Featured on Southern Weddings

Yesterday, the engagement party that we threw for Marielle and Chris was featured on Southern Weddings' blog. I also shared a bunch of tips for hosting your own party. Exciting!!

Check it out here: http://southernweddings.com/2014/06/09/north-carolina-backyard-engagement-party/

Southern Garden Party Recipes

Today I'm sharing with you my favorite recipes for hosting your own backyard garden party, or any party for that matter. Many of these are my tried and true favorites. If you come to an event of mine, they are almost guaranteed to be on the menu!

Sangria

1 bottle (750 ml) red wine (I use syrah/shiraz or cabernet sauvignon)

1/2 cup triple sec

1/2 cup brandy (optional, I didn't include this)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate

1 cup Sprite

Sliced oranges, lemons, limes

Empty bottle of wine into pitcher or drink dispenser. Add triple sec, brandy (optional), orange juice and lemonade. Add sliced fruit. Allow to sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight for the flavors to meld. Add Sprite just prior to serving. Serve over ice and garnish with fruit. This recipe is easily multiplied to serve more. 

Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Make this homemade pimento cheese and spread onto white bread, cut off crusts and slice on diagonal. Serve!

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

via

Chop large bunch of mint and dill. Combine with a ratio of 1:1 of softened butter and cream cheese. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Allow mixture to sit for a few hours in the fridge. Spread thinly on white or pumpernickel bread and top with thinly sliced cucumber. Cut crusts and slice sandwiches. Recipe modified from Epicurious.

Glazed Ham Biscuits

 Fill biscuits with ham, cheese, and honey mustard before baking! Recipe.

Curried Chicken Salad Croissants

Recipe to come.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Bites

Make this buffalo chicken dip recipe and bake in ready-to-use phyllo shells.

Pigs in a Blanket

Recipe

Mac & Cheese Cups

Recipe

Baked Brie Bites

Preheat oven to 400. Fill frozen phyllo shells with small amount of raspberry or mixed berry preserves. Top with 1/2" cube of brie and a pecan half. Bake in oven for approximately 8 minutes. Recipe

Watermelon Pops

Slice watermelon and cut into triangles. Insert popsicle stick into rind, serve!

Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookie recipe

Royal icing tutorial

Enjoy!!

Bright Backyard Engagement Party

This past weekend we hosted a big engagement party for Kevin's sister Marielle. She and Chris got engaged a few months ago, but this was the first time everyone was able to get together to really celebrate! They are planning a destination wedding at the beach next April, so this was a great party for everyone that could make it.

Engagement Party Invitation via Etsy

The party was held on Sunday afternoon, it was a beautiful day and actually almost hot!  We were so glad that there wasn't rain, especially since most of the party took place in the backyard.  When I started planning, I wanted to go with a garden party theme, incorporating bright fun colors. I think we achieved that pretty well. Everyone had a great time and commented on all of the details. 

Drink table outside on the deck

Tables on the lawn

Beautiful peonies in mason jars for flowers

Drink station with lots of DIY details

Mimosa bar!

Sangria, yum

Custom reusable cups for the party!

Flowers in mason jars on each table

Gorgeous coral peonies

Tables on the lawn, and lawn games in the background

DIY chalkboard sign

Playing cornhole

Family at the party

The newly engaged couple!

Dessert table, with custom sugar cookies

Beautiful cake with custom cake topper

Cutting the cake

Advice cards for the couple

It was a fabulous party, I know that everyone had a lot of fun! :) Congratulations Marielle and Chris!!

Sources: 
Invitation: Etsy
Cake: Simply Cakes, NC
Rentals: Party Reflections
Cake Topper: Etsy
Cups: Stadium Cups
Flowers: Fifty Flowers

More posts to come featuring the recipes and DIY projects that made the party a success!

Busy Weekend!

Whew, that was a whirlwind weekend! We spent the day yesterday with family and friends celebrating Kevin's sister's recent engagement. We Marielle and Chris a big engagement party at our house. It was a lot of fun and complete with lots of little details (more on those to come in the next few days!).

Here's a sneak peak into some of the pictures from yesterday:

And I definitely could NOT have pulled it all off without the help from my amazing friend Kelsey from Southern In Love!!! Everything went so smoothly with her assistance :)

Hope y'all had a great weekend. We missed the Kentucky Derby... but I hope you had a chance to enjoy the great weather and sip on a cocktail, or two!

Christmas Party Recap

I've been absent on the blog for much of the holidays, but I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends! We have been very busy for almost 2 weeks with parties, visiting family, and traveling. Here are some pictures from our annual Christmas party that we threw before Christmas!

For drinks, we had a bar set up in the kitchen with a his and hers cocktail station, along with wine and festive jello shots. I wrote the drink menu on the chalkboard in the kitchen.  The cocktails were both very popular, but the maple old fashioned was a hit with all of the guys! The jello shots that I made were a modification of these jello shots from a couple of years ago, but made with tequila and cointreau instead of vodka. They had just enough tequila to taste like a margarita but not too much ;).

For food, here's what we had, including links to some of the recipes:

MENU
Chili Lime Shrimp Cups
Stuffed Mushrooms
Buffalo Chicken Dip Bites (similar to this, cooked in phyllo shells)Pigs in a Blanket
Slow Roasted Tomato Bruschetta (recipe coming soon!)
Veggies and Knorr Spinach Dip
Hummus and Pita
Raspberry Brie Bites
Christmas Cookies with Royal Icing
Assorted Macarons via Trader Joe's

We had so much fun with everyone! Here are some pictures from the party.

We love hosting this party every year! It's always a great group of people and a wonderful chance to catch up with friends who live out of town!