Isaac and his brothers.

I was dripping with happiness when given the job to plan a surprise party for Clarece, an avid fan of the Mad Men series. I had never watched the show, but love it now.  It’s brilliant, you should check it out.  Anyway,  Andria (Clarece’s sister) gave me complete creative control.  I planned the invitation (which was a DVD format… wanna see it?  GO HERE), food, decorations, color schemes, guest book, party favors, etc.

The location is in the Paseo District of Oklahoma City named “The Oh! Space”.  My small crew and I had all of thirty minutes to set up, and we really could have used 2 hours.  Thankfully many of Clarece’s friends arrived early and were more than willing to step in and help make the place look amazing!

Misti Lanier did the photography for me, along with setting up tables, hanging lights, unpacking boxes, etc.  I think you will agree that she did a great job once you scroll through the upcoming photos.

Lisa Clark of Sweet Addictions Cupcakes prepared three fabulous flavors for the party; Red Velvet, Champagne Infused Strawberry, and Double Chocolate.

Normally, it would take 30 minutes alone to set up the cupcake tiers along with placing the cupcakes on them.

To properly feed a “Mad Men” crowd, one should stick to the basics of our parents generation.  Our menu consisted of:

Traditional deviled eggs:

Do ya like the appetizer picks I created?  The photo’s were loaned to me by Clarece’s mother, Angie.  The Mad Men cartoons I got from this website.

Madison Ave. Meatballs (really I used a bottle of Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce from Tastefully Simple.  You can order some if you like… go HERE):

Shrimp Cocktail – A must.

Three different dips with chips – So 60′s Party Style

Grilled Cheese Panini Sandwiches with Pesto – Okay… not so 60′s, but a HUGE hit!

Look at all the sexy people… they’re loving the food!

The big moment arrived… Clarece finally entered the room, and I’m pretty sure she was surprised.

I was so pleased that everyone dressed “the part”.  The Mad Men theme went unbelievably well..

Fedora’s as far as the eye could see…

There was so much love and laughter.

That is not what it looks like below… It’s a candy cigarette.  A Mad Men candy cigarette.

There was a bar supplied by Goodfella’s in OKC.

Have you ever seen a better looking family?

A few other “special” touched I gave the event was a personalized guest book, structured like a scrapbook, but where friends and family could write special messages to Clarece; Candy Cigarettes with special Mad Men logo’s on each box; and a vintage baby blue typewriter.

Here’s a better idea what the Oh! Space looks like from different angles..

From the back of the room looking towards the front door, you can see the loft upstairs, the billiards table, and happy shiny people.

The view from the baby grand piano looks towards the back of the room.  And… if you look closely, you can see January Jones on the flat screen.

I hope Clarece and her guests had as much fun at the party as I had planning it.

Thank you Andria for giving me this opportunity!

You have to see this!

This is the first dress Kiely has ever worn, I think.  She liked how it “twirled”.  I like that.

These girls have no idea how beautiful they are.  That’s probably a good thing, just ask their fathers’.

I made the patches that went on the sleeves and the chest.  I did not make the hats.  I mean, who has time for that?

So, do you know which players they chose to be?  Did you notice their numbers?  First person to comment with the correct answer will receive all the patches I made that I was unsatisfied with.  They’re pretty good.. you could use them for coasters?? (Lisa, you may not play this game.)

The cupcakes were Chocolate with Nutella Buttercream Icing, Almond-White with Strawberry Buttercream & Chocolate Buttercream.

I also made the fashionable skirt worn by the birthday girl.

Here she is with her cousin.

We ordered a package from Dimple Prints.  She has really good ideas, check out her Etsy Store too.  Here’s some of the looks:

Inside these cute paper strawberries are pink, green, and red M&M’s.

See the “Food” sign?  That too is Dimple Prints.  The tags next to the food is all Social Butterflies.

The Strawberry Crush (and other flavors) was a huge hit!  We took the S.S. paper logo off the party favors that you blow into, and the paper curly thing shoots out… what are those called?  Leave me a comment if you know.  Anyway, we tied them to the bottles with green ribbon.  Too cute…

My dad made a great bean-bag-toss, & I painted the “new” S.S. on it.  Check it out:

I also made the bean bags for the game:

The kids played other games, and there were prizes for all..

I’m pretty sure the party was a hit.  ;)

The cupcake tier was also really fun..

