The Party Dress » black and white

TPD Magazine: Mix and Mingle

Kelly — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:00:57 +0000

I’m a sucker for a crisp black and white color palette, especially when accessorized with a pop of green and a touch of sparkle. When it came time to develop a new holiday party theme, I immediately drew inspiration from my Kate Spade china and her crisp, and preppy design aesthetic. An untraditional pairing for the holidays, our bold stripes and festive berry pattern make a stunning combination and are perfect for a cocktail or dinner party.

Designed around a party collection from WH Hostess, we set our table using a bold, green tablecloth. Black charger plates, our striped Kate Spade china, napkins made from our custom berry patterned fabric, and black-stemmed wine goblets are accessorized with striped paper goods – placecards and menu cards. Black urns ran down the center of the table holding floral pomander balls made of white carnations, very much resembling snowballs! Glass cloches held silver ornaments, and crystal compotes held glittering black beads and pearls.

When serving a fashionable crowd dessert, it is an absolute must to present it in a stunning manner. A dessert table that is crisp and festive is just the ticket! Carry over the color palette and patterns from your table- setting and paper goods, and have desserts made to coordinate. We suggest working closely with your sweets vendors to create designs that will compliment one another. Our table was set in a green tablecloth, and featured a tonal white patterned fabric backdrop. Silver, fluted-edge cake stands and a three-tier stand looked stunning paired with glass apothecary jars.

One of our FAVORITE desserts, were the striped mini cakes made out of fondant by Two Sugar Babies!

Desserts included a variety of bite size sweets so guests could try a few, and could also mix and mingle while enjoying them. Cupcakes were accessorized with coordinating cupcake toppers, Allyson Jane made bold-patterned cookies that matched our paper goods perfectly. Cake pops by Flour & Iced featured our black and white berry pattern with just a touch of green, and mini meringues melted in your mouth. Color-coordinated candy was placed in the apothecary jars, and each was embellished with a sweet candy jar tag. (our favorite were the “pearls”) The candy jar tags and food tent cards helped tie together the theme and made the table look very stylish!

A green cone-shaped tree sat atop a black urn (also seen on the dinner tablesetting). We added pearls into the center of each rosette on the tree for a touch of preppy elegance, and desserts were served on our black and white polka dot, Kate Spade tibit plates.

Guests were sent home with a small black box filled with cookies and sealed with a striped sticker.

TPD Magazine: Color My Party by TomKat Studio

Kelly — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:00:32 +0000

We always love seeing what Kim of The TomKat Studio comes up with for her “Color My Party” series in The Party Dress Magazine. This issue does not disappoint with an always-popular black and white color combo. Perfect for Halloween and for the upcoming holidays!

Parties by WH Hostess: Sunflower Soiree {Part II}

Kelly — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:00:15 +0000

I hope you all enjoyed the decorations and food ideas in Part I of our Sunflower Soiree feature this morning. I’m back with all delicious details from the desserts, which we were lucky enough to have featured on Amy Atlas last week!

The dessert table received many “oohs” and “ahhs” and is personally one of my all-time favorite tables to work on! I wanted a fitted tablecloth for this table, something that resembled a cabana awning. I sewed it myself in order to make it fit the table perfectly and even added a white pom pom trim on the hem. Two wrought iron trellis’ anchored the table and held sunflower pomander balls. A banner made out of our coordinating patterns was strung between the two to frame the table.

Allyson Jane created stunning, hand-iced sunflower cookies, as well as “6” and “0” cookies to go along with our birthday celebration.

The two-tiered cake with scalloped design held center court, and was dressed up with fondant flowers by Two Sugar Babies. Cake pops by Flour & Iced sat atop mini cake stands that were decorated with gingham pom pom trip and polka dot ribbon, and mini chocolate cakes were topped with fondant flowers. Color-coordinated candy was placed in glass jars and labeled with coordinating candy jar tags.

