  helps you create a neat palette of colors for your special occasion. 




And so we sent in an invitation to the Damas to request their company.  Some of the girls traveled with us to Florida from Tennessee to be a part of Tiana's big day.
  
We used a Bridal Invitation from Wedding Paper Divas.




And Save the Date Cards from Siera di Bella Designs to our guests.




Tiana chose a 'No Train' Strapless, Satin, Pick Up Style Skirt Dress from David's Bridal accented with Capri.



We chose to have it at Harmony Golf Preserve in Harmony,  Florida.  Most of our friends and family are in Central Florida and it's what we consider as Our Second Home.



Photo from Harmony Golf Preserve




We fell in love with the natural beauty of the location.



The invitation was printed at home from the Brides Collection that we bought at our local Michael's. 



And the small details started coming together...  Above are the Butterfly Sceptor,  the sparkly Converse,  the beautiful Davids Bridal Tiara and the "Mis Quince Años" pillow we used for the celebration.  










Damas Place Cards






On their glasses they also had butterflies from Timeless Paper


Timeless Paper Butterfly Place Cards



 Favor boxes for Candy Buffet Table were inspired by...
these from Martha Stewart Weddings







We put together white buckets for the kids to entertain and snack at the party and crystal butterflies were given to the Damas as gratitude.  



We had a "rehearsal dinner" two days before.



 And I found inspiration to put together colors from the event with Thanksgiving colors to host Thanksgiving dinner for our traveling guests the day before.



 Our Thanksgiving invitation for our traveling guests,  also from the BRIDES Collection.



 We really enjoyed having a full house and playing games with our guests.


 
Tiana danced with her Daddy to the sounds of Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus,   Butterfly Fly Away



 Her flower arrangement was also handmade at home with silk flowers.  Tiana wore a rhinestone flower pin on her blue sash to symbolize that she has always been "Daddy's flower"!  ( It's what he has always call her ).




The delicious cake,  a gift from her Godfather Abraham and his wife Ana,  pictured below with their family.








A picture of Harmony inside entrance.  I was lost in words when I arrived earlier at the banquet room that morning to see everything coming together.  We did not have to lift a finger, as Michelle, the coordinator takes care of all the details.  










While the girls were getting ready....




 This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls!









Inspiration for Tiana's Hair Style from Modern Bride.






Our idea behind the lanterns outside inspired from Susan and Mike's Wedding Episode of Desperate Housewives






















Her wonderful Godparents












The cookies were fabulous....


and inspired by a Southern Living Magazine Recipe


and baked and decorated by a great friend from home,  Wendy Robinson.


Wendy made them not only beautiful but delicious too.






November in Florida was a bit cool,  and it got dark fast!  




But Dana managed to take beautiful pictures of Harmony during the afternoon.






Daddy's girl had her dream of being a Quinceañera realized...






And Mom is now proud to share it with you all!






Hope you all enjoyed it!






We love you forever Princess Tiana!






At around 10 years old.
Turning into a beautiful butterfly...