I wanted to make food that was kid friendly, and more importantly… Maxwell-friendly.  Most people who know Max, may think that he runs on batteries, for the lack of eating that he does.  So here’s a run down..

This one was very popular with the adult consumers.

The best part of the party was when Maxwell woke up and saw all the helium filled balloons and Thomas decorations..

Look at that crazy bedhead and Jack Nickelson eyes.

A few weeks later, we took the boys to see the real Thomas the Train at the Oklahoma Railway Museum.

Isaac loves his brother so much.  And I’m sure Maxwell feels the same.  :)

I made about 25 of these super cute (and super easy to make) gift card holders.  I got the pattern from one of my favorite websites.  If you like to craft or need fun ideas check out  Heather Bailey.

I know, I know… how many photo’s of ‘boxes‘ can one person take?  Well, consider yourself lucky.  I only posted five out of… oh, I don’t know.. maybe 30?

Back to Amber…. we bought her some beautiful Gerber daisies which made a fun addition to the already gorgeous tablescape.

There was a delicious spread of food for everyone to enjoy… fresh vegetables (with Tonie’s special Ranch Dip), humus, pasta salad (I should say.. Chris’ Unbelievable Pasta Salad).

..buttery croissants, Social Butterflies Chicken Salad..

..Lemonade Mini-Cupcakes & Strawberry Champagne Infused Mini-Cupcakes from Sweet Addictions Cupcakes

Amber’s mother, Chris made this stunning fruit bouquet and sinfully delicious dip.  (side note:  my favorite part of the whole day was when Chris was helping clean up, she grabbed a big spoon out of the silverware drawer, stirred the dip, then took a huge spoonful and ate it.  I cracked up… totally thought she was going to put it in the plastic container!  She’s so dainty, I didn’t expect this at all.  I hold her in a whole new level of awesomeness)

I just love this photo of Jamie B.  She’s all posted up next to the dessert table.  Good girl!

Amber’s sweet Aunt Becky & cousin Haley.

Amy & Tami

Cousin’s Haley & Emily

Chris, Tonie, and Amy deserve so much credit on this party.  They pulled it all together for me and I was very glad to have their help.
(Left to right:  Chris, Amber, Amy, and Tonie)

I know that Amber was able to purchase lots of items she needed for her sons and herself.  Her house is so incredibly cute!  Once she has it completely furnished and decorated the way she wants, I will be sure to post some photo’s on the “random photo’s” section of this blog.

By the way, today is “Thank A Stranger Day”.  So say thanks to someone who does something nice for you.  :)

I mean, really… how sweet are they?

It’s kind of funny though, I had never met Dusty yet I had been looking at his and Kathie’s photos for over a month.  When the rehearsal finally arrived he came up to me to introduce himself, I was all “no handshake, I’ll take a hug.. I’ve been staring at your mug for weeks now!”  He probably thought to himself- what the hell is she talking about….  I hope he didn’t think I was stalking him.  Ha!

So the rehearsal went beautifully.

(Bah-hahahaha… this photo is awesome!)

(you put your left hand in, you put your left hand out… and you shake it all about… heh heh)

I was fortunate enough to have a good friend of mine help me at the last minute, Tonie W.  Between the two of us, I feel like we eased all concerns, and directed the wedding party with grace and thoughtfulness.  The bridesmaids were all sisters and/or family members of Kathie.  They were a cute and wild bunch of women.

The groomsmen were just as brilliant.

The day of the wedding started very early.  Tonie and I brought bagels and cream cheese from Panera Bread, a big jug of coffee from Starbucks, and the necessary emergency kits full of altoids, band-aids, sewing kits, tide to-go, bobby pins, etc.

We were able to spend some time prior to the wedding with the ladies.  I was able to take a few shots of them getting ready for the big day.

I think this photo of sister Kerry is breathtaking.

Sister Ann was the responsible for making sure all the ladies had stunning do’s.

Gorgeous!

As usual, once it got down to crunch time, my camera stayed nice and cozy in it’s lovely carrying case. I didn’t get any of the handsome men on film.   So the next few photo’s I’ll show you are ones I gladly swiped from the bride’s FB page.

uh-oh…. Okay, that’s not going to work.  I tell you what, as soon as Melissa Mize (The Darr’s Photographer) is finished with the photo’s she captured, I will post some of the favorites.

If you want a to know from the bride and groom how pleased they were, leave a comment and I’ll have them get in touch with you.