JP Creatibles decorated darling cookies that incorporated both the sunflower, and all of our coordinating patterns (swiss dot, sunflower grid and yellow chevron). We sent guests home with a striped take out food box with a sunflower sticker on it full of sweets to enjoy.

Parties by WH Hostess: Sunflower Soiree {Part 1}

Kelly — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:00:53 +0000

One of my favorite articles in the latest issue of TPD Magazine is the Sunflower Soiree. With summer quickly vanishing and a lot to celebrate, my family gathered friends and family to celebrate the end of the season, an upcoming wedding and my mother’s 60th birthday in style with a “Sunflower Soiree”. With crisp black and white patterns, mixed with a bold yellow chevron and sunflowers everywhere you could see, this party took on a festive vibe that we will never forget.

Guests received a black box full of chocolate-covered sunflower seeds and custom invitation from WH Hostess, tied with a gingham ribbon and sunflower as their invite to the party. We decorated the patio and yard with small cocktail tables, dressed with tablecloths made from our custom fabric, and sunflower centerpieces in mini black urns.

A lemonade and iced tea bar took center stage, dressed in a white box pleat tablecloth trimmed in striped ribbon and pom pom trim. My parents love mixing the two to create “Arnold Palmers”, so it was the perfect addition to this summer party. Drink dispensers held the lemonades and iced tea, and we had buckets of wine, beer and water bottles dressed up with coordinating labels.

A large sunflower centerpiece in a gorgeous, white urn stood in the middle of the table, and coordinating signage and food tent cards on all ofthe tables and bar helped brand the party.

We served a variety of bite-size appetizers, including individual taco dips, mini crab cakes, beef tenderloin crostini, shrimp cocktail, meatballs in a variety of sauces, and more.

Stay tuned this afternoon for the details on our delicious dessert table (as recently seen on Amy Atlas!).

Party Planning: Eloise at The Plaza

Charynn — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:12:28 +0000

I always get SUPER excited when I start working on a new project! Especially when I get to work with a good friend and some other fabulous vendors. This next project….oh, yea…..I’m excited!! Our contributor, Charynn of Two Sugar Babies, is here today to share the inspiration board for her daughter’s upcoming birthday party. You may remember Madelyn’s colorful-Chinese lantern-Kai Lan character birthday party from last year. This year, she’s going pink, black and white….and you are just going to LOVE the theme!! Stay tuned for more posts to come as the planning gets underway…..

We are in the early stages of planning – so if you have any ideas or are a vendor that has a PERFECT product we should consider, please leave a comment!

Images: plaza hotel, table w/runner, eloise suite, eloise tea party room, eloise, milk glass, cotton candy, dessert table, pink cake

Party Ideas for Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:00:29 +0000

Since we are celebrating MY birthday today, I asked our contributor, Charynn of Two Sugar Babies, to put together an inspiration board as if she was planning a party for ME! Fun, right?! Boy, does she know me well! Take a look at what she came up with……

Although Kelly is in Chicago, and I’m in Pittsburgh, we’ve been able to form a great friendship through our love for parties, design, handbags, and steak frites, not to mention the projects we get ourselves into. She is truly an inspiration to my daily work, and if I were closer, I would throw her a *darling* birthday party full of the colors kelly green, black, white, sweets (gluten free, of course) and simple, modern, design. Happy Birthday, Kelly! Here’s to many more years of great stationery, parties, and shopping (i mean, work) trips!

Images: cake/cake stand (www.etsy.com), cookies (smittenkitchen.com), plate (katespade.com), necklace (vstyleblog.com), flowers (opulentcreationsevents.com), cupcakes (anglefoodltd.com), invites (whhostess.com)

Parties by WH Hostess: Modern Silhouette Playful Pics

Kelly — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:01:12 +0000

To wrap up this little series of posts on our Modern Silhouette party feature from Nesting Newbies Magazine, I thought I would share a couple of my favorite pictures. The photographers had some fun with me and my god-daughter, Mackenzie, who served as my model. She’s one of the little loves of my life, and I had so much fun playing “party” with her that day. I just love how these pictures turned out…..especially the one that Penny Lane, my sweet pup, jumped into!