We had two styles of guacamole, four salsa’s, and two queso dips.  There was roasted chicken, seasoned ground beef, carne asada, slow cooked beef empanadas, and stuffed jalapeno’s.  The dessert line up was lovely as well.  I made banana cupcakes with spiced cream cheese frosting.  Our friend Tonie made a Sopapilla Cheesecake, and let me just say it was the hit of the night!

I really wish I could have taken a picture of the cheesecake before it was devoured.  This is the best I could do:

See, it’s the dish she baked it in with the recipe.  heh heh…

We also had a pinata stuffed with candy for the children to enjoy.

Instead of beating it with a baseball bat and possibly ending up on America’s Funniest Video’s, I cut the bottom out of the pinata and attached very long strings so that all the children could have a part in the explosion of candy.

I loved the excitement this little treat provided the children.

At this point the camera made no more appearances.  sigh…..  It was a great evening.

I made the vanilla/almond cupcakes with a basic butter cream frosting in various colors, along with mini-cupcakes resembling mushrooms.  Then, I made him his very own cake..

We also made “Cake-Lollipops”(made to look like “Yoshi-Eggs”), Chocolate dipped marshmallows, and had nostalgic pinwheel suckers on display.

I love how it looks like Mario is jumping out of the suckers!

Melanie’s best friend, Shirley, blew up tons of balloons and placed a gold coin in each balloon.  The children eventually popped all the balloons and used their treasures to “buy” candy from “Shy Guy’s Sugar Shack”.

Mustaches were worn by all…

my mustache kept falling off.

I’m fairly sure that Cash, brother Jett, and all the friends & cousins had an amazing time.  We’re looking forward to the next big event!

The second meeting was at The Oklahoma State Capitol, the location of the ceremony.  Melanie and I walked up and down stairs with Susan on the slick marble floors admiring the beautiful art and the new dome.  It was then we decided it would be a great idea to bedazzle some Nike’s instead of risking a broken neck wearing high heels.  After lots of debates over where the chairs should be, which elevators to use, which dressing rooms to use, and every other detail we could imagine we left feeling rather confident.

The third meeting was at The Will Rogers Theater, the location of the reception.  We discussed menu and drink options with Ben, the coordinator of this fabulous theater.  You should really go here sometime, maybe plan an event there..

The rehearsal went very well.  Michael and Susan were giddy.  There were perma-grins on each of their faces as Melanie and I bossed people around.  It was so cute.

(Nani (Matron of Honor), Hope (Flowergirl), Susan, Judge Don, Michael, David (Best Man), Brad (Groomsman)

Here are the lovely bridesmaids.  Farrah, Gina, Laura, & Lauren.

I should probably mention that the Capitol is NOT air conditioned in the Rotunda.  Not at all.  Seriously.  Oh, and did I mention it was 102 degrees outside on this day?

All smiles.

So then, the big day came.  There was so much to do, and so many miles walked back and forth in that large Capitol building.  Melanie and I thought it would be very smart to bring ice cold water bottles, Chic-Fil-A nuggets for the bridal party, other snacks, and any neccessity one could possibly imagine.

Included in the “emergency kit” was advil, barrettes, deoderent, lotion, bandaids, a sewing kit, hairspray, toothbrushes, floss, gum, a tiny fan (much needed in this location), kleenex’s, and a tide stick.

We had ice chests full of water bottles, and offered Cheez-Its, M&M’s, peanut butter crackers, pretzels, gum, pixie sticks, and fruit roll-ups.

Susan & Michael were very innovative in having their wedding programs shaped as fans.  As I mentioned before, the temperature was a bit warm.

We maybe should have handed these little guys out to guests as well.  ;)

However, these were handed out to the guests, and they will be very useful for a very long time.

Here are the men involved in the wedding.  Blake, Patrick, Michael, David, Zach, Brad, and Michael S.  They were trying to recreate the “Last Supper” with a Blues Brothers flair.  They were a funny bunch prior to the wedding, and I was glad to babysit them instead of the ladies.  The ladies were on their best behavior, while these guys were making hilarious jokes, and taking full advantage of the microphone system in this room.

The bride was stunning.  The ceremony went without a single flaw.  All and all, we feel like we did a great service for these two.

Oh!  I want to give one more shout out to their photographer, Lee Davenport.  He was there two hours prior to the ceremony, and stayed until the very end of the reception.  They certainly got their money’s worth out of him.  Check out his website.