Images by Sisterazzi Photography

Parties by WH Hostess: Modern Silhouette Dessert Table

Kelly — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:00:42 +0000

Yesterday, I showed off all of the darling details from our Nesting Newbies photo shoot…..and today, I am back with the dessert table details! Let me tell you, this was one of my all-time favorite tables to put together. I loved the monochromatic green candy, the bold patterns on the paper goods and cookies, and the sweet silhouette that graced everything from the sign, to the cupcake toppers, to the fondant toppers by Two Sugar Babies.

I used a black console from our home as the table. Not only did I want the black piece as the focal point, but I also loved how I was able to play with decorating the shelves! And for a kids party….those candy jars were right at their level! The table was framed with pom pom garlands that I made from craft-store finds. I draped several garlands on each side to look like a set of drapes, and placed a hanging sign in the middle.

Candy Warehouse supplied me with an amazing assortment of green candy. I loved playing with the different shades, and by putting them in different glass apothecary jars and containers, it made for a really sweet look. I did pop in a couple of containers of white candy for a little “pop!” I asked two of my favorite dessert table ladies to create goodies for me – Charynn from Two Sugar Babies made incredible fondant toppers for my big cupcakes (can you believe how perfectly she matched our silhouette and exploded lattice pattern?) and Allyson Jane made us fabulous couture cookies with our coordinating patterns on them. Tip: I always line my platters with coordinating paper…..it helps pull together the theme!

The table was “branded” with coordinating food tent cards, candy jar tags and of course, cupcake toppers. I had white, metal tins (dressed up with polka dot ribbon and a darling sticker) for the kids to fill up with candy to bring home. Not only is it a perfect party favor, but it also serves as an activity during the party…..our birthday girl had a fabulous time selecting candy to put in her tin!

Photography by Sisterazzi Photography

Parties by WH Hostess: Modern Silhouette

Kelly — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:00:13 +0000

We were beyond thrilled to have been asked to contribute a party to the latest issue of Nesting Newbies magazine! I know when I shared the magazine a couple of weeks ago, I promised more images soon…..well, I’ve been busy! But I’m back today with a few posts to show you the amazing details that made up this darling party.

The ladies at Nesting Newbies asked me to put aside the character themes and the princess wands, and create a party that was truly me, my style. Using a series of crisp black and white patterns, and a bold Kelly green, our modern barbie silhouette got a sophisticated update! To define the vertical space of the party room, I hung a pennant banner amongst playful pom pom garlands (which I made with green ribbon and small, black and white pom poms I found at Michael’s) above the tables. (but at a lower-than-normal-height, so the kids would feel like the space was all for them!)

Small tables, perfect for a tea party, were set with custom made white denim tablecloths that had a large black swiss dot ruffle at the bottom. I made coordinating cloth napkins, and set the table with Kelly green glasses and silverware, black plates and my signature centerpiece – white pots full wheat grass and a floral pomander, and topped with centerpiece sticks. Don’t you just love that one, single pop of hot pink in the centerpiece and on our birthday girl!? (who was also wearing a darling stripe hair bow by Mel-Belles)

One of my favorite details of the tablesetting were the placecards on the back of the chairs. Perfectly proportioned to child-size chairs, the guests were delighted to see their names on them! There are still so many details to come! Head on back this afternoon to see the details of the dessert table!

Photography by Sisterazzi Photography

Halloween Party

Kelly — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:00:06 +0000

I thought I would end the week with these darling images from one of my favorite party families. The Brown family in Jacksonville, Florida threw a fabulous Halloween party for a bunch of families and used our WH Hostess Halloween collection. Didn’t it turn out cute